Dear Visitor ji,
A warm welcome to the colourful spring that always brings plenty of activities and opportunities. While having the pleasant days arriving to Canberra, FINACT and its member associations are active in bringing new initiatives and activities of collaboration. I can see so much of action in the background and shaping the collaborations.
The nature is harsh and tough to our Malayalee community back in Kerala and farmers in Australia. Always, we join hands to support each other in difficult times and help the communities be more resilient. Catastrophic disaster hits the heavenly state of Kerala and floods hit the entire state and most of the dams had to open overnight. This has paralysed the entire governance system and people. The Canberra community joined together at this hour and showed the solidarity with Canberra Malayalee Association in everything whatever we could for the rebuilding the state and enable the people to be resilient.
Australian farmers are facing one of the worst draught and giving hard time for their cattle. The nation has given a plenty to us and it is the time to support the Australian farmers. FINACT and its member associationsare planning to coordinate raising funds for the draught-hit communities.
On other note, it is exciting time for me to see the FINACT T-20 Cricket Tournament has started on Sunday 26 August. This is the biggest ever community cricket tournament in ACT. There are sixteen teams participating in the tournament.
Further FINACT is bringing an initiative to connect business community in ACT. More information will be communicated soon.
It is a great pleasure for me to announce the upcoming events such as beginning of celebrations for 150th Birthday of. Mahatma Gandhi who gave the leadership for Indian Independence with peace and harmony. Still many nations follow the Gandhian way of bringing peace. We will also be launching AusIndia Fair for 2019 to pave a path for communities to fuse with Australian way of life.
It is a great pleasure to see Senator Zed Seselja became the Federal Assistant Minister for Treasury and Finance.
FINACT congratulates Mr Chris Steel to be the new Minister for Multicultural Affairs and would like to work with him in taking the multiculturalism in ACT to a new horizon. I personally congratulate both ministers for their contribution and support to FINACT.
Krishna Nadimpalli
President FINACT
New FINACT Executive Committee for 2018-19
Annual General Meeting of FINACT was held at Belconnen Labour Club on Saturday 21 July 2018 and elected Executive Committee for 2018-19. Congratulations to the new Executive Committee:
President - Dr Krishna Nadimpalli, Canberra Hindu Mandir Vice President - Dr Surjit Kang, Canberra Punjabi Sports and Cultural Association Secretary - Roshan Meenon, Canberra Malayalees Association Treasurer - Mehul Dhanesha, Gujarati Samaj of ACT
Cultural Coordinator - Manohar Vemuri Indian Australian Association of Health and Well-Being
Community Coordinator - Reshma Jhunjhunwala; Rajasthan Sabha of Australia Women Representative - Aarthy Arunachalam, Integrated Cultures ACT Inc Youth Representative - Aishwarya Venkat, Indian Students Association Public Relations Officer - Jayanti Gupta, Australian Tamil Cultural Society of ACT
Fundraising for Australian Farmers
Australia has been suffering from one of the most intense droughts of the past century, and experts say it is going to get worse. The devastating reality of Australia's crippling drought has an immense impact on the farmers. The map shows the rainfall deficiencies for the last four months.
FINACT and its member associations are coming forward to coordinate for fundraising to assist the Australian farmers. It is showing the multicultural communities are proactive in supporting Australia communities when it is required and showing the solidarity for the farming community.
More details can be obtained from Roshan Menon, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Your input/event for FINACT newsletter is appreciated and welcome
Newsletter for communities
You will appreciate that newsletters are critical instrument and platform to meet our functional, operational and strategic communication needs. We have been using this infrastructure for long to effectively interact with you.
Funding under the digital grants from the ACT Government has further boosted our capabilities and confidence in meeting our objectives. We thank the ACT Government for their generosity that enables us to extend our tools to our member associations. Please see below for more information on how you can use this feature.
As you know FINACT newsletter is generally published once a month. If our member associations like to publish their organisation's event in the FINACT newsletter, please provide the following information:
- Event name, date, time and venue followed by text
- Text in word format (not PDF)
- Text within 150 words
- One image/picture if needed.
If you have a flyer ready for the event then FINACT can also publish the flyer in the newsletter.
You can submit this information at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by the last week of month - marked as For FINACT Newsletter.
What else FINACT can do for you?
We acknowlege that not all associations can afford to have mailing lists or tools to regularly interact/communicate with their members. FINACT has tools and capacity to be of your assistance. You may subscribe your members on our subscription page.
Upcoming Events
150th Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi Celebrations
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi born on 2nd October 1869 in India and known as father of the nation (India). Gandhi is known for his leadership with non-violence and remembered for his activities of Civil Rights in South Africa; Movement for Indian Independence – Champaran Agitation, Kheda Agitation, Khilafat Movement, Non-Cooperation, Salt March and Quit India. Even in the modern democracies Gandhian philosophies are bringing peace to many nations and regions.
This is time to celebrate Gandhi 150th year to raise the awareness of the power of non-voilence and peace processes for the world. FINACT and its member associations are organising the Gandhi Birthday and announce the year long programs for Gandhian Path.
More details can be obtained from Reshma Jhunjhunwala at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
FINACT T-20 Cricket Tournament 2018-19
FINACT has been organising a very successful community Cricket T-20 Tournament for last eight years. This year’s tournament has kick started on 26th of August and will go till 7th of October. Draws for T20 Cricket Tournament were conducted at the Gungahlin Lakes by the President of FINACT.
Tournament is progressing well. 16 teams in total have registered for the tournament. Tournament is structured with 4 groups of 4 teams each i.e. Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D. Each team will be playing 3 league matches which means there will be 24 league matches, 4 quarter finals, 2 semi-finals and 1 final match.
Semi-Finals will be played at Burgmann Oval on 23rd of September and Grand Final will be played on 7th of October.
Shaadi Ka Laddu - Laddu Ki Shaadi - Sun 9 Sep
(Radio Manpasand) are organising Hindi Drama “Shaadi Ka Laddu – Laddu Ki Shaadi” as a charity event to raise some funds for our Australian farmers who work so hard to give us food on our plate every day. They and their rural communities are going through tough time due to drought, so we thought we should help them.
Date: Sun 9 Sep 2018
Time: 4pm for 4:30pm sharp till 7:30pm (with 20-25mins interval)
Venue: Hawker College, 51 Murranji St, HAWKER
The drama is a full-on entertainment Family Drama of nearly 2.5 hours full of Fun and Comedy J.
Normally all Bollywood movie shows love, romance, courtship and marriage.. But they don’t show what happens after the marriage.. so this is where this “Shaadi Ka Laddu” comes into play, which deals with issues (comically) when a boy doesn’t get a wife of his choice (OR a girl does not get a husband of her choice).. Kaise ek doosre ke nakhre sahein aur uske habits (aadat) ke saath compromise karein.
Basically tag line of this show is "Behind every successful man there is a woman... But behind every unsuccessful man.. there is also a woman!!
Sitar Recital - Tuesday 25 September
Past Events
Stand with Kerala - Sun 26 August
Federation of Indian Associations of ACT (FINACT) and Canberra Malayalees Association and along with all member associations organised an awareness campaign in Canberra on Sunday, 26 August 2018 @ Civic Square, to pay solidarity top the people who lost their lives and the people who became homeless due to the ravaging Floods in Kerala.
This campaign is being organised across Australia at the same time to raise awareness of the calamity and pay respects to the people lost their lives. We had many government dignitaries, community leaders who joined us to be part of the campaign. Among them were Minister Shane Rattenbury, Minister Chris Steel, Alistair Coe ( Leader of Opposition), Joy Burch (Speaker), Senator David Smith, Nicole Lawder (Deputy Opposition Leader), James Milligan (Shadow Minister for Sports),Dr Krishnan Nadimpalli - FINACT President, Jacob Vadakkedathu & Mr Sandipan Mitra – IAAC President.
Canberra Malayalees Association thanked the people who came in support of this awareness campaign.
Rakshabandhan Celebration - Sat 25 August
HSS Canberra Nagar celebrated Rakshabandhan Utsav on Saturday, 25 August 2018 at the Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre, Florey. Members of the ACT Fire and Rescue unit and the Australian Federal Police were invited as special guests
The program commenced with dhwajarohan. A HSS volunteer, on behalf of all swayamsevaks/sevikas, tied a rakhee to the Bhagva Dhwaj as a symbol of continued commitment to upholding the values of tyaag, seva and dhairya. Two bal swayamsevaks recited amrut vachans followed by recitation of the “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” subhashit by a tarun swayam sevak. Hrishikesh ji Desai, well known in the Australian community for his culinary skills through a popular TV show, was the Pramukh vakta for this program.
A group of bal swayamsevaks/sevikas and a tarun swayamsevika then stepped forward and honoured the vishesh atithees in the traditional Hindu manner by performing aukshan and applying tilak. The bal swayamsevaks/sevikas then tied rakhees to each of the vishesh atithees. Simultaneously, the rest of the swayamsevaks/sevikas tied rakhees to one another. A representative of the ACT Fire & Rescue unit was then invited to express their views and share information about their services. Mark introduced his team and provided information about what it means to be a fire fighter and answered questions from the group. Mark said he was humbled by the experience and honoured to be felicitated at the Utsav. He warmly invited everyone to visit their unit, especially the kids to whom he said that the unit was also a safe house that they could come to if they ever felt they were in any sort of danger. There was an appeal for donation for the drought affected NSW farmers in a program organised by the Hindu Council of Australia as well as to the flood affected city of Kerala in programs organised by FINACT and the Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre. The program ended with prarthana and dhawajavataran. The vishesh atithees and the swayamsevaks/sevikas then had an opportunity for some informal interaction over light refreshments.
Teej Celebrations - Sun 12 August
Rajasthan Sabha of Australia (Canberra) celebrated Teej festivals in Canberra on Sunday 12 August.
Teej festivals are traditionally observed by women to celebrate the monsoons, on the third day of the Indian month of Shravan, the festival includes dancing, singing, getting together with friends and telling stories, dressing up with henna-coloured hands and feet, wearing red, green or orange clothes, sharing festive foods and playing under trees on swings on Haryali Teej. "Ghewar" a special sweet that is made on this day. The girls and women do get gifts which are known as Sindhara. The get together was a fun filled one and now added onto our memories.
A Course on Hindu Philosophy
The Hindu Council of Australia is organising a capsule course on Hindu Philosophy, presented as a series of ten sessions of two hours each. The course will cover ten fundamental topics. Rational inquiry is the basis for Hindu beliefs and rituals. These ten sessions will introduce the methods of rational inquiry used by Indians and connect them to our daily practices.
The first session presented by Shree Milind Sathye on "General Frame Work of Hinduism" was well attended by about 30 people. Participants have provided a very encouraging feedback. Next Session will be presented by Shri Dev Babu Ji on "Prasthan Trayee - Bhagwad Gita".
Venue: Canberra - Churches Center, Suite 26 , Level 2, 54 Benjamin Way, Belconnen. (Opp ABS building).
Date: 27 July to 22 September 2018 - every Saturday 10.00 am to 12.00 pm.
You can register online through this link.
If any queries, please contact Shri Prakash Mehta on 0418 800 753
Invitations from the High Commission of India
Please Support Our Sponsors of AusIndia Fair(TM)
Sponsorship Appreciated for FINACT Events
We understand that one of the main reasons to sponsor a tournament and any event could be to promote one’s business and generate goodwill in the community. Sponsoring the FINACT events will give you brand recognition among the fastest-growing community group of Indians in the ACT and increase sales or traffic to sponsor’s website through their banner on our website (www.finact.net.au ).
Indians are the fastest growing population in Australia. This has resulted in increased air traffic between India and Australia; increased telecommunication; and enhanced trade and cultural ties. Players and their supporters make playing cricket a fiercely competitive and memorable event. They will promote the game and use your services to show their appreciation.
In addition to providing an excellent opportunity to connect with the Indian sub-continent communities, the FINACT events' sponsorship will:
- enable them to reach out to wider community groups in ACT and surrounds
- fulfil their business objectives and attract sizeable potential customers
- provide a lasting impression of their business
- promote sports and physical activities in the community
- motivate and assist young players participating in the tournament and community activities
- attract favourable feedback from organisers and media partners
- generate great feel-good stories in Indian community and back to India and neighbouring countries and
- fulfil sponsor’s corporate and social responsibilities
If you are willing to or interested in sponsoring our events, please contact us soon.
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