The Federation Of Kerala Associations In North America (FOKANA) is an umbrella organization formed on July 4, 1983, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to unite all

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. ...

organizations of the

American continent The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. It was during the seventies that many Malayali organizations started to show up all over United States and Canada. Thus, there was a need to unite all these organizations under a single roof. In 1982, under the initiative of Dr. M. Anirudhan, a preliminary meeting was held in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, which was chaired by the then Indian Ambassador to United States

K.R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman Narayanan (27 October 1921 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the 9th Vice President of India from 1992 to 1997 and 10th President of India from 1997 to 2002 . Born i ...

. This meeting initiated the forming of this organization. Later in 1983, the first Kerala Convention was held in New York city. Personalities like Dr. Syed Muhammaed, the then Indian High Commissioner in London and Mr.

Vayalar Ravi Vayalar Ravi (born 4 June 1937
) is an Indian politician, who served as the

, the then-Home Minister of Kerala attended the convention. This convention, through the active efforts of many prominent Keralites, founded the present organization. The 2020-22 President is Georgy Varughese. The international convention will be held in Orlando, Fl on July 07-10, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Federation Of Kerala Associations In North America Indian-American culture Indo-Canadian culture Malayali organizations Organizations based in North America

1983 establishments in the United States Diaspora organizations in the United States Kerala diaspora

See also

References