NASA fired Indian Origin DEI chief Neela Rajendra after Donald Trump’s executive order banned diversity initiatives in federal agencies. According to Trump, such programs are the leading cause of discrimination among people of America based on gender, race, and colour.
DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and is a framework used in an organisation to encourage equality and fair treatment for all people. Such initiative programs help develop mutual understanding between employees and organisations, but Donald Trump’s opinions differ. He thought these initiatives were the main cause of discrimination, so he decided to ban such programs, resulting in job cuts for many people under this program. Therefore, Neela Rajendra, DEI chief of NASA, also terminated after Trump’s executive order to fire all the employees under this initiative.
As a DEI chief in NASA, Neela Rajendra was working on the mission Space Workforce 2030 pledge, which focused on hiring women and minorities.
After all this, Neela Rajendra still saved herself from being fired. NASA has reportedly changed her job role to Head of Office of Team Excellence at Employee Success; Ms Rajendra assigned the same job role under the affinity group, which includes the Black Excellence Strategic Team with a different designation. However, due to strict suppression of the Trump administration in early April, she was relieved of her duties at NASA.
