NASA Fires Indian-Origin DEI Chief Neela Rajendra After Trump’s Executive Order

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) officer at NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory, Neela Rajendra has been fired by the US space agency. 

The firing of the Indian-origin DEI chief came after NASA changed her designation to the “Head of Office of Team Excellence and Employee Success” in an apparent attempt to protect her from President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting DEI initiatives, reported Daily Mail. 

“Neela Rajendra is no longer working at [the Jet Propulsion Laboratory]. We are incredibly grateful for the lasting impact she made to our organisation,” the British newspaper quoted Lab Director, Laurie Leshin, in an email she wrote to the staff on Thursday.

The email further stated that the  DEI-lite Office of Team Excellence and Employee Success that Rajendra was set to run was being relocated under human resources.

Last year, the American space agency fired almost 900 of its employees due to budgeting issues, but Rajendra was allowed to keep her job. She was, however, assigned a new designation. 

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Trump’s Order To Terminate DEI Initiatives 

The move by NASA to fire Rajendra and end its diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programmes comes in accordance with Trump’s executive order directing all federal agencies to “terminate” the initiatives. 

The order argued that these programmes “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination”.

Since his return to the White House on January 20, Trump has issued a series of executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes in the public and private sectors. 

While the space agency changed Rajendra’s title to “Head of Office of Team Excellence and Employee Success” and all removed all references to  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) from her profile, she retained many of her original job duties, as per the Daily Mail report.