We are on the cusp of world disorder following decades of a commonly perceived world order cast in stone by the West. The head of the European Council, Donald Tusk of Poland, in a fit of the vapours listed President Trump, Russia, China and jihadi Islamic State as the greatest threat to Europe. With the Old Order melting faster than the Arctic ice cap, India must surely look to its own interests.
Mr Modi has appealed to President Trump to mull over the rumoured US restrictions on H-1B visas to Indian IT professionals seeking to enter the US for short-term contractual employment in local companies. The Prime Minister’s Office issued the following statement: ‘The PM referred to the role of skilled Indian talent in enriching the American economy and society. He urged the (US) to develop a reflective, balanced and farsighted perspective on movement of skilled professionals’
One appreciates the damaging effect on the US economy of the disastrous consequences of the movement of American manufacturing platforms to China and other cheaper locations abroad, leaving the country’s rust belt a scene of dereliction and high unemployment. Working class and middle class America have borne the impact of ill-considered policies deftly packaged for public consumption but now suffering indecent exposure across the republic.
But why throw out the baby with the bathwater? The movement of capital and skilled labour between India and the US and UK are surely beneficial for all three parties. The new high-tech revolution is having a deepening, transformative effect on all three parties and is a far cry from uncontrolled immigration, with its litany of social abuses and threats to national cultures and ways of life. Immigration controls are a vital necessity for the maintenance of good order and anxiety-free governance. Unfettered movement of capital and skilled labour within a rational ly considered framework is not argue for some variant of the sort of free trade agreement, to which Mr Trump is understandably opposed. It is a straightforward arrangement with no hidden traps in the small print that have bedeviled free trade deals signed up to by previous US administrations.
India’s skilled professionals have a proven track record of blending seamlessly and creatively into Western societies on the basis of shared moral values based on the rule of law. If one may reinforce the argument, let us also examine the Indian footprint in Britain with some telling truths. Indians were the largest group of skilled professionals, at 57 per cent in 2016, according to British Home Office statistics. Work visas were issued to 53,575 Indians in 2016, of which 42 per cent were granted for the IT sector, 19 per cent for science and technology, and 12 per cent for finance and insurance.
Americans came second on the list of visa issuance for skills with 9,348. Taken in the round the figures carry a convincing message for America and Britain, in particular, and Europe in general. The Old global order was based on military might, its replacement must be based on multilateral consensus and common sense to be more enduring and enriching.
