This is how America’s greatest 20 th century president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined memorably described his fourth freedom the Freedom from fear. His words are worth recalling against the tragic death by random shooting of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian IT engineer in a Kansas bar. His assailant struck because he thought his victim was an illegal immigrant. Shortly afterwards, an Indian store owner, Harnish Patel by name, was murdered, his body discovered at the back of the premises. Whether he was a victim of a hate crime or a robbery is scant consolation to his bereaved family and local friends, for he was well liked and respected in the area in Lancaster County, South Carolina. Lax gun laws and the all powerful gun lobby have made America one of the most violent societies on earth. The incendiary mix of ignorance of geography and xenophobia have led to interventionist American policies in many corners of the world with catastrophic consequences for humanity. Unfortunately, India’s English-language broadsheets buy into the New York Times line that it is all President Trump’s fault. Not by a long chalk. It was Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama who embarked on the disastrous policies of regime change in Libya and Syria, just as President George W. Bush had done in Iraq. Of their culpability there is no mention in the Indian print media. They prefer, instead, to maintain an undignified silence at the imbecilic anti-Russian rants of Obama and Clinton. Long before Trump appeared on the political scene, Pulitzer prize-winning author, James Risen, had published his book on the scale of surveillance instituted by the Bush and Obama administrations which, he says, dwarfs anything previously known in American history. For those interested, Risen’s work in entitled, ‘State of War: Abuse of Power of the Bush Administration.’ A Hollywood Oscar was awarded to the Syrian ‘White Helmets’ for humanitarian work, while their covert relationship with jihadi terror organization was ignored amid pious declarations of virtuous intent. Democratic Party Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, has exposed the Obama administration’s covert funding of Syrian jihadi terror groups for reasons of realpolitik. Again, this is nothing new. The Jimmy Carter Administration (1976-80), under the prompting of its National Security Advisor, Zbgniew Brzezinski, a pathological Russia-baiter and unremittingly hostile to India, helped lubricate Washington’s jihadi links, boasted of his handiwork. The crusading zeal of this loquacious Polish American zealot appears to have abated somewhat as the jihadi chickens came home to roost in New York, Washington, Brussels, Paris and Cologne.
Now, to other matters of moment. The new Indian Ambassador in Washington, Navtej Sarna, took advantage of the annual conclave of US State Governors in the capital to invite them to his official residence for an extended conversation on Indo-US relations.
Ambassador Sarna in his address to the Governors gave chapter and verse of the benefits to the US economy from the presence of these skilled people. The statistics are worth repeating. American firms employed 400,000 Indian IT specialists simply because of the exponential growth of Indian companies between 2001 to 2015. Indian tech companies paid $20 billion in taxes iover the last five years. These companies paid $7 billion towards social security contributions in the past five years over and above the tax. Approximately 120,000 American lives from Indian corporate social responsibility contributions.
The Ambassador hoped that the Governor would carry back to their States these facts and spread them around to counter any impression that these people were scroungers living off the fat of the land. He cautioned that aborting the H-1B visa scheme for Indian IT professionals and scaring off Indian companies from the US would be killing the proverbial goose that lay the golden eggs. Friendly persuasion is all that a foreign envoy can do in the circumstances; the rest lies in the province of the US administration and US legislators.
However, that said, the cards are stacked in India’s favour, and this will continue to be so as long as Indian companies enjoy a price advantage in a highly competitive marketplace. According to the latest report of the Paris-based OECD reveals that India will produce 12 per cent of the world’s graduates. The increasing demand for skills in a rapidly expanding economy and the mismatch between needs and available human resources suggests that America’s reliance on overseas sources, India’s especially is likely to continue. President T rump being a businessman is keenly aware of the score, hence will think hard before deciding to throw overboard a scheme of such mutual benefit.
President Trump appears to have hoisted the flag of economic nationalism: more jobs at home, more investment in agriculture and a sizeable increase in defence expenditure. How will he square the circle; how will he pay for all this? Fiscal prudence has to reclaim its rightful place in the scheme of things. To sell more abroad, the US surely will have to buy more from abroad. Hence protectionism will hardly fit the bill for all-round prosperity.. India figures prominently, both as a marketplace and a human resource base: The realities of a liberalized international economics cannot simply be wished away with the stroke of a protectionist pen. Old trade multilateral deals may have to be reworked or replaced by better bilateral arrangements, as President Trump plans to do. Best wait and see.
So, let us say, the Trump administration refuses to maintain H-1B visas. The Indian footprint onshore will inevitably decline, but the telling Indian price advantage means the Indian offshore IT business will correspondingly increase. Scepticism should be leavened by realism based on President’s words on India. ‘I have great respect for India. It’s an amazing country, the world’s largest democracy and a natural ally of the US.’ There is good reason for optimism.
