New York, Apr 24 (UNI) Former US ambassador to India Rahul Richard Verma has said that proposed changes by the Trump administration in the H-1B visa regime are a result of the transformation in the American political landscape.
Last year some 1.1 million visas were issued in all categories to Indian nationals to visit the US. Of them only 50,000-60,000 were H-1B visas, he noted.
Verma, the American envoy to India between January 2015 and January 2017, resigned following the election of Donald Trump as president.
The Indian-American delivered a New India Lecture, which was the third in the series, at the consulate general here last night and spoke broadly about the bilateral relationship.
Verma said, “Only a small percentage of the visa pool is for H-1B visas.” Indian CEOs and software companies should be aware of the “political realities” in America, a fact he conveyed to the Indian side.
“H-1B visa is an important issue, but it plays a small part in the overall people-to-people relationship between India and the US,” said the former diplomat, who is now vice chairman of The Asia Group, based in Washington.
“India and the US should not be fighting everyday on trade issues while cooperating on defense, and should fire on all cylinders to march ahead in their strategic and ambitious relationship,” Verma observed. “We somehow need to navigate the policies of America First and Make in India.’
With regard to defense, Verma said it should be taken to the next level. “That means we ought to be providing India with the most advanced technology, we ought to make sure that if India is in trouble they have the means to win,” he explained.
A board member of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, the Obama administration official said, “We have got some history that weighs us down. We still have some trust issues and neither side wants to be in an alliance. For decades it has been an underperforming relationship.”
However, the former assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs pointed out that Nehru wrote secret letters to Kennedy during the 1962 Sino-Indian war and more recently in 2000 Clinton made a history India visit.
He expressed optimism about a “trajectory” in our relationship.
“Pakistan’s continuing support and facilitation of terror groups along the border to create a perpetual state of conflict with India is not sustainable,” Verma said. “It is not in their interest and it is not the way to have that goal of a functioning normal state in the international system.”
With regard to China, he said both New Delhi and Washington have similar concerns about the so-called Silk Road Initiative and South China Sea exercises.
On India getting a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the 49-year-old Georgetown University-educated veteran said it was Obama who declared US support in this connection. He expressed hope that this century’s geopolitical realities will soon be reflected on the most powerful UN body.
UNI XC SHK 2239