Jaipur, India = “The Indian Americans have an important role to play in the economy as well as democracy of the United States, and they contribute with such honesty as if they are serving their own country” says Raja Krishnamoorthi, US Congressman from Illinois’ 8th district who will soon be turning up to his constituents for his upcoming election.
While working at the office of an Indian origin US Parliamentarian, with the chance of an one-to-one interaction with the congressman I tried to learn from him the importance of Indian-Americans in the US democracy, its counter effects on Indian politics as well as the Indo-American relations, to which he further adds that, “The ratio of Indian origin elected representatives in the United States have certainly increased over the years, which means that the Indian-Americans now must act more responsibly towards the country they live in as well as the country they represent”.
The Indo-American relations have seen ups and downs over the years, and today when the Indian immigrants are about to face stricter laws of immigration against them, it is important to put this issue on top priority while discussing the relations between these two nations as it involves the question of livelihood of the almost 7 lakh (7 hundred thousand) Indian Americans and their families. Though the Indian Prime Minister’s efforts to impress with his American counterpart had made headlines every time when he took him around his arms and walked with him hand in hand but have failed to get the immigration issue fall in favor of Indian diplomacy.
The issue related to the H-1B visa holders is under limelight since President Trump gave the slogan of “Buy America, Hire America,” not just the Indians who work there but also their spouses and family members holding H-4 visa, and the L1 visa holders will also face the difficulty. There has been huge influx of such visa holders from India every year (last year this amounted to 70% of the total H-1B visa holders) and these immigrants have also proved beneficial for the United States by adding up to their GDP, and beneficial also for India by marking their strong presence there, Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella be the most popular and the recent examples.
The S. 180 bill of the 115th Congress of the United States changes almost everything about the immigration in USA and a considerable amount of Indians will get affected by it. Though the Indian origin elected representatives like congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Congressman RO Khanna and Senator Kamala Harris are aggressively opposing any such changes, the fate of such Indian-American still seems to be dicey.
Numbers suggest, most of the international migration around the world takes place among the developing countries with 60% of the migrants from Asian countries going to other Asian countries and as per recent report UN reports India tops the world in number of migrants going to other countries with 16 million.Considering the strategic importance of the Indians placed around the globe, the government of India need to act quick and strong in order to protect their rights.
One way of doing so is making the respective countries realize the contribution of Indians to their nations, failing to do so might result in the reverse brain drain from the countries where such problems are arising. For instance, Australia has also abolished its 457 sponsorship visa and replaced it with the Temporary kill Shortage (TSS) visa program, which has directly affected the Indians working there. A country where 2% of the total population comprises of Indians will definitely have an adverse effect on the Indians, as the available job roles in Australia will be reduced to 216 from the earlier number of 650.
But the big question is; in case these Indians are forced towards self-deportation, will it be an opportunity for India to utilize them as job creators or will it be a further addition the increasing unemployment index of the country.
Dron Yadav
Dron Yadav is practicing as an attorney at the Rajasthan High Court, in the Western state of India. He is a student activist associated with the National Students’ Union of India and graduated in law (an LLM degree in Human Rights & Value Education) from the University of Rajasthan. He was elected as the Law College President in the year 2013 and continued being the part of student politics since then. He was recently in the US for a month, working as an intern at the Office of Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi.