India

The community happens to be the most educated with the highest median income in the US, with an average household earning of $123,700 -- making them the top earners in the US among other Asians in the country.

As the profile of the Indian American community -- now the second-largest immigrant group in the US -- has grown, so too has its economic, political, and social influence, according to a recent Carnegie Endowment study.

In 2010, only 18 per cent of Americans saw India as “very important” to the United States, according to The Chicago Council survey.

Now, India is perceived by Americans as their seventh favourite nation in the world, with 70 per cent of people viewing India favourably in 2023, says a Gallup survey.

Much of how America views India today can be attributed to the success of this community, which according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has played a significant role in the all-round development of the nation they live in and also strengthened the India-US relationship.

The fifth largest economy of the world, India today is seen in the US as a strong bilateral partner sharing common democratic values with broad-based and multi-sectoral cooperation in sectors like trade and investment, defence and security, education, science and technology, cyber security, etc.

American businesses heavily rely on highly-skilled workers from India to fill the gaps in IT and engineering sectors via the H-1B visa programme. These visa holders create prospects for US citizens, by enabling companies to invest in domestic operations instead of sending jobs abroad.

As US Ambassador Eric Garcetti recently said: "India is a place where dreams become reality every day. Our counties have so much in common. Indian dreams and American dreams are two sides of the same coin."

Addressing the 2019 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, then Foreign Minister late Sushma Swaraj had noted that while the Indian diaspora started migrating centuries ago, it was the migration of the educated, highly-skilled and dynamic young Indians that brought laurels to India.

The dominance of Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Parag Agarwal in the IT sector has strengthened the image of India in the US as a technology powerhouse and a source of quality human resources.

With US Vice President Kamala Harris sitting atop the political ladder, the US House of Representatives has five Indian Americans -- Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal and Shri Thanedar.

There are close to 60 Indian-American CEOs in Fortune 500. Even though Indians are just 1 per cent of the American population, they are more than 10 per cent of the Fortune 500 CEOs with the likes of Laxman Narasimhan (Starbucks) and Raj Subramaniam (FedEx).

The US now has 20,000 Indian-American professors and at least a third of companies in the Silicon Valley that come for funding, and have an Indian American co-founder, according to Indiaspora founder M.R. Rangaswami.

According to foreign policy experts, it is the success of this community, which has dramatically changed the US perception of Indians and India, with its ability to spread Indian soft power, lobby for India’s national interests, and contribute economically to their mother country's rise.

As part of “soft diplomacy”, Indian-Americans played a pivotal role in the fructification of the historic Indo-US nuclear deal in 2005.

The community also urged the political establishment -- right from the Oval Office down to statehouses -- to send aid worth at least half-a-billion dollars to India during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

(Meenakshi Iyer can be reached at meenakshi.i@ians.in)

--IANS

mi/arm

The bigger and stronger China's competitors are in Asia, the greater the prospects for a balance of power favorable to the US, wrote Graham Allison, a professor of government at the Harvard Kennedy School in Foreign Policy.

With 1.4 billion people and rising -- and the world's fifth largest economy, India's growing prominence, both economically and geopolitically, makes it a country that the Biden administration – like those of Trump, Obama and Bush before it -- could not ignore, The Guardian reported.

Yet most experts say that it is China that has been the fundamental driver of this growing alliance; mutual concerns over Beijing's aggressive, expansionist agenda have never been more acute, The Guardian reported.

This has coincided with a shift in Washington's relationship with China, from that of strategic competitor to rival or outright threat that must be deterred and contained. The bipartisan consensus is that India is a crucial geopolitical, and even economic, counterweight to China’s dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.

"In Washington, the hope is to build out an extended framework of deterrence to try and keep China in check," said Milan Vaishnav, director of the south Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Both geographically as well as strategically and economically, India has become a linchpin in this framework", The Guardian reported.

Despite careful nurturing by Washington over the years, many aspects of US ties with India remain challenging. Bilateral trade has grown tenfold since 2000, to $191 billion in 2022, and India became the ninth-largest US trading partner in 2021. But longstanding economic gripes persist, meriting 13 pages in the 2023 Foreign Trade Barriers report from the US Trade Representative.

Multilaterally, India's role in the fast-consolidating "Quad" (comprised of the US, Australia, India, and Japan) has brought shared purpose to Washington and New Delhi, both of which harbor concerns about China. But New Delhi also champions alternative non-Western groupings like the BRICS, and it remains outside bodies central to U.S. diplomacy like the UN Security Council and the G7, says Alyssa Ayres writing in Time.

Ayres is dean and professor of history and international affairs at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, and adjunct senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The US-India relationship has been transformed over the past quarter-century, but that transformation has not delivered a partnership or alignment similar to the closest US alliances.

"This shouldn't surprise anyone. India is not a US ally, and has not wanted to become one. To see relations with rising power India as on a pathway that culminates in a relationship like that the United States enjoys with Japan or the UK creates expectations that will not be met. Indian leaders across parties and over decades have long prioritized foreign policy independence as a central feature of India's approach to the world," Ayres said.

The Modi government invokes a Sanskrit saying, the "world is one family" (vasudhaiva kutumbakam), to frame Indian diplomacy. This approach has been termed "multialignment", a theory of seeking positive ties as far and as widely as possible, without seeing contradictions in this approach, the article said.

In practice, New Delhi has carefully managed its relationships with Saudi Arabia as well as Iran; with Israel as well as the Palestinian Territories; with the United States as well as Russia. India's G20 presidency this year encapsulates this orientation, with its Sanskritic theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future,” and its twin efforts to lead the forum for the world’s 20 largest economies while self-consciously presenting itself as the "Voice of the Global South", Ayres said.

For many in Washington, the dramatic growth of coordination and joint activities under the Quad consultative group fills a growing need in light of China’s rise, encompassing subjects as far-flung as maritime security, infrastructure, climate and resilience, vaccines, technology standards, and higher education-all underlining Indian strategic convergence with the United States in the Indo-Pacific.

Yet strategic convergence there does not mean everywhere: Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its year-long war has elicited a tepid tut-tut from New Delhi, while India has escalated its purchases of cheap Russian oil at a time Washington seeks to isolate Moscow, the article said.

--IANS

san/svn

Ahead of the series' trailer unveiling in Srinagar, Vivek and Pallavi decided to kickstart the promotions on an auspicious note by visiting Shankaracharya temple.

Frequented by Kashmiri Hindus, Shankaracharya Temple is a monument of national importance, centrally protected under the Archaeological Survey of India.

Since the series is for the Kashmiri Pandits and it shows their plight, Vivek and Pallavi decided to pay their respects and seek divine blessings at a temple frequented by them before embarking on this journey of putting forth the truth in its purest and rawest form.

While the makers claim that ‘The Kashmir Files’ was a three-hour long movie which shook the nation, it was only the tip of the iceberg. The makers have said that the series is far more heart-wrenching, eye-opening and spine-chilling as it unravels the unreported realities, facts and the truth behind the massacre, and the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits straight from the horses’ mouth.

As seen in the trailer, the narrative is captured via conversations with historians, experts, real life victims and their families including experts like Dr Meenakshi Jain who was conferred with the Padma Shri award in 2020 for her work in the field of literature and education; Rakesh K Kaul who is the author of bestsellers ‘The Last Queen of Kashmir’ and ‘Dawn: The Warrior Princess of Kashmir’; Shesh Paul Vaid – the former Director General of Police of J&K; Manoj Raghuvanshi – ex TV journalist and the first journalist to do a lead story on terrorism erupting in Kashmir in July 1989; Dr. Tej Tikoo – Retired Colonel and veteran of 1971 Indo-Pak war and the author of ‘Kashmir: Its Aborigines and their Exodus’ among others.

Woven together through real life anecdotes, survivor testimonies and archived footages, ‘The Kashmir Files Unreported’ delves into the historical, ethnical, and geopolitical details, encapsulating the events, mistakes, crimes and circumstances that led to the massacre and mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in the 1990s.

It goes on to portray the state of affairs which led to the abrogation of Article 370 and its repercussions on Kashmir today.

It also maps the centuries old journey of Kashmir, hailed as the paradise on earth, its significance to India, its people and culture and their evolution from being a melting pot of civilization and knowledge, to being repeatedly attacked, radicalised and systemically reduced to a warzone like condition of today.

After four years of research and shoot schedule, ‘The Kashmir Files Unreported’ is ready for release and through their arduous journey, Vivek and Pallavi aim to honor the resilience of the Kashmiri Pandit community, and foster a deeper understanding that paves the way for healing and harmony in the valley's future.

Filmmaker Vivek had said: “The genocide of Kashmir is a blot not only on India but on humanity. It is considered to be the biggest hidden tragedy of modern times. It was very important for us to tell this story honestly.”

The seven-part series will premiere on ZEE5 soon.

--IANS

sp/dan

Questioned at a press conference on the sacking of Gudha, the chief minister said: "This is an internal matter of our party."

Gudha was sacked by Gehlot on Friday night after he asked his government to introspect instead of talking on the shocking Manipur incident of women being paraded naked on camera.

Meanwhile, a day after his sacking, Gudha maintained that women in Rajasthan are not safe.

He said whether he is dismissed or put in jail, he will keep speaking the truth.

"I have been speaking at the cabinet meeting. I spoke in the Assembly and I also faced the consequences. Women are not safe in our state. These statistics say that Rajasthan ranks first in the country in atrocities against women."

He also criticised the Rajasthan police.

"Police in the state are corrupt. They are busy taking bribes from people," he said.

--IANS

arc/pgh

In the bulletin, the weather forecast agency said that in northwest India, light to moderate to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall is expected over various states on specific dates.

On July 23 and 24, the rainfall is expected over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, while on July 25 and 26, it is likely over Punjab.

Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi will experience rainfall on July 22, 24, 25, and 26, and Uttar Pradesh can expect rainfall on July 24 and 25. West Rajasthan will see rainfall on July 25, and East Rajasthan on July 23, 24, and 26.

"Isolated very heavy rainfall is also predicted for certain areas. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand might experience heavy rainfall on July 25, and 26, Punjab and West Rajasthan on Saturday, and East Rajasthan on July 25," it said.

It also predicted that in central India, the region is expected to receive light to moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall over the next five days. In west India, the IMD forecast indicates light to moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall.

"The Konkan & Goa and ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra will experience this from July 23 to 26, Saurashtra & Kutch on July 24, and Gujarat Region on July 23. Mumbai may also experience continued isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next two days," said the IMD.

The IMD said that south India is expected to have light to moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall over specific regions. “The Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and Telangana can expect this till July 24, Coastal Karnataka and Rayalaseema from July 24 to 26, South Interior Karnataka on July 24, and 26, and North Interior Karnataka on July 23. Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal will likely experience this on July 23,” it said.

For East India, the IMD forecasts light to moderate scattered to fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall over Odisha till July 24, and isolated heavy rainfall over Andaman & Nicobar Islands on July 24.

"Furthermore, isolated very heavy rainfall is likely over Odisha on July 25 and 26,” it said. “Northeast India, the region will experience light to moderate fairly widespread rainfall. Isolated heavy rainfall is predicted over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura during Saturday and July 26, over Assam and Meghalaya during July 22 to 24 and 26, and over Arunachal Pradesh during July 22 to 24," it said.

--IANS

ssh/svn

PMK leader said that the state government was trying to acquire 2700 acres of farm land in more than 11 villages of Tiruvannamalai district to expand Cheyyar SIPCOT.

He said that the state government was trying to forcibly acquire the land of the farmers even after the farmers have risen their objections to the proposal.

The PMK leader however said that he was not against industralisation but added that it should not be at the cost of the livelihood of the farmers.

Anbumani Ramadoss said that the farmers were protesting for the past twenty days against the government acquiring the lands. He added that the ruling party leaders were publicly speaking for the SIPCOT project at the cost of the farmers.

The PMK state president said that the government had dropped the industrial project for Annur SIPCOT but added that it was very much pushing for the Cheyyar SIPCOT.

--IANS

aal/dan

In this context, on the invitation of BJP President J.P. Nadda, a five-member delegation of Nepal’s CPN (Maoist Centre) is visiting India from Sunday.

The Maoist delegation is led by the party’s Deputy Secretary General Pampha Bhusal.

Bhusal told IANS that she is leading a five-member delegation to Delhi on Sunday and will return on July 28. The delegation will visit BJP headquarters and interact with the party's office-bearers, among others.

In July last year, CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda, who is also the Prime Minister now, had met Nadda in Delhi and agreed to build party-to-party relations between the Maoist Centre and the BJP.

On July 19, Nadda had sent a condolence message to Prachanda on the demise of his wife, Sita Dahal.

"I extend my deepest condolences on the passing away of your wife Smt. Sita Dahal," Nadda said in his message, adding: "Her commitment to the betterment of Nepal has left an indelible mark on the hearts of the people. In this time of immense grief, you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. Both Bharatiya Janata Party and I extend heartfelt sympathies to you and to your family during this difficult time."

After prolonged illness, Sita Dahal died on in Kathmandu July 12 .

--IANS

ag/arm

Responding to her post on social media, the Bengaluru police department had given directions to the S.J. Park police station to look into the matter.

The incident was reported on Friday. The woman activist said that the accused is making frantic calls after blocking him on WhatsApp.

“Today, I went for the Manipur violence protest at Town Hall Bengaluru and booked a ride on Rapido bike app. I was trying to get an auto for my way back home. However, multiple auto cancellations led me to opt for a bike instead,” the woman activist posted on her twitter account.

“Surprisingly the driver arrived on a different bike, explaining that the one registered with Rapido bike app was under servicing. I confirmed my booking through this app and proceeded with the ride. During my journey, we reached a remote area with no other vehicles around. Shockingly, the driver began riding with one hand and engaging in inappropriate behaviour (masturbating while riding a bike). Fearing for my safety, I remained silent throughout the ordeal,” the victim explained.

“I asked him to drop me 300 metres away before my actual destination to conceal my home location. Once the ride was over, he started relentlessly calling and messaging me on WhatsApp. I had to block his number to stop the harassment,” she said.

The victim also questioned the Rapido bike app. “What measures the company is taking for background verification?” The victim said that the “user’s safety should be a top priority. Please ensure that people registered with your service can be trusted for a safe travel experience. He keeps calling me from different numbers even now!”

Bengaluru police responding to her post stated that they have informed the S. J. Park police station to take necessary action in this regard. The police have taken up the investigation.

--IANS

mka/dan

In a tweet, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “BJP’s own MLA in Manipur is saying that the Biren Singh govt is complicit.”

He also attached an opinion piece of Manipur BJP MLA Paolienlal Haokip alleging the same.

Ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur on May 3 and since then hundreds of people have lost their lives whereas thousands have been forced to take refuge in the relief camps.

Even a video of May 4 of two women being paraded naked by a mob in Manipur went viral on July 19 leading to widespread condemnation across the country.

The Congress has been demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi of speaking on the Manipur issue inside Parliament and also immediate removal of the Chief Minister and imposition of the President’s Rule in the northesstern state.

The Opposition parties have raised the issue of Manipur on first two days of Parliament’s Monsoon Session.

On Thursday, on the first day of the Parliament’s Monsoon Session the Prime Minister expressed his pain and anger over the Manipur incident and said the gruesome incident with the women in the Northeastern state is very shameful, and can never be forgiven.

He said: “This incident is an insult for the entire nation as it has shamed 140 crore countrymen. The incident which happened with the women in Manipur can never be forgiven. I assure the countrymen that no one will be spared.”

However he went on to club incidents of violence in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh (both Congress-ruled states) also in his statement.

“The incident might be from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh or Manipur, the culprit should not go scot-free in any corner of the country,” the prime minister said.

--IANS

aks/dan

The accident occurred when the car lost control due to a tyre-burst near Valloor in Narsingi mandal of Medak district.

Tourya Naik (50) and his son Ankith (10) travelling in the car died in the mishap.

Hailing from Narsampalli, they were on their way to Chegunta.

While passing through Valloor forest, the car lost control due to a tyre-burst.

After hitting the divider, the car fell on the other side of the road and at the same time, a container truck coming the opposite direction rammed into it, killing both the occupants on the spot.

Police shifted the bodies to a hospital at Ramayampet for autopsy. Naik had worked as Narsingi mandal president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the past.

--IANS

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