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As the 118th congress, the speaker of the house, and new India caucus leadership are in place , the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) raises issues and policy matters important for Indian Americans. First of all, we congratulate all the elected representatives, especially the new ones, including the newly elected Indian American, Shri Thanedar. We congratulate the new speaker of the house, Kevin McCarthy for his resilient win.
We congratulate Rep. Ro Khanna to be the new chair of the India Caucus and Rep. Mike Waltz to be the new chair. We expect the India caucus to be more active under their leadership, it is very important considering the significance of global strategic partnership between the US and India. We also request them to work with congress and the Biden administration on the US-India partnership, tech/legal immigration, countering terrorism, establishing peace, climate change and international treaties.
To the newly elected congress, the speaker and the India caucus, we request them to work on the following asks, issues and policies.
Ambassador to India: First of all, we request them to expedite the appointment of an ambassador to India.
US-India Strategic Partnership: We appreciate there is a bi-partisan agreement that India is a global strategic partner and both Democrats and Republicans supported partnerships like the IndoPacific Quad as well as I2U2. We request continuing support for any initiatives related to the same as well as strengthening joint ventures with India in various areas like energy, startups, military manufacturing, nuclear. We also request your help to permanently remove India from any time consideration under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Increase Grace Period for Laid off H1B’s to 6-12 Months to maintain their legal status, avoiding disruptions to their families and children during the recession
http://www.fiids-usa.org/change-h1b-grace-period/
Stop Injustice to High Tech Immigrants: Though Indian immigrants are a ~30% workforce building most advancements in the tech industry that provides an international edge to the USA, the Indian tech professionals are stagnant like bonded laborers for more than ~50-60 years due to country-wise green card(GC, permanent residency) limit for processing hundreds of thousands of backlog. Hence, we urge elected officials and executives to work to pass HR 3648 Eagle Act 2022 and also clear the backlogged GC processing.
Campaign of Misinformation and Hate: We sadly observe that in this land of liberty and freedom, there is a vicious campaign of negative propaganda against India and the Indian-origin religions, resulting not only in friction in otherwise smooth US-India relations but also increased incidents of ethnic and religious discrimination, bias and hate crimes against Indian Americans in general and Hindu-Sikh communities in specific. We request investigative agencies’ help as well as legislative help in stopping hateful misinformation campaigns and the entities behind the campaigns.
Terror Funding / Military Aid to Pakistan: Due to Pakistan’s ongoing sheltering/support to Jihadi terrorist groups engaged in acts of terrorism in the US, India, and Europe, we request stop any further military aid to the Pakistan and monitor Pakistan by adding to watch list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the watchdog of terrorist funding.
Cultural Recognition: To make Indian Americans be included in the mainstream, we request inclusive policies, resolutions recognizing cultural festivals like Diwali – Holi, Sewa Diwali, heritage months, honoring personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, Swami Vivekananda, as well as contributions from Indian American charity organizations, like Sewa International which did humongous work during Covid-19.
