0
0
Indo American publishes issues and policies important for Indian Americans in US 2022 Congressional elections.
After launching the #InfoAmericanVotesMatter campaign for Indian Americans registration for voting and increasing voting, the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) today published a list of issues and policy matters important for Indian American voters. Our policy research team compiled this list of issues based on past surveys, discussions with community leaders, analysts, and own research and analysis. As Indian American’s are almost ~4.5million in population with a high concentration in critical competitions spanning states such as Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, and California, we believe the Indian American voters will raise these issues and their voice be heard. As mail-in voting has begun and will continue for the two weeks, this list will be useful for Indian American voters to reflect on and to discuss issues of their importance with candidates and within the community,
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 CAATSA sanctions. To strengthen the partnership further, we further request to expedite the appointment of an ambassador to India.
Terror Funding / Military Aid to Pakistan: We are aware that despite India being a global strategic partner, the Biden administration approved $450million military F-16 upgrade, which will most likely be used against India. We are also more concerned that despite ongoing acts of Pak-sponsored terrorism against India, Pakistan has been removed from the watch list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the watchdog of terrorist funding.
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 limit of 5000 GC per year for processing hundreds of thousands of backlog. Hence, we urge elected officials and executives to one time clear all the backlog and pass HR 3648 Eagle Act 2022 to prohibit this backup in the future.
Eliminating Visa Appointment Delays: After the painfully long covid period ended and travel restrictions were lifted, my relatives want to visit us to meet family, attend events and heal together from the losses we endured. However, visa appointments in the US consulates in India have almost ~900 days long wait, making all of us suffer. We request help in pursuing the department of state to add staff to eliminate the wait period.
Inflation and Recession:We are concerned about both inflation and recession. As the sudden and high increases in interest rates so far didn’t reduce inflation but pushed us in a recession, We think that the focus should be to address root causes like increasing gas supply to reduce high gas price and pressure on production and the supply chain from China.
Cultural Recognition: As a recognition of ~4.5million Indian Americans’ contribution as well as their cultural heritage, we think that elected officials should introduce/support 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 of charity organizations like Sewa International, etc.
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 diaspora, resulting not only in friction in otherwise smooth US-India relations but also increased incidents of ethnic and religious hate crimes against IndoAmericans 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.
FIIDS is an Indian American policy analysis , strategy, and advocacy platform.
