A group of influential lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan legislation in the US Senate to comprehensively overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes and usher in more transparency in the recruitment of foreign workers. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
A bill seeking to explicitly ban caste discrimination has been introduced in the California Senate by a Democratic lawmaker, which, if passed, could make America's most populous state also the country's first to outlaw caste-based bias.
IT services company Infosys on Wednesday said it did not use force or intimidation tactics when it laid off trainees at Mysuru campus over performance-related issues, and that it was explaining the circumstances to the labour department authorities. In an interview to PTI, Shaji Mathew, chief human resources officer at Infosys, however, conceded that assessment failure percentages this time around have been "slightly higher" than in the past but dismissed charges that the tests had been designed for failure.
Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of newly sworn-in Vice President JD Vance, has made history as the first Indian-American and Hindu Second Lady of the United States. Usha, a lawyer and daughter of Indian immigrants, held the Bible during Vance's oath of office, signifying her role in supporting her husband's political journey. Her background and her husband's rise to the Vice Presidency highlight the growing political influence of Indian Americans and their increasing representation in national politics.
Minnesota State Senator Satveer Chaudhary on Monday alleged his wife was harassed, his family was bumped from the flight and were then asked to pay additional fees to rebook an Air India flight.
'The Senators were playing safe, not angering either the pro-India lobby or the pro-Pakistan lobby, but perhaps more importantly, the military-industrial complex -- the most powerful lobby of all -- which the majority of Senators are beholden to in terms of largesse to their campaign coffers.'
Subramanyam's mother, who immigrated through Dulles Airport, watched her son being sworn-in on the Bhagavad Gita.
The US lawmakers, describing themselves as "longtime friends of India", wrote in the letter that "more than six months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government unilaterally revoked the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, the government continues to block most internet in the region".
Schumer and Menendez said the months-long demonstrations have been met with orders from the central government and local authorities to shut off internet access in protest areas, cut off water and electricity supplies for the tens of thousands living in protest camps, and impede the work of journalists reporting on the protests.
Ahead of Trump's inauguration here on January 20, the debate on foreign guest workers visas for highly skilled professionals, the H-1B, has intensified which has literally created divisions in both the Democratic and the Republican parties.
A sold-out crowd descended on Eisenhower Park on Sunday for a clash of cricketing arch-rivals India and Pakistan.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent address to a joint session of Congress, top Republican senator John McCain had moved an amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act which if passed would have recognised India as a global strategic and defence partner.
India on Thursday downplayed the United States Senate rejecting a key amendment recognising the country as "global strategic and defence partner", saying it would be "premature" to speculate about its final content.
Juster, 62, is an old India hand who played a key role in the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
'Never, not even once, has Kamala Harris said that she is Indian American. I know why.' 'From the Indian American community she can get maybe 1% percent votes. But if she says she's African American she gains about 20% votes.'
Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in the United States, the powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee under a revised schedule on Tuesday, formally put the US-India civilian nuclear agreement on its agenda and approved it by a margin of 19-2.
Carter was in politics, but not a politician, certainly not a transactional politician, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
Senator John Cornyn, Senate Majority Whip for the 114th Congress, in a letter to Obama, has said "it is ill-advised" to pursue any civil nuclear agreement with Pakistan.
Juster played a key role in the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Dr Murthy, 43, would occupy the position of America's Surgeon General for the second time. In 2011, president Barack Obama tapped him to serve on the advisory group on prevention, health promotion, and integrative and public health.
On March 8, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to advance former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti's nomination as US ambassador to India.
Indian policymakers must realise that in buying small quantities of equipment, it becomes hard to start manufacturing them in India, explains Ajai Shukla.
'Trump's disregard for norms and institutions could prove very costly for America's social fabric.'
An independent United States Congressional research report has alleged that the scope and scale of human rights abuses in India has increased under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Our politicians solely depend on bureaucrats who are unaccountable and follow their own agenda.' 'Our politicians would dare not dream of establishing a DOGE,' argues Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
And voters could also be asked to participate in "referendums" on issues before the lawmakers in that particular state.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
'Kamala likes south Indian food.' 'She likes a special rasam which her husband also likes, she likes coconut rice, she likes puri aloo...'
The resolution also pushes back against People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that Arunachal Pradesh is PRC territory, which is a part of the PRC's increasingly aggressive and expansionist policies.
Passed by the House by 352 to 65 votes, the bill now heads to the US Senate for it to be sent to the White House for the President to sign it into law.
Top American Senators have asked Pentagon to develop a closer defence relationship with India, while emphasising that it is in the interest of both the US and India to continue building a strategic and military culture of cooperation between the two countries.
'I hope that Macho Man agrees to debate her, because I think she will do spectacularly well in the debate.'
United States Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, has profusely apologised and expeditiously gone on damage control mode after stating that 'a rising India' is a grave threat to the US. The Senator from Texas states that the F-22's are "important to our national security because we're not just fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We're fighting --we have graver threats and greater threats than that: From a rising India, with increased exercise of military power'.
Garcetti's nomination is pending before the US Congress since July 2021, when he was nominated for the prestigious diplomatic posting by President Joe Biden.
Mainstream American newspapers, many of which had been sceptical of India's space mission and sometimes even made fun of it through cartoons, noted the great Indian achievement.
Reid facilitated Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed of the Indian Association of Northern Nevada, to deliver the first-ever Hindu prayer to open the US Senate on Thursday.
US Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, told Rediff.com that he appreciated India's concerns over the massive American military largesse for Pakistan, considering the reports that such aid has often been diverted for a potential military confrontation with India.
The White House on Wednesday stood behind Eric Garcetti asserting he is qualified to serve as United States Ambassador to India, even as a Congressional committee vote on his nomination was postponed till March 8 after a Republican Senator placed a hold on his nomination.
The Biden administration's failure in stopping two major wars and several minor ones was seen as a major disaster by many Americans and the world at large, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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