CHICAGO (TIP): Shalabh Kumar “Shally”, the man behind Hindu Republican Coalition which supported Trump in his presidential campaign, is believed to be biding his time to get a position in Trump administration.
Now that he has established himself as a leader of a faction of Hindus, he seems to be eager to promote himself. The grapevine is he is keen to publish his autobiography with a view to letting the world know him better.
All luck to him.
US President Donald Trump is yet to unroll the “America First” doctrine. But worryingly for India, Democrats are competing with him in imposing restrictions on low-cost foreign IT workers.
The US House of Representatives has taken up a Bill for reforming H1B visas.
Indians account for one lakh such visas every year, besides another 1.25 lakh that are renewed. The sponsor of the Bill is a veteran Democrat representing the Silicon Valley, indicating that the notion of Indian “cyber-coolies” is widespread.
Officially, the Indian Government has withheld comment because similar Bills in the past have sunk into oblivion. But deep inside there must be considerable concern. The failure to create jobs inside India is being compounded by the inability to defend jobs for Indians abroad.
Currently, the US President is beyond the call of reason. In due course, he will appreciate that trade in services with India is not a one-way street. If India raked in $19 billion from the US last year, the corresponding figure was $12 billion. This is set to increase because of $28 billion US investment in this sector. Trump will also not be unaware that India’s $25 billion annual trade surplus in goods with the US may shrink. His predecessor has set the stage for increased US involvement in India’s infrastructure sector and energy supplies, both fossil and solar based.
If those are not enough reasons to go slow on clamping down on H1B visas, three of Trump’s Cabinet picks were CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, the very section that has benefited the most from low-cost IT labor from India. Would they not be counselling their President against such a move? On the world stage, the US needs India because of its tensions with Pakistan and China and close ties with Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia. The Obama days will not return anytime soon when India’s trade surplus and work visas had doubled. While fighting to retain the quota of H1B visas, India will also have to take a call on how long its corporates will make money on the back of modestly paid techies?
(Tribune, India)
The Trump administration has no plans to come out with an executive order on H-1B visas, a prominent Indian-American donor and supporter of the US President claimed today, contradicting media reports that have generated anxiety in India. “There will be a need of more H-1B visas. The number of people on H-1B from India is certainly going to increase,” Chicago-based Shalabh ‘Shalli’, Kumar and head of the Republican Hindu Coalition, told reporters at a news conference.
Responding to a volley of questions, Kumar claimed that contrary to the reports in the media, there is no executive order being worked upon by the White House on H-1B visa. For the American economy to grow, IT would have to play an important role.
“As such I visualize need of more IT workers in the US,” he said, adding that the US has huge shortage of IT workers which can be filled up only by Indian IT professionals. Of the view that the Trump Administration would be working to ensure that there is no fraud and abuse of H-1B visas, Kumar said he believes that the White House would work to eliminate country-quota towards allocation of green cards for legal permanent residents.
“This would be of great help Indian IT professionals,” he said, adding that the current wait time for Indians to get a green card could be as many as 35 years.
According to reports, President Donald Trump may soon crack down on US temporary work visas including the H-1B and L-1 visas that are used widely by Indian tech companies.
The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US firms to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.
During his campaign, Trump had promised to increase oversight of our H-1B and L-1 visa programs.
Supporting the executive orders of Trump on immigration and visa ban, Kumar said he would prefer this to be expanded to other countries like Pakistan. Kumar said the US Government is currently reviewing the list of countries, and if Pakistan does not start co-operating with the US, there is very high probability of it being included in the list of visa ban countries. Pakistan needs to act against terrorism.
“There cannot be any difference between what it says and what it does. Trump would not tolerate that,” he said. In response to a question, he did not altogether rule out the possibility of him becoming the next US Ambassador to India.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Republican Hindu Coalition expressed full support for President Donald Trump’s actions banning visas for seven Muslim countries. Trump had banned the admissions of all refugees for 120 days and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The countries banned include Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Syria and Libya.
Chairman of the coalition Shalabh Kumar, a prominent Indian-American donor and supporter of Trump, said that the Trump administration was taking the steps in order to protect the US citizens from Islamic terrorism.
“We applaud the Trump administration for taking this decisive move to protect our citizens from Islamic terror,” Shalabh Kumar said in a press release. “A firm stance against terror is one of the pillars of our organization and one of the central tenets of the Trump campaign, and we fully support our Commander-in-Chief taking the necessary steps to protect our country.”
The Republican Hindu Coalition also demanded banning three more countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.
“While Americans do not discriminate, and this is a country that encourages legal immigration and celebrates the contributions that immigrants have made to our culture, it is about time we get serious about combating the dangers of terrorism on our shores,” said Kumar.