In Delhi, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar addressed the evolution of India-US relations and the significant role of the Indian diaspora in the US. He highlighted that H1B visas have had a transformative impact on India-US relations, comparing their influence to the end of the Cold War. According to Dr. Jaishankar, the H1B visa program has played a crucial role in strengthening bilateral ties, showcasing how migration policies and the Indian workforce's contributions have reshaped diplomatic and economic connections between the two nations.
#Jaishankar #H1BVisas #India-USRelations #ColdWar #ONEINDIA #ONEINDIANEWS
#Jaishankar #H1BVisas #India-USRelations #ColdWar #ONEINDIA #ONEINDIANEWS
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00:00You know, I often cite, some of you would have heard me say this before, it's something
00:06I read in a very useful book on our, on the India-U.S. relations, that when Nehru first
00:13went to America, there were 3,000 Indian Americans.
00:19When Indira Gandhi went, first time S.P.M., it was 30,000.
00:23When Rajiv Gandhi went, it was 300,000.
00:26When Narendra Modi went, it was 3.3 million.
00:29So I mention that because I think, one, there is a quantitative side of it.
00:34But I think there's also, as I said, it's the skills, the talent, the contribution which
00:43the diaspora has made there, you know.
00:47And I mean, I still remember this when I was ambassador.
00:52I was meeting a very well-known politician, I will tell Eric the name privately later
00:59on, from the deep south.
01:02And you know, he actually told me, saying that, look, you know, I had this view of Indians.
01:10And then, you know, my wife had some issue and she went to this doctor who was an Indian
01:17and he was so good.
01:19So why I say this is people eventually put a face to a country.
01:29When we speak about members of the diaspora, now sometimes people are not conscious of
01:35it, okay?
01:36I mean, I'm not saying everybody, particularly in America, ask people, okay, what's the country
01:40of your origin?
01:41I mean, otherwise your conversation would not go beyond that.
01:45But by and large, when in America people see the members of the diaspora do well, they
01:53associate it with their image of India.
01:57And that then shapes their views about India.
02:04It is true all over the world, but I would say it is particularly true of the United
02:09States because the United States in many ways is a very unique society because it has
02:15immigration from so many different sources.
02:19It has a way of using its immigration flows to also create a kind of a foreign policy
02:27matrix.
02:29And I think in that, the diaspora for us has been a very positive factor.
02:36In the last, let us say, if we take the late 90s, really as when India-US relationship
02:47started to change course, you could pick Clinton's visit to India just as an easy reference point
02:56and then take it on from there.
03:00No question, it's the geopolitics, end of the Cold War, all of that matter.
03:06But I also think that a very equally powerful parallel happening was actually the growth,
03:15you know, H-1B did as much as the end of the Cold War to shape India-US relations.