- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday (24) raised a number of issues with US president Joe Biden during their first-ever in-person meeting since the latter took charge in January and they included access for Indian professionals in the US and H-1B visas, Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.
“He (PM Modi) spoke of the issue of getting access for Indian professionals to the United States. In that context he mentioned H-1B visa,” Shringla said while addressing reporters on Friday.
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“He (PM Modi) also spoke of the fact that many Indian professionals who work here (in the US) contribute to Social Security. The return of those contributions in the United States is something that affects the number of Indian workers,” he added.
“He (Modi) also spoke of the fact that many Indian professionals who work here contribute to Social Security. The return of those contributions in the United States is something that affects the number of Indian workers,” the Indian diplomat added.
Modi meets US vice president Kamala Harris
A US federal judge had earlier turned down Trump-era changes to H-1B visa rules that aimed at stopping US companies from replacing American workers with cheaper foreign labour.
The rules were applied to various other industries besides tech, including doctors, accountants, professors, scientists and architects.
A fact sheet issued by the White House said Washington was proud to have issued a record 62,000 visas to Indian students in 2021 so far. The nearly 200,000 Indian students in the United States contribute $7.7 billion annually to the US economy. The programme, which is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright Programme worldwide, has been bringing Americans and Indians closer together for 71 years since its launch in India.
“In 2008, we welcomed India’s decision to jointly fund these fellowships with the United States, and renamed the program the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship Program. Over 20,000 fellowships and grants have been awarded under this exchange programme, and the United States looks forward to building on these successes,” it said.
“The Partnership 2020 programme continues to foster higher education cooperation to promote economic growth and technological advances. In collaboration with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, this programme funds 15 research partnerships between US and Indian universities in the fields of advanced engineering, artificial intelligence, public health, and energy, among others,” the White House said.
According to the White House, the launch of the US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment—a public-private partnership between the Department of State, USAID, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, and George Washington University—will help catalyse collaboration to advance women’s economic resilience and empowerment in India, Press Trust of India reported.
