The Omnipresent Indians

Yes..they are everywhere!

Recently a tweet from Sushma Swaraj made me look up Togo, one of Africa’s smallest country.

She tweeted:

 

 

The crew, who are employees of a Merchant Navy firm, had set sail for South Africa on October, 2013 from Mumbai. While returning in the month of July, 2014, theirship got stranded in Nigeria and the entire crew was arrested for violating laws of international waters

 

But if you thought Togo did not have any Indians then you are mistaken. In fact, "The republic of Togo in western Africa has bestowed its highest civilian award to an Indian national, Chander Verma, the country’s former honorary consul in India"

Even Togo has a small Indian community of about 250-300 people out of a population of 6.6 million.

Anyway, this is not about Togo but about the fact that Indians from all walks of society have migrated to all parts of the world since ages. It is heartening to note that wherever they have gone they have ended up as assets and seldom as liabilities. People become a liability when they fail to adjust to a new culture/environment, have criminal tendencies and have nothing much to offer from their side unless they are trained and only if they can be. Generally Indians had one more advantage: education. This became more evident to me after Trump's ascension to the throne (yea..it looks so!)  and that brings me to the country where Indians love to go or pray very hard to go. I think it is America that has brought the best out of Indians?

If you look at statistics, Indian immigrants stand third in number, after Mexico and China in US and they are the most educated.
 

Indians who are having less than high school education is only 6% while those with a Bachelor Degree or higher is 78.7%.

 

 

 

Their English language skills is also next best to the native English speakers.

  How else are Indians faring in US?

With 14 entrepreneurs on the list, India was the leading country of origin for the immigrant founders of billion dollar companies (Unicorn)  

If you want to know more about the Most Powerful Indian-Origin CEOs in the United States

And guess which University is as good as those in US?

 

Unicorn Nursery: Outside the U.S., India’s IIT Produces the Most Billion-Dollar Startup Founders” 

Hence it is clear that Indians have the right education and skills but yet needs America to help them win. So what could be some of the reasons?

 

“The quality of life in the US is much better than in India. The biggest benefit of this move has been financial"

“I always wanted to travel alone, but back in India, I could not do it because I did not feel safe. But here in the US, I go on a solo trip almost every other month,”

But....

“I could move back to India in a heartbeat if I get to do the same kind of work that I am doing here,” Kumar of Cognizant said.

Now that Trump may tighten/reduce H-1B visas, will India retain some of them? Will India produce Unicorns in India itself?

Not sure if either Bush or Gates ever said the following but it was being passed around happily via social media and I finally tracked it down.. :)

 

Source:

  http://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Immigrants-and-Billion-Dollar-Startups.NFAP-Policy-Brief.March-2016.pdf
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2017/02/10/unicorn-nursery-outside-the-u-s-indias-iit-produces-the-most-billion-dollar-startup-founders/
http://cis.org/Immigrants-in-the-United-States#frontpage
https://qz.com/903575/for-indian-techies-the-american-dream-financial-stability-and-even-marriage-prospects-hang-on-donald-trump/ 
http://www.luxpresso.com/photogallery-lifestyle/top-indian-born-ceos-in-united-states/15081185/6

The stale news.

Terrorist-turned-informant says Pakistan agency worked closely with terror group


Headley has confessed; and now that the Americans have authenticated what the Indians have been saying since many years, India may take any of the following stance:

And is there a leader in India who can replicate the following:

Hiding the elephant

Couldnt help posting the following that I came across on the comment section of the article "Did Paskitan know ...." by David Ignatius in the Washington Post.

Someone has brilliantly summed up the situation.


Questions have been raised how bin Laden could be in Abbottabad without the Pakistan government knowing about it.

But actually I can perfectly understand the situation of the Pakistani government because I have had a similar situation.

For a long time now, an elephant has apparently been living in my apartment. I did not know it because every time I came home, the elephant would hide under the refrigerator.

But somehow the neighbours heard the elephant's trumpeting and called the city. The city called the cops who entered the apartment and enticed the elephant out with peanuts. I am now being asked to testify.

The punishment for having an elephant illegally could be heavy. Instead of giving me a magnum of champagne which the mayor gives me every year, he might only give a bottle of Merlot.

I am outraged! First the police entered my apartment, and now I am being threatened with Merlot! I might end my relationship with the mayor...

But mayor Obama likes me and has put me in charge of the investigation of the elephant. After all, it is MYapartment and who is better equipped to investigate than me? So my first question is, "Could it be the mailman who brought the elephant to my apartment and taught it to hide under the refrigerator?" "Or is it the cleaning lady?"

I really can't think of a third person!!

The government of Pakistan, which has a similar problem, has my full sympathy!

Let us pray..

Let us pray with the Americans.

God, please take care of Pakistan for they know not whom they hide. And they know not what happens in their country. It is not their fault that Islamabad/Abottabad is in Pakistan, neither is it their fault that Bin Laden built the biggest mansion in a quiet neighbourhood, right next to their Military Academy. Why should we find fault if Bin Laden found Pakistan safe. Is it their fault that some of the most wanted terrorist find Pakistan a heaven on earth?

Let me also pray for Obama since he continues to forgive Pakistan and is happy that Pakistan is his best buddy. Pakistan does deserve all prayers for did they not give Obama the much needed boost in the ratings. Did they not hide Osama all these years to give him up when Obama needed him?

The Seattle Times reports thus:

The latest poll --completed four days before the assassination of Osama bin Laden that handed the White House a political coup -- showed Obama's approval rating plummeted by 21 percentage points among registered voters in the state. Just 39 percent of the respondents rated the president's job performance as excellent or good, while 59 percent said he was doing only a fair or poor job.

Obama's speech:

But it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people. Tonight, I called President Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations. And going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Should not forget Mrs. Clinton too, for she continues to praise Pakistan for all their deeds.

In year 2007:
Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror.


Yesterday, Clinton emerged from the State Department twice to speak of Pakistani "cooperation."

"Cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding," she said.

And Indians, there are no prayers for you; even God seems to have given up on us. But as a penance for having got a few killed in Mumbai and elsewhere, we may continue to take care of the terrorists in our jail and elsewhere and feed them more biriyani; and not forget to send some (maybe dossiers and mangoes too) across the border for our good friends in Pakistan, especially the ones in the ISI. (Wikileaks is wrong to say that ISI is a terrorist organization, instead they are the bravest and deserves all praise)

US authorities described Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency as a "terrorist" organisation, according to a leaked US document.


We may ask our dear PM to do this task of biriyani distribution. He would be more than happy and maybe we can hear him praise Pakistan too just like how those in Pakistan praises him.


Source:


http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/05/02/2011-05-02_bin_laden_death_secretary_of_state_hillary_clinton_tells_taliban_leaders_you_can.html#ixzz1LGWxxda4
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/15-01-2007/86412-clinton_pakistan-0/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13191241
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/18/singhs-comment-spurs-hopes-for-peace.html
http://www.pkarticleshub.com/2011/04/19/the-rise-and-fall-of-manmohan-singh/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10146278
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-vs-pak-gilani-to-meet-zardari-to-decide-on-pms-invitation/767688/

The leaks...

Against the backdrop of wikileaks and after reading the following from Pioneer, thought I would re-post what I had posted earlier.

Secret cables, which were leaked by WikiLeaks, show that US diplomats and spies believe Pakistan army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) continue to quietly back four militant groups -- the Afghan Taliban, its allied Haqqani and Hekmatyar networks on the western Afghan frontier, and LeT on the eastern border with India.


Some ISI officials "continue to maintain ties with a wide array of extremist organisations, in particular the Taliban, LeT and other extremist organisations," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in December 2009.

Resolving the 63-year-old Kashmir conflict "would dramatically improve the situation", Patterson said.

Click to read the full article.

As for wikileaks, I continue to believe that nothing new has been revealed. Whatever is in black and white now has been leaked earlier in the media. Some believed while some did not. And now one can either take the stand of Mrs. Clinton and call them terrorists or one can call them a whistle blower. But even if it is late, America can now publicly acknowledge what they really think of Pakistan and it's leaders.

I also believe that the ones on the banks that are yet to come may be of help to the US citizens themselves. Are they not interested in knowing how the financial crisis came about and how those who are responsible for it are still being protected? As an Indian citizen, I would love to have the same leaks on my own government especially after the recent scams.

The following was a comment from my friend when I posted on FB that if US has done nothing wrong then why they should fear the leaks. 

That is very easy for you to say. It is like you having a frank, private discussion with your husband about all your neighbors and then find out that someone has recorded the conversation and given it to the whole neighborhood. The point is that the cables are and were meant to be confidential communications and diplomatic missions require such internal information to function well.

I did respond thus and further chat did not reach anywhere

Well, you can put it thus if you think you have been given the moral right to control every neighbour that lives around you..



nd feels it is right to maintain diplomacy/silence as you deem, even when you know that one of your neigbour is s...ending a dagger right through the heart of the other :)

___________________________________________________________________________________
My earlier posts on US's obsession with Pakistan and Kashmir.

For the carrot - dated 2-Feb 2010

Thus blogs the great enlightener of the masses..


Wow!

Nd why in the world should India be obsessed with Pakistan?

Oh yes… they have an answer to that too.. The much coveted seat in the great UN besides the great US.

And hence, US is dangling this carrot and sweet talking to India so as to end its stand with Pakistan since the great citizens in the US thinks and is made to think that all the problems in Pakistan ( Afganisthan , Bin Laden, Islamic terrorism) is only because of Kashmir (India). Literally speaking, every Pakistani wakes up in the morning and was waking up since Pakistan’s independence and thinks and was thinking only about Kashmir and the myriad ways to save the multitude of suffering souls in Kashmir. And now it seems US is also thinking along these lines!

And it is only we stupid Indians who is yet to realize this great truth… but let us not be discouraged since our government has realized it too..

Did anyone say that Bombay.. sorry Mumbai was attacked?

Another one posted on India Tweets

What an idea! (Dec 14, 2009)


Pakistanis should thank their government for their brilliant idea of nurturing terrorists; if their soil had not bred them would the US part with so much money?

Would their houses light up and would their thirst be quenched if not for the terrorists?

WASHINGTON - Electricity and water projects will be an early priority for nearly $1.5 billion a year in new U.S. non military aid for Pakistan expected to be passed by the Senate on Sunday, senior U.S. officials said.

The aid is included in a $7.5 billion, five-year package proposed by President Barack Obama as one tool to combat extremism in Pakistan. He has called the region the "epicenter" of violence and Pakistan is seen as critical to U.S. efforts to fight the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Headley shall also be "cherished"

One of the major news that we read in the Indian newspapers yesterday was that Headley will be now pleading “guilty” instead of his earlier plea of “not guilty”.

In the American criminal justice system, defendants in federal court can be convicted one of two ways -- by pleading guilty or after a trial.

Those who choose to admit their guilt are often "rewarded" with lesser sentences.

The concept of the plea is one of the major differences between criminal procedure under common law and procedure under the civil law system. Under common law, a plea of guilty by the defendant waives trial of the charged offences and the defendant may be sentenced immediately. This produces a system under American law known as plea bargaining.
A plea bargain is an agreement between a prosecutor and defendant whereby the prosecutor provides incentive for the defendant to plead guilty in order to avoid going to trial. Plea bargains can benefit defendants by guaranteeing particular outcomes. The two most common types of plea bargains are charge and sentence bargaining, where the first type reduces the charge(s), and the latter, the sentence(s). Fact bargaining is a less common type of plea bargain.

As we know now, Headley used this same plea to escape from his earlier offense of smuggling heroine into the US soil. He was not only “awarded” but he got a perfect opportunity to tie up with the elements in Pakistan.

Mr Headley came to the attention of the US security services in 1997 when he was arrested for heroin smuggling in New York. He earned a reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) by infiltrating Pakistan-linked narcotics gangs.

In fact, there are people who wonder if he was working as a double agent for US. If not, one wonders why Headley has not been given access to Indian authorities even after the Pune blast. During Headley’s “high profile visits” (he rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty of Bollywood) which happened even after the Mumbai blasts, he did visit Pune too. Recently Cochin was at high alert since the “Karachi Project” is still being manned by those who continue to run scot free.

Today the news reads thus...

Also his being proven guilty and convicted in the US courts makes him inaccessible to Indian investigative agencies.

I guess now Headley shall escape capital punishment and will now be “rewarded” with a lighter sentence.

But will his admitting to certain offense aid in getting Kazab punished or shall we have one more deadly criminal to “cherish”.


Source:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06086/677199-85.stm
http://www.answers.com/topic/plea-bargain
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7026599.ece
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3716625

For the carrot...

Thus blogs the great enlightener of the masses..

Sometime in the past year, secret talks between India and Pakistan over Kashmir--which made great progress in 2008 before Pakistan's strongman, Pervez Musharraf, was ousted--were restarted, say U.S. and Indian sources. If successful, the negotiations would represent a huge breakthrough for the subcontinent.

Wow!

Nd why in the world should India be obsessed with Pakistan?

Oh yes… they have an answer to that too.. The much coveted seat in the great UN besides the great US.

And hence, US is dangling this carrot and sweet talking to India so as to end its stand with Pakistan since the great citizens in the US thinks and is made to think that all the problems in Pakistan ( Afganisthan , Bin Laden, Islamic terrorism) is only because of Kashmir (India). Literally speaking, every Pakistani wakes up in the morning and was waking up since Pakistan’s independence and thinks and was thinking only about Kashmir and the myriad ways to save the multitude of suffering souls in Kashmir. And now it seems US is also thinking along these lines!

And it is only we stupid Indians who is yet to realize this great truth… but let us not be discouraged since our government has realized it too..

Did anyone say that Bombay.. sorry Mumbai was attacked?

Are the tables turning?

This is an old map showing the state of Sanctions a decade ago.



And some of these countries still face sanctions mostly imposed by US and UN.

But now China is threatening to impose sanctions on US companies if they go ahead with their arms sales in Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, on Tuesday repeated Beijing's threat to impose sanctions against U.S. companies which sell arms to Taiwan.

"The concerned U.S. companies have ignored China's opposition and insisted on selling weapons to Taiwan. China will impose corresponding sanctions on companies that sell weapons to Taiwan," Ma said told a news conference.

They have also asked Obama not to meet Dalai Lama.

"If the U.S. leader chooses this time to meet the Dalai Lama, that would damage trust and cooperation between our two countries, and how would that help the United States surmount the current economic crisis?" said Zhu.

Isnt there something for India to learn from this?

While India cries and rants that Pakistan is being over equipped and over indulged with monetary handouts that continue to strengthen the militants, did we ever think the way China is thinking? (Not that I am fan of the Chinese Government)

Instead our government gives Padma Bhushan to frauds just because someone claimed that he helped to bring about the nuclear deal. Oh yes, the same deal that will strengthen a whole lot of business houses in India as well as US.

When there is money flowing in and out for a few, our foreign policies and our national awards (not all since I am sure some of them deserve these awards) will also be in tune... those in power will continue to scratch the back of those who are sustaining them. But I am yet again vexed to know that it was our honest PM who selected this person for the award. Has honesty decided to change its meaning in our dictionaries?

Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35191073/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/02/AR2007090201436.html
http://www.seattlepi.com/iraq/art/sanctionmap.gif
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jan/26/sant-chatwal-grateful-to-india-for-padma-honour.htm

The five pillars that MM Singh will uphold

While searching the net to know the significance of MM Singh’s visit to US, I landed on this particular page and the five pillars.

Supposedly, these are the five pillars that our Prime Minister will uphold while in the US soil.

1. Strategic cooperation that includes arms sales, joint military exercises and joint military cooperation in combating maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden. (There are significant new sales on the horizon, up to $18 billion worth of contracts, for which American companies are competing)

2. The second pillar of the U.S.-India relationship is that of energy and climate change (India currently emits about 4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases)

3. A third pillar is in economics, trade and agriculture. (Two-way trade with India was about $5 billion in 1990, rose to $14 billion in 2000 and reached nearly $50 billion in 2008, according to U.S. trade statistics.)

4. Cooperation in education ( India will open up the higher education sector to greater foreign investment)

5. Cooperation in science and technology ( $30 million science and technology endowment to be used for joint research and development, innovation, and commercialization.)

Hopefully we shall also hear MM Singh say that Pakistan needs to stop exporting terror etc etc etc etc...

Even the Readers Digest?

It was sad to read the following news today:

Reader’s Digest to file for bankruptcy protection

The publisher of Reader's Digest, the country’s most popular general interest magazine, said Monday it will file for Chapter 11 protection with a plan to swap a portion of its debt for ownership of the company.

Practically grew up with this book since my parents have subscribed to it from the time it landed in India. It even made my mother start a similar magazine at home to keep the 5 of us siblings engaged during the holidays. We used to write our own versions of articles and stories which was edited by my mother. She compiled them and either typed it or re-wrote by hand and named it the "Philip's journal". Since we used to write anything and everything and drop it into a box that was kept specially for this, we used to wait eagerly to see if it passed our mother's editing. It was a proud moment if it ever reached the final print.

Indian edition

The Indian edition was first published in 1954. Its circulation then was 40,000 copies. Today, the magazine is published in India by Living Media India Ltd., and sold over 600,000 copies monthly in 2008 — a fifteen-fold increase. It not only includes local Indian articles but international articles as well.

The real life drama section was always a thrill to read and the “quotable quotes” was the first page that I enjoyed reading. During the growing up years the collection of articles was always a source of comfort and inspiration.

I do read that the magazine may continue but not as before. Seems they do not have much audience amongst the young and also since similar articles are in abundance on the internet it was slowly losing its readers.

The Indian edition was not upto the mark but I always opened this little book with much eagerness and have read every single page of it. Here in Kuwait I did arrange for the magazine to be delivered at home but the delivery has always been erratic.

....edited to add the following from NDTV

"The Chapter 11 filing will apply only to the company's US businesses...its operations in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia-New Zealand will not be affected. RDA's international operations are expected to have adequate funding based on continuing operations and access to proceeds from the DIP (debtor in possession) financing," the company said.

Earlier in March 2009, Indian Software exporter HCL Technologies had announced a seven-year IT operations and management engagement with RDA.

Black or White.. does it really matter?

I could’nt understand the media’s penchant to use ‘black President’ every time Obama’s name was mentioned. It was indeed irritating. Democracy worked beautifully in America and that should be it.

Not because I have anything against either the blacks or the white. But if Obama was elected, then the votes just did not come from the blacks alone. I believe whites make up 80% of the American population. In this case, there has to be a good number of whites who voted Obama to power. Still why does the media love calling him 'black'? If his Father was white and his mother black, would they have called him ‘white’? Mothers yet again remain worthless.

The Hole

Stephen Cohen, of the Brookings Institution thinktank, and the author of a new book, The Idea of Pakistan,said: "The American and British governments have dug such a big hole for themselves, they have no choice but to support Musharraf in whatever he does."

Read..

Stephen has hit the Bulls Eye with his statement! Keep lauding and loading Pakistan...since this does not have a break! You just wait for the crash...

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Couldnt help posting this....

"The president is a strong defender of freedom and the people of Pakistan," Bush said that day, side by side with Musharraf.

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U.S. aid supports Pakistan military

Most U.S. aid to Pakistan goes toward military support; the U.S. counts on Pakistan to help capture al-Qaida operations and provide intelligence. "We're obviously not going to do anything that will undermine the war on terror," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for Bush.

and all in favour of Osama...isnt he one smart aleck?