India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

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achit
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by achit »

India is planning to procure the weaponised MQ-9B Sky Guardian drone from the United States (US) as it looks to upgrade its existing Israeli Heron fleet and enhance its satellite communication capability and range.

The decision to shift from the 22 reconnaissance and surveillance Sea Guardian drones to the well-weaponised MQ-9B Sky Guardian has come in the midst of long-going border face-off with China in Easter Ladakh, Hindustan Times reported.
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/india-to- ... with-china

A Biden presidency is not good for India-US defense relationship. If not US, is there any other country that can provide this capability?
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Mort Walker »

It is very bad from the India-US defense relationship. What has to be done is to continue military-military contacts and continue exercises. Links at the colonel level and above must be established because these colonels will be generals in the pentagon later. An impact on policy will happen in a future administration 4-8 years down the road. The UNPA will try to sabotage this effort.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by arshyam »

achit wrote:If not US, is there any other country that can provide this capability?
India. :P
achit
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by achit »

arshyam wrote:
achit wrote:If not US, is there any other country that can provide this capability?
India. :P
:rotfl:

In the long run, yes!!
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by darshan »

US opposes China's attempts to advance territorial claims in Arunachal: State dept
https://www.wionews.com/india-news/us-o ... ept-331926
Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory and the United States strongly opposes unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims in Arunachal Pradesh by incursions, be it military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), US State Department official said.

"We have our position on some parts of the border for sure is explicitly clear. For nearly six decades, the US has recognised that Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory. We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions, by military or civilian incursions across the established LAC," the state department official said, during a Foreign Press Centre briefing on Thursday, amid the India-China border face-off.
....
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by vimal »

Not sure if this the right thread but Trump’s decision to ban Green cards for foreign nationals has helped H1B folks. EB3 has jumped by 4 years allowing folks upto 2015 to file for adjustment of status in October 2020. Had it not been for the ban these folks would be stuck in the line for decade or more.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by darshan »

That's a true statement. Files are getting cleared like not seen before. Of course, it won't be seen on WhatsApp where desi people are still gaga over obama speeding up their green cards. How? Only they know.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by shaun »

During Obama time also backog was cleared once, These happens once or twice in a decade...USCIS has their own calculations... govt just uses that as per their own timings
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Mort Walker »

There is a reason why USCIS is processing the backlog.

Rejection rate for renewal of H-1B and L-1 visas has increased considerably. Nearly 40% and above of renewals are now being rejected after 2 and 4 years of stay. USCIS federal employees are facing a Reduction In Force (RIF), which is government sanctioned layoff of many thousands of employees, due to limited or no processing of new visas due to COVID-19. Given that, USCIS is clearing the backlog of other visas to justify the number of people working for the agency.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by darshan »

Not sure why they don't repurpose this workforce towards deportation and reopening of old files on random basis to check for chinese espionage activities.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Mort Walker »

darshan wrote:Not sure why they don't repurpose this workforce towards deportation and reopening of old files on random basis to check for chinese espionage activities.
That’s not their job. If a person has legally entered, then their credentials should have been duly verified. It is the assumption that USCIS did their job correctly in the first place for vetting the individual. After that, if the person conducts illegal activities, then it is the job of local and federal law enforcement to prepare a criminal file to be forwarded to USCIS for deportation, as that is a violation of their visa conditions.

Note, the USCIS faced a furlough due to budget issues. That has been resolved as a continuing resolution of the FY20 budget was extended to Dec. 11th on Oct. 1st. A RIF has been talked about since fewer visas are being processed; however congress and federal employee unions have expressed concerns about a RIF.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by achit »

vimal wrote:Not sure if this the right thread but Trump’s decision to ban Green cards for foreign nationals has helped H1B folks. EB3 has jumped by 4 years allowing folks upto 2015 to file for adjustment of status in October 2020. Had it not been for the ban these folks would be stuck in the line for decade or more.
This is nothing but a way to infuse cash into USCIS. Many folks are now jumping into EB3 from EB2, as per my understanding this does not require any labor/perm certification. I am not following immigration rules for last 5-7 years but jump to EB3 completely baffles me, what stops USCIS raising question on actual job etc. Wasn't Trump administration proposing re-verification/re-certification of old cases where I-140 portability was being used.

IMHO this will result in heart-ache for many people in future!
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by vimal »

shaun wrote:During Obama time also backog was cleared once, These happens once or twice in a decade...USCIS has their own calculations... govt just uses that as per their own timings
That happened in 2007 when Bush was president. Not sure why Indians keep crediting Obama for it.
Last edited by vimal on 04 Oct 2020 00:57, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by KL Dubey »

achit wrote:
vimal wrote:Not sure if this the right thread but Trump’s decision to ban Green cards for foreign nationals has helped H1B folks. EB3 has jumped by 4 years allowing folks upto 2015 to file for adjustment of status in October 2020. Had it not been for the ban these folks would be stuck in the line for decade or more.
This is nothing but a way to infuse cash into USCIS. Many folks are now jumping into EB3 from EB2, as per my understanding this does not require any labor/perm certification. I am not following immigration rules for last 5-7 years but jump to EB3 completely baffles me, what stops USCIS raising question on actual job etc. Wasn't Trump administration proposing re-verification/re-certification of old cases where I-140 portability was being used.

IMHO this will result in heart-ache for many people in future!
The year-long freeze (not ban) on GCs is for those who are applying from outside the US (mainly family-based immigration from places like Mexico, Philippines, etc...and some from India too). Trump administration is (rightly) cracking down on this, since it sets up a chain immigration system where a steady stream of poorly educated immigrants from Mexico, Philippines, and parts of India like Punjab can keep coming. This also increases the waiting time for Indian professionals.

Those who are already in the US, e.g., H1 professionals waiting to get GC, have no freeze and will actually benefit since there will be a lot of unused GCs due to the freeze on external family-based applicants. A lot of people (mostly Indians) in the US are seeing faster movement on their GCs. I am expecting the Chinese will see some speed-up too, although given the gift from Wuhan, I suspect the USCIS will be looking for ways to slow down their applications with RFEs and the like.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/busin ... 84331.html
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by KL Dubey »

vimal wrote:
shaun wrote:During Obama time also backog was cleared once, These happens once or twice in a decade...USCIS has their own calculations... govt just uses that as per their own timings
That happened in 2007 when Bush was president. Not sure why Indians keep crediting Obama for it. Obama did nothing for legal immigrants.
There was another drop in waiting time around 2011-2012 for family-based GCs...but that was just USCIS workings...Obamudu indeed did nothing.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Vayutuvan »

obamudu rhymes with raamuDu but Obama is no raama
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by g.sarkar »

deleted as suggested.
Gautam
Last edited by g.sarkar on 06 Oct 2020 13:33, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Pratyush »

Funny article. I think that a big fat lifafa was received by the author from Bejing for writing such an article.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Lisa »

^^ The author has prior anti India form. I will not provide a link but at last call he felt that

"If Modi wants to see unequivocal Western support for India’s stand against China, he’ll have to clean up his act. No matter how strong his democratic mandate, Modi has to put the “liberal” back into India’s liberal democracy."

and

"Yet many mainstream Western media believe that Indian democracy is imperiled or dying, that India is at best a 40 percent democracy, or that it is a fascistic democracy going down the road of Nazi Germany. Some even argue that Modi is more dangerous than Adolf Hitler. Others claim that India’s “current situation is already worse than Indira Gandhi’s state of emergency in the mid-1970s,” when for nearly two years in that period the staunchly secular, supposedly liberal Indian National Congress party ruled by decree, outlawed opposition, imprisoned opponents, censored the press, and implemented a program of forced sterilization of the poor."

His articles should not be reproduced on this site.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by nachiket »

Obama did do one thing which was allowing work permits for spouses on H4 visas which helped a lot of Indians waiting in the backlog. Probably why he gets credit for stuff he did not do. People probably just assume it must have been him. Trump admin has tried their best to undo that change and restrict H4 spouses to sitting at home again. There is still a sword hanging over the H4 EAD. Not sure what the current status is. USCIS was giving ridiculous reasons for lengthy wait times for the EAD saying that the place which made the EAD cards was shut down and they were looking for a new supplier etc. Basically trying to defacto restrict H4 EAD's while waiting till the the policy can be officially changed back to pre-Obama time.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by saip »

Today Trump admin announced more restrictions on H1B visas.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by V_Raman »

H4 EAD is classic overreach by Dems and basically soured the whole H1 program in the eyes of US public. H4s signed up for not being able to work till GC willingly. If that means 15 yr wait - then accept it. That should not have been done. They took a working program and made if bad for everyone - classic story of cutting the goose that lays golden eggs.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Suraj »

The H4 EAD issue was the result of several bad policies. Retrogression was a fact for a long time, but once the timelines started going from a few years for EB3 to nearly a decade and then more ridiculously to several decades, among the ‘solutions’ became to allow H4 EAD. The best solution would have been to set the wage determination requirements to be strengthened in order to prevent a backlog from accruing to the extent it did. This situation predates even Obama, though it became much worse over the 2010s.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Mort Walker »

saip wrote:Today Trump admin announced more restrictions on H1B visas.
Mainly it forces companies who use H-1B to pay higher salaries. The renewal rejection rate for H-1B and L-1 will increase. If the administration was serious, they would have done it in 2017 instead of an election stunt.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by chetak »

one wonders what some ABCD Indians think of this


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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by nachiket »

V_Raman wrote:H4 EAD is classic overreach by Dems and basically soured the whole H1 program in the eyes of US public. H4s signed up for not being able to work till GC willingly. If that means 15 yr wait - then accept it. That should not have been done. They took a working program and made if bad for everyone - classic story of cutting the goose that lays golden eggs.
That is easy to say when it is someone else being asked to stay at home or make do with a single income in places like California. The ideal solution would obviously have been comprehensive immigration reform which deals with the problem of long backlogs but that was and has proved to be impossible in the congress. Obama tried to do the next best thing.

As for actual legislative action, bills like S386 which are promoted by Indian-American groups (non-citizens) were taken up and a version of it was passed by the House after the Dems got majority. In the senate it has been stalled by a few republican senators (most notably Rick Scott of Florida). Of course, even if it had passed, Trump might have vetoed it anyway. That is the ground reality today. People can twist it however they like in order to fit their political affiliations and blame people accordingly while Indian born adult children of H-1B visa holders who have been waiting in the backlog for 15+ years face the prospect of having to go back to India because they can't be on dependent visas anymore.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by achit »

nachiket wrote:
V_Raman wrote:H4 EAD is classic overreach by Dems and basically soured the whole H1 program in the eyes of US public. H4s signed up for not being able to work till GC willingly. If that means 15 yr wait - then accept it. That should not have been done. They took a working program and made if bad for everyone - classic story of cutting the goose that lays golden eggs.
That is easy to say when it is someone else being asked to stay at home or make do with a single income in places like California. The ideal solution would obviously have been comprehensive immigration reform which deals with the problem of long backlogs but that was and has proved to be impossible in the congress. Obama tried to do the next best thing.

As for actual legislative action, bills like S386 which are promoted by Indian-American groups (non-citizens) were taken up and a version of it was passed by the House after the Dems got majority. In the senate it has been stalled by a few republican senators (most notably Rick Scott of Florida). Of course, even if it had passed, Trump might have vetoed it anyway. That is the ground reality today. People can twist it however they like in order to fit their political affiliations and blame people accordingly while Indian born adult children of H-1B visa holders who have been waiting in the backlog for 15+ years face the prospect of having to go back to India because they can't be on dependent visas anymore.
My wife waited 6 years to file her 485 and waited for her EAD to work so I know the pain and frustration it can lead to.
Now a days you can get EAD pretty much as soon as you come to us.
H1B person has to be paid prevailing market wage, what is the wage protection for US worker against H4-EAD? AFAIK it is none. Many H4 spouses are qualified to get an H1B visa on their own but may not get due to limits every year. H4-EAD is legal bypass to circumvent rules.
When companies are asking older employees to retire and hiring H4-EADs, it is going to cause heart-burn!
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by V_Raman »

Sorry this is not about sympathy - all of us signed up knowing the consequences. If a person cannot afford one income in CA - then go back to India or dont bring your family to USA. That is the choice one needs to make. H4 EAD works anywhere and everywhere including Home depot, driving school reception etc. - this is not about making ends meet - causing severe heartburn to the natives. You could say that this is legal - I am just following the laws. But this is wrong. We should remove H4 EAD - otherwise we are inexorably moving towards scrapping of the H1B program itself.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by mappunni »

Carrollton Mayoral Candidate Zul Mirza Mohamed Arrested, Charged With 100+ Counts Of Voter Fraud

This is a suburb of Dallas TX. From Terroristan!! Carrollton is infested with them

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/10/08/car ... ter-fraud/

The Denton County Sheriff’s Office has Zul Mirza Mohamed in custody and charged him with 109 felonies related to voter fraud.

Officials say absentee ballots had been requested to be sent to a PO Box in Lewisville, that was supposed to belong to a nursing home facility. When investigators made contact with the Carrollton residents whose ballots had been requested they learned that none of the residents had asked for ballots be mailed to the PO Box.

Further investigation revealed the PO Box had been obtained with a fictitious Texas driver license and a fictitious University of North Texas student ID. Showing of Pakistaniyat!!

To find out who was behind the scheme officials began a surveillance of the postal facility.

A box of the requested ballots was picked up at the location on October 7. Investigators followed the person, later identified as Mohamed, back to a home in the 1600 block of Bennington Drive in Carrollton and contacted a judge to get a search warrant for the house.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by vimal »

Pretty much every decision made by DT and his admin has been overturned in the courts. They even lost the DACA case with conservative majority in SC. It all short term political stunt nothing more.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Yagnasri »

From what I see ( I live in Bharat and never been to this US) there is a clear anti immigration idea in a large section of the voters. Legal or illegal. Dems in reality are for illegal immigration or legal immigration for the people who vote for them. That is their political plan. US citizens of Bharat origin are now basically Dem votes. So you can expect some relief from Dems. But the entire PC BS crowd are anti Hindu + pakis. They are going to have huge power under Biden or any any Dem rule.

Dems are no longer intersted in Economic issues. They are totally into PC issues and that will result in Hindus painted as Nazis and what not. Unfortutnately it looks like Most of the Hindus are also totally secularised. So they will be Sipays of Dems PC anti Hindu anti Bharat people. They will shape anti Bharat policies.

It is true that internaltional relations have their own longer term things and will not change much with the change of each administration, but is is also true that a large part of the US SD is still living in Cold war era or in the Chinese payroll.

So it is my view that Biden admin if it comes will start down turn on US Bharat relations.

Let us look alternatives to GE 404 and GE 414INs. It will at least be a plan B.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by darshan »

Yagnasri wrote: Let us look alternatives to GE 404 and GE 414INs. It will at least be a plan B.
This should happen irrespective of anything. No self respecting country with 1b+ population would be importing things like India does. Local MIC is another name for national security.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Mort Walker »

darshan wrote:
Yagnasri wrote: Let us look alternatives to GE 404 and GE 414INs. It will at least be a plan B.
This should happen irrespective of anything. No self respecting country with 1b+ population would be importing things like India does. Local MIC is another name for national security.
Building jet engines takes decades after continuous annual investment. That has not happened. The GE 404 and 414 imports are much better than importing entire aircraft from any foreign country for 200 plus combat aircraft. Get the Tejas program off the ground and going, there is so much to learn from serial production.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Yagnasri »

True. But we need to invest money time and effort on engine tech. There is no other way.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by darshan »

Mort Walker wrote: Building jet engines takes decades after continuous annual investment. That has not happened. The GE 404 and 414 imports are much better than importing entire aircraft from any foreign country for 200 plus combat aircraft. Get the Tejas program off the ground and going, there is so much to learn from serial production.
Mortji, I'm aware of it. My career is built around R&D labs and test ranges.

However, decades have gone by since India was a slave country. Something being hard doesn't change the fact about self respect. Faster the admittance about it the better it's.
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by saip »

When will someone in India say:
"We choose to build jet engines in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,..."
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by ArjunPandit »

saip wrote:When will someone in India say:
"We choose to build jet engines in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,..."
no one..coz india is not USA ....what will happen is there will be a long and ardous road that will be taken up over time after india has mastered fighter jet someone will realize that we dont make engines ..just like we havent realized it for electronics..semi conductor fabs...or realized too late in the game only recently...i think leaders play generational games..this generations's target is china...
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by chetak »

N95 masks were so scarce in India that even docs were not able to get ....

Taranjit Singh Sandhu@SandhuTaranjitS · Oct 10

Philadelphia receives 1.8 million N95 masks from India to aid their fight against COVID-19. Another example of the robust India-US reliable partnership in the health sector!






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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by vimal »

I could get 2 made in China N95 in India after scouring multiple Pharmacies, where did these million come from?
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Re: India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

Post by Thakur_B »

Barring the initial panic in first 2-3 weeks, I have been using ISI marked N-95 masks since lockdown began.
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