US Lawmakers Visit To India: Beginning of Trump Modi Equation?

It seems that the American lawmakers are trying their level best to make their bonds even stronger with India. For the very first time, we will have 27 US lawmakers to visit India, in two delegations. They are among the top lawmakers from the Republican as well as the Democratic parties. They will visit India this month itself, which also reflects their efforts towards making even better relationship with India. This is, till now, the largest travel of US lawmakers to India.

• Lets Know More About The Lawmakers Delegation:

The 27 US lawmakers, scheduled to visit India, will come in two delegations. First delegation will be of 19 Congressmen and the other one will be of 8 lawmakers. The first delegation, which consists of the largest of 19 lawmakers, will visit India from 20th February till 25th of February. They will stop in New Delhi and Hyderabad during their entire stay in India. This delegation is organized by the Aspen Institute.

The second delegation will be led by the Chairman of powerful House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Bob Goodlatte. This delegation comprises of 8 lawmakers and will visit India from 20th February till 23rd February. They will stop in New Delhi and Bangalore, during their entire stay in India.

• Agendas of This Visit:

The 27 US lawmakers will have various meetings, ranging from the top government officials, to the non-governmental organizations, i.e. the NGOs. They can very well see the political vibrancy in India as well as the increasing economic reforms. They can also identify about the various areas of political engagement. All these things are of great deal, especially at a time when we are looking into the strengthening the bonds between the Indo-US strategic ties.

• Importance Of This Visit:

There is an unofficial site, called LegiStorm, which keeps a record of all the lawmaker’s foreign travel. According to this site, India is not at all a famous spot for the US lawmakers. India has never got a place in the top 10 frequently visited countries by the US lawmakers. Now, the question is, “Why Is This Visit Very Important For India?”

The USIBC, i.e., the US India Business Council has planned to take approximately 100 lawmakers to India within the duration of the next two years. We just have 27 this year. In order to make 100 lawmakers visit India within the next two years, it is very important that we convey true and right story about India. We must convey them about what India is all about, which must include everything, right from its culture, to the variety of different food we eat.

• India-US Relationship With The New US Laws:

To start off about answering this question, let us first talk about the H1B visa. H1B visa is a type of non-immigrant visa which allows American firms to employ foreign workers. The tech companies are highly dependent on this visa as through this only, they hire tens of thousands of employees, and that too, every year. The change introduced by Donald Trump over this H1B visa will definitely have an impact over the Indian employees. Indian tech firms have invested a total of around $2 billion in the last 4 years in US. They have also paid an approximate value of $20 billion in terms of taxes.

The reforms in the H-1B visa has forced several students to look for some another country rather than US. The number of applications for the US visa has come down by around 70%, since the suggested reforms. Indians are the largest beneficiaries of H-1B visas. it is definitely going to affect Indians planning to study in US, or looking for a job to settle there.

What About The Ties Between India & Russia?

The relationship between India and US is mending. Well, this not at all means that the relation between India and Russia is downgrading. Just because New Delhi and Washington are in the process of becoming close allies, it is not true that the India-Russia relation is drifting apart. The link between US and India has started just from the last one decade. Actually, if we look over the previous records, we will find that there is more substance in the India- Russia relations rather than in the India-US ties. For example, let us take an example of the India-US nuclear deal of the year 2005. The US has not even built a single nuclear plant in India. At the same time, Russia, built two units in India, at a place called Kundankulam. It also plans to build more.

New global political triangle between US-India-Russia?

Russia has always remained India’s trusted partner as it is the oldest friend of India. It was only due to this relation between India and Russia that Ajit Doval, the National Security Adviser visited Russia to discuss about the security issues and anti-terror cooperation talks. This move is considered as Indian efforts to realign security and foreign policy issues. Also, the national capital is busy figuring out the priorities of the Trump governance. The relation between US-Russia has just started which also marks the beginning of the bond between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. A telephonic conversation between US and Russia started for the first time, just after the victory of Donald Trump in elections.

So now, we have a triangle, with US, Russia and India, being the vertices of the triangle formed. China must be closely watching all these ties and bond formations, since it also has a good relationship with Russia. Also, China will also be affected due to the new policy reforms taking place in US. It is because of the fact that China is also one of the most important beneficiaries of H-1B visa. Now, definitely this is going to be a very interesting triangle to look upon. From all these relations, we must assume that all three countries will be benefited.