With its unsurpassed educational institutions, varied employment opportunities, cultural diversity, and quality standard of living, the United States remains a top immigration destination for Indians.

Despite the hardships that the work based visa holders, particularly the H-1B faced during the Trump era in the United States and even with the currently impossible wait for a green card, Indians are making a beeline for America.

The recent data released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in India notes that over 160,000 Indians renounced their citizenship in 2021. Of all the migration destinations, the US is the most sought-after country and in the last three years, more than 100,000 people chose to migrate here rather than to destinations like Canada, Australia, and the UK.

As India does not allow dual citizenship, over 78,000 Indians acquired US citizenship. But what makes the United States consistently a preferred destination despite its dangerous gun related violence statistics and a lack of public healthcare system?

Dilli Bhatta, lead attorney at Applyusavisa.com says, “The reasons for this are clear as daylight. The US houses nearly 4,000 universities that include the world’s most elite and prestigious ones.”

“Students also have the option to study in community colleges, which are less expensive and have a plethora of courses, be it in arts, technology, or STEM fields,” he says. “The research infrastructure also attracts PhD aspirants and every student dreams of finding employment and eventually getting a green card.”

While this must be true as Indians continue to be the largest minority of students coming to the US for higher education. In fact, this year, the student admissions from India to various US universities broke previous records.

To top it all, success stories of Indians like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella also motivate students who also hope to excel in their chosen fields and build a life here.

A 2020 study by the Columbia Business School, says that the Indian-American households have the single-highest income level in the country, which is twice more than the income of the US population.

“Over 12% of the country’s immigrants come through employment-based green cards, after spending some time in the country through the H-1B visa program,” Bhatta notes.

“The country only lets in people who are likely to succeed and the results for everyone to see. Also, the country’s lower corporate taxes attract businessmen to invest there.”

“The robust economic scene despite the current inflation, makes it one of the top destinations for Foreign Direct Investments,” he says. “The US also has a large consumer market and free trade agreements with 20 countries, and that means more customers and abundant revenue.”

Despite political polarization heating up over race issues in the US in the past few years, the general environment is one of liberal diversity and inclusion as far as educational institutions and business arenas go.

“The US President Joe Biden has relaxed some of the immigration laws, especially regarding the H-1B program. Efforts are being made to clear backlogs, reduce waiting time, and eliminate per-country caps for green cards that are based on employment,” Bhatta notes.

“This will give impetus to the ambitions of IT professionals who want to solidify their presence here. Work authorization for H-4 visa holders and green cards for low-income groups will attract even more Indians in the time to come,” he says.

Indians exhibit extraordinary nationalist sentiment with confidence in its own military prowess, but also expect that the US military would support India in the event of a war with China or Pakistan, according to a new survey.

The survey of Indian public opinion by Washington think tank the Stimson Center, also finds troubling signs of intolerance toward India’s large Muslim minority.

A part of the center’s South Asian Politics and Security Project, the survey examines Indian public opinion on domestic politics and national security issues to understand the political incentives leaders face during interstate crises in Southern Asia.

The survey reveals how public attitudes could shape Indian diplomacy, crisis escalation, and nuclear force development, according to study authors Christopher Clary, Sameer Lalwani, Niloufer Siddiqui and Neelanjan Sircar.

The nature of popular views on these topics and their effects on elite decision-making are understudied, they say. “Understanding those incentives would help the United States and other diplomatic partners of India clarify mutual expectations and promote regional stability.”

The survey was intended to measure Indian attitudes towards the current government, India’s domestic challenges, and inter-state disputes as part of a broader Stimson Center initiative to understand the political incentives leaders face during interstate crises in southern Asia, according to the authors.

The 7000-person survey was conducted by phone in India between April 13 and May 14, 2022. It was translated and fielded in 12 languages for respondents in all 28 Indian states and six of India’s eight union territories by the Centre for Voting Opinion & Trends in Election Research (CVoter), a widely used public opinion firm,

Key findings:

– high levels of support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who likely remains among the most popular national leaders in the world today;

– extraordinary nationalist sentiment among Indians, at high levels compared to prior cross-national surveys using identical question wording;

– troubling signs of intolerance toward India’s large Muslim minority, which helps provide context to recent controversies;

– strong confidence in the Indian government’s ability to defend India against potential domestic and foreign threats;

– expectations among a majority of Indian respondents that the US military would support India in the event of a war with China or Pakistan; and

– large majorities in favor of Indian numerical nuclear superiority against its adversaries.

Modi received support from a large majority in the survey, with 71% either somewhat or strongly supporting him, according to the survey.

This confirms a notable positive shift from last year when Modi’s approval levels were dampened by the Covid-19 crisis and challenged later in 2021 due to his government’s controversial farm laws.

Support for his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was also high at 61%. Hindu respondents were significantly more likely to support Modi and the BJP relative to non-Hindu respondents in the sample, the survey noted.

Worryingly, supporters of Modi or the BJP were more likely to express discriminatory attitudes toward Muslims, such as stating they did not want to have a Muslim as a neighbor or that they believed India’s Muslim population was growing too fast, it said.

It is worth stating, however, that among all non-Muslim respondents, including both Modi supporters and skeptics, such discriminatory attitudes were widespread. An overwhelming majority of 78 % of respondents stated that they believed India’s Muslim population was growing too fast.

Such anti-Muslim sentiments could generate meaningful international repercussions if they influence national policy or political statements, a tendency which may be reflected in recent controversies, according to the authors.

For example, India received considerable criticism from Muslim-majority countries following derogatory statements about the Prophet Mohammad made by BJP spokespersons.

The US government too has expressed concern about restrictions against and violence targeted at Indian religious minorities.

Respondents were overwhelmingly nationalistic in their responses. As many as 90% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that “India is a better country than most other countries.” This number, large in absolute terms, is also large when compared to other contexts, according to the authors.

US citizens, for example, are typically viewed as more nationalist than average, but in 2014 only 70 % of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the US is a better country than most, they said.

While American exceptionalism is a well-understood domain of study, self-perceptions of Indian exceptionalism are relatively underexplored, the authors noted.

Nationalist sentiment dovetailed with negative opinions of neighboring countries. When asked about Pakistan, 67% of respondents expressed their “dislike to a great extent” and a nearly equivalent 65% “disliked” China to “a great extent.”

These views covaried in intuitive ways, such that respondents with greater levels of baseline support for Modi were more likely to hold negative opinions of Pakistan and China, and more nationalistic individuals were also more likely to believe India could defeat China and Pakistan militarily.

A majority of respondents said that the United States would “definitely” or “probably” help in the event of an Indian war with China (56%) or Pakistan (59%).

In contrast, surveys of US respondents have found sizeable majorities might prefer to avoid entanglement in a Sino-Indian military conflict, the authors noted.

For their part, Indian military leaders and strategists have stressed that India will have to fight its own wars alone without counting on others.

The survey identifies several areas where public views may shape Indian government preferences in ways that will be important for India’s diplomatic partners to understand.

For instance, an overwhelming majority of respondents—68 %—assessed India needed more nuclear weapons than its enemies. Just 13% said India should have about as many nuclear weapons as its enemies, and only a handful assessed that India should only have “a few” or “not any” nuclear weapons.

These public preferences may be incompatible with India’s current nuclear force structure where most non-governmental organizations assess that China has more operational nuclear weapons than India while Pakistan has the same or slightly more nuclear weapons than India, the study noted.

If these preferences hold, they could serve as a political driver for an arms race with China, which US assessments forecast could quadruple its nuclear forces to 1,000 weapons by 2030, the authors said.

Public opinion may encourage rather than restrain any contemplated future Indian nuclear force buildup, the authors said noting the survey finds an Indian public that prefers Indian numerical nuclear superiority against its adversaries by large margins.

It is consistent with earlier public opinion research that suggested that the Indian public was comfortable with nuclear weapons as tools of statecraft in specific, plausible scenarios.

Such views help provide context to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to emphasize on the campaign trail in 2019 that Indian nuclear weapons were not kept as mere showpieces, the authors said.

“India’s extraordinary nationalism may prove challenging for Indian diplomatic partners to navigate,” the authors said noting, “Indian self-confidence may lead to mistaken popular views of Indian military prowess.”

“Yet Indian confidence that India would likely defeat China or Pakistan may exceed what a careful net assessment might warrant,” they said.

This in turn might make it challenging for Indian leaders to back down in crises, since their publics may view such conflicts as winnable even if the military balance is not in their favor, the authors suggested.

US officials may also seek to signal their willingness to aid India in the event of conflict with China to correct widespread popular doubts, they said.

“At the same time, US officials likely do not foresee significant material support in the event of an India-Pakistan conflict and instead seek to retain a viable third-party crisis management role. US officials should be aware that they may struggle to fulfill Indian public expectations in such circumstances,” the authors said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has named Indian American entrepreneur Arun Agarwal as vice chairman of a body tasked with marketing Texas, domestically and globally, as the best state for business.

The Texas Economic Development Corporation is the private side of a public-private partnership with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development & Tourism set up for this purpose, according to a press release.

Dallas based Agarwal, 50, is the CEO of Nextt and has business interests in textiles, cotton trading, and real estate. He is chair of the Indian American CEO Council and president of the Dallas Parks & Recreation Board.

Additionally, he is a board member of the US India Friendship Council, the University of Texas at Dallas Executive Board, Texas Tech Innovation HUB at Research Park, Big Brothers Big Sisters International, and MD Anderson Board of Visitors. He is also a volunteer for Chetna, a non-profit organization to help victims of domestic violence, and the Living Dreams Foundation.

Agarwal, originally from Jaipur, India, attended school at Maharajas College for his bachelor’s degree. He received a Master’s in Business Administration from IMT – Ghaziabad, a Master’s in Computer Information Systems from Southern New Hampshire University, and an Advanced Certificate in International Business from Harvard University.

Agarwal told The Dallas Morning News that he and Sanjiv Yajnik, president of financial services for bank holding firm Capital One, started the Indian American CEO Council in 2018, “to help bring business leaders together.”

He said, “the council’s mission is to facilitate alliances between India and the US, act as a catalyst for economic and trade opportunities and strengthen relationships.”

“We are Indian Americans,” Yajnik said. “We really wanted to give back to the wonderful land that has given us so much.”

When they started the Indian American CEO Council, the pair didn’t want it to feel like a chamber of commerce or a narrowly focused organization, Yajnik says. They wanted to find a way to bring together business leaders who shared an identity and heritage.

Yajnik and Agarwal say Indian-American leaders can help diversify and better the country. They want more underrepresented groups to hear their story and bring their families here, too. “We want this to be an inspiration for all, not only for Indian Americans,” Agarwal told the news.

Four Indian American healthcare professionals— Dr. Nisha Kotecha, Dr. Amit Borah, Dr. Tushar Patel and Ritesh Shah — have been recognized as NJBIZ Healthcare Heroes.

They were among individuals and organizations across 12 categories celebrated as 2022 Healthcare Heroes at an event at The Palace at Somerset Park on Aug 19.

The HealthCare Heroes program was created to recognize excellence, promote innovation and honor the efforts of individuals and organizations making a significant impact on the quality of health care in New Jersey, according to a press release.

Dr. Nisha Kotecha, chief of critical care at Overlook Medical Center received the award in Physician of the Year category. Kotecha is a pulmonologist in Summit, New Jersey and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area. She received her medical degree from Topiwala National Medical College and has been in practice for 20 years.

Dr. Amit Borah, Atlanticare Regional Medical Center was honored in Innovation – Individual category. Borah is a medical pioneer – an interventional pulmonologist, one of the newest internal medicine subspecialties. He uses sophisticated technology to diagnose and treat problems in the lungs and airway.

Borah is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine. He is a member of the American Thoracic Society and the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, among others.

Dr. Tushar Patel, Indian Health Camp of New Jersey and Ritesh Shah, pharmacist/founder of Ritesh Shah Charitable Pharmacy – NJ’s 1st Charitable Pharmacy were honored in the Public Health category.

Patel and Shah have worked together for the past two decades. Under the leadership of Patel, Indian Health Camp has provided free services to more than 12,000 patients. Shah has been running a charitable pharmacy with Indian Health Camp in New Jersey for the past two decades.

Since the inception of RSCP, it has provided more than $100,000 worth of medications to needy people in New Jersey communities to start making a difference in better medication access.

To celebrate the glory of India’s 75th Independence Day, Indians residing in the USA took out a Tiranga Yatra on a bulldozer that had posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. And, the poster with CM Yogi’s face had ‘Baba ka bulldozer’ written on it in Hindi. The rally was reportedly carried out by the Indian-origin people of Addition Township in New Jersey, USA.

Several pictures and videos of the bulldozer moving around the streets of New Jersey are also making rounds on the internet now.

The Tiranga rally was reportedly carried out by the Indian-origin people of Addition Township in New Jersey, USA. The streets of New Jersey also resonated with the slogans of ‘CM Yogi Zindabad’ and ‘Bulldozer Baba Zindabad’.

Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, Craig J. Coughlin, also joined the Indian community during the celebration.

Speaking about his experience, Speaker Craig Coughlin said, “Though India’s story happened many years after America, our shared ideas of freedom and democracy unite us. As I stand here at the heart of the business district, I am reminded of how the Indian Americans have contributed to the positive growth of New Jersey.”