The Indian-American community is small but powerful enough to be instrumental in changing America’s foreign policy, said an Indian-American leader, who played a key role in shaping some of the key moments in bilateral ties.

Swadesh Chatterjee, a Padma Bhushan awardee in 2001, said the US-India relationship has just scratched the surface and there are immense opportunities in several key areas, including clean energy, global health and innovation.

“Today it’s the Indian American community, though it is small, it is politically powerful to really change the policy of the United States, and also for India. That is coming of age of Indian American community, and you should be all proud,” he said at an event here on Wednesday.

North Carolina-based Chatterjee has played a key role in the India-US relationship, particularly in lifting sanctions post-nuclear tests and getting the civilian nuclear deal passed through the US Congress.

“We should work very hard. Work has just begun. There will be misunderstanding, there will be challenges between India and us,” he told a gathering of Indian Americans.

“As you very well know, India did not support the US in the United Nations when Russia attacked Ukraine. A lot of (people) thought what is this about India? But India and the US relationship cannot be on auto pilot. There are always challenges,” he said.

Unlike its Quad partner countries, India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it abstained from the votes at the UN platforms on the Russian aggression.

India has been pressing for an immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine and seeking a resolution of the crisis through diplomacy and dialogue.

Chatterjee said Indian Americans have played a “vital role” in the relationship between the two countries. “We will be there to make sure that it does not slide,” he said.

Chatterjee, who has worked on this relationship for the past several decades, said India was earlier viewed with suspicion, as a part of the Soviet block and a country with chronic property.

“In the geopolitical chess game, they used to think that India is a country to be managed, not a partner,” he said.

“But the rise of India’s economic power after Narasimha Rao became the prime minister and Dr. Manmohan Singh became the finance minister and America’s interest in China and, most importantly, the political activism of Indian Americans in this country has altered the US-India relationship,” Chatterjee said.

Influential Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna has said that Indians now see China as their greatest military threat and not Pakistan, and emphasised the need to have constructive re-balancing with Beijing.

Relations between China and India have virtually frozen ever since the eastern Ladakh military standoff between the two countries in May 2020.

The two countries have held 17 rounds of high-level military commanders’ talks to resolve the standoff.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

“Today, we need a constructive re-balancing with China. This requires us to be clear-eyed about the threats we and our allies in Asia face, but are hopeful that our diplomacy and statesmanship can make the 21st century less bloody than the 20th century,” Khanna said in a foreign policy speech at the prestigious Stanford’s Hoover Institution on Monday.

“There are four guiding principles for a constructive re-balancing with China: First, an economic reset to reduce trade deficits and tensions; second, open lines of communication; third, effective military deterrence; and fourth, respect for our Asian partners and robust economic engagement with the world,” he said.

“China creeps towards hegemony in Asia, threatens India’s borders, and treats other countries as junior partners. The people of India now see China as their greatest military threat, not Pakistan,” he said.

Khanna, 46, represents Silicon Valley in the US House of Representatives.

“We have the technology to bring about an American production renaissance as Andy Grove, the famous Intel CEO, called for back in 2010. We have an Asian American diaspora that understands the need for open lines of communication and exchanges with Asia,” he said.

The Valley is pioneering the leading technology in AI, cyber, space, long-range missiles, and unmanned vehicles that will be essential for effective deterrence in the Taiwan Strait, he said.

It has a business community that understands that engagement — not isolation — is how they make friends around the world, especially in the Global South, and stand up for American values, he said.

Khanna pointed out that the US needs to build its alliances with India and other Asian partners, recognising that they will not be satellite states.

“Given the history of colonialism, and the cultural pride of many Asian nations, the US cannot expect to have as smooth, lockstep, and cohesive an alignment as an Asian NATO,” Khanna explained.

“What we need is multipolarity in Asia and the denial of China as a hegemony. India will be a key partner in that effort. As the new co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, I’ve called for strengthening our economic and defence ties between the oldest and largest democracies. The new US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, will deepen our technology partnership,” Khanna elaborated.

The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military manoeuvring in the resource-rich and strategically important region.

In 2017, the US, Australia, India and Japan gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific region free of any influence.

“India’s participation in the Quad, along with Japan and Australia, is critical for ensuring our partners work together to keep China from becoming a hegemony in Asia. In the 1950s, China and India shared a common aspiration to see Asia emerge after Western colonialism. But Nehru’s vision of collaboration with China has soured,” Khanna said.

“We’ve also seen Japan, a nation hesitant to build up its defence after World War II, take historic steps to build out its national security apparatus,” he added.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea.

Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

Beijing has also built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region.

Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade.

Indian-origin Neeli Bendapudi will be conferred the prestigious Immigrant Achievement Award this year for her contribution to higher education in the United States.

The Immigrant Achievement Award is an honour presented annually to either an immigrant individual or an organisation that contributed to the American heritage of being an immigrant nation, advocating for humane and just immigration policy.

The 59-year-old President of Penn State University will be presented with the award at the DC Immigrant Achievement Awards reception on April 28.

“As an immigrant and trailblazer, she has spent years navigating the lack of diversity in leadership and the challenges confronting minority groups. This year, we are thrilled to commemorate Dr. Bendapudi for embodying the diverse contributions generations of immigrants bring to this nation and as a testament to the enduring power of our country’s immigrant history,” said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of the American Immigration Council.

Bendapudi immigrated to the United States to pursue a doctorate in marketing from the University of Kansas. Prior to that, she received her BA degree in English as well as an MBA from India’s Andhra University.

She became the first-ever woman and person of colour to be named the president of Penn State University, where she is in charge of overseeing its modern land-grant mission of teaching, research, as well as public service across 24 campuses and the online Penn State World Campus.
Also serving as president of the University of Louisville from 2018-2021, Bendapudi has received recognition for her contributions to the field of higher education at university and national levels. In 2021, she was given a spot on the list of 25 women “who have made a difference in the academy” by Diverse Issues in Higher Education publication.

“The United States is a nation of immigrants, and I am merely one of many who have come to this country in search of America’s ‘golden door’ to opportunity and prosperity.”
Neeli Bendapudi

Continuing her advocacy for just immigration policy and highlighting immigrant contributions to the United States.

“As the president of one of our nation’s renowned land-grant universities, I am committed to expanding access to the transformative power of higher education for all students who are ready to learn — including those who, like me, have come to this country to seek their degrees in the hopes of building a better life for themselves and a brighter future for their families,” she said.

The US government has said that Ajay Banga is an exceptional candidate for the World Bank President position and he is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at such a critical moment. The comments came as the global lender is planning to formally announce Banga’s appointment as president.

In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is well equipped to lead the global institution at “this critical moment in history.”

The World Bank completed the nomination process for its next president on March 31. Banga was the only applicant for the position of president of the World Bank. The new president of the World Bank is anticipated to be announced by early May.

Vedant Patel, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson, at his daily news conference on Friday, said, “He (Banga) is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at such a critical moment, and he’s an exceptional candidate,”.

“His leadership skills and management experience, his experience in the financial sector, will help achieve the World’s Bank objectives by eliminating extreme poverty, and expanding prosperity, while also doing so in a very evolving and dynamic global playing field, where we’re dealing with a lot of new and pressing issues and challenges, like climate change and global health challenges and other things as well,” Patel said.

Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard Inc., is currently Vice Chairman of General Atlantic.

Born and raised in India, Banga has a particular understanding of the opportunities and difficulties that face developing nations, as well as how the World Bank can carry out its ambitious objective to decrease poverty and increase prosperity, said President Biden.

In his capacity as Co-Chair of the Partnership for Central America, he has worked closely with Vice President Harris. In 2016, he received the Padma Shri Award.

Banga’s nomination comes at a critical time when the US and other Western countries are pushing for reforms to concentrate on a number of issues, including climate change.

The US Senate has confirmed Radha Iyengar Plumb, a national security expert, as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment, the latest Indian-American to be named by the Biden administration for a key position.

President Joe Biden had nominated Radha Iyengar Plumb, currently serving as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defence, to this prestigious position in June 2022.

“By a vote of 68-30, the Senate confirmed Radha Iyengar Plumb to be the Deputy Under Secretary of Defence,” US Senate Periodical Press Gallery tweeted on Tuesday.

Prior to her appointment as the Chief of Staff, she was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust and Safety at Google and had previously served as the Global Head of Policy Analysis at Facebook.

Ms Plumb previously was a Senior Economist at the RAND Corporation where she focused on improving the measurement and evaluation of readiness and security efforts across the Department of Defence.

She also held a number of senior staff positions on national security issues at the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the White House National Security Council.

At the outset of her career, she was an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and did her postdoctoral work at Harvard.

Ms Plumb received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Economics from Princeton University, and she holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to her profile released by the White House in June last year.

In her Linkedin profile, Ms Plumb describes herself as an experienced leader with deep technical analytic skills and a demonstrated history of working in the government, academia, and industry.