BREAKING NEWS: Nuclear Deal Broken? Part II: Hope Remains

The Times of India just recently reported that the US has not given up hope. It seems that President Bush has expressed that he still has faith in PM Singh in getting the opposition on board and although it would be better sooner rather than later, it is more important that it just gets done!

"It's up to the Government of India to talk about their efforts. Again, I think we're going to continue to work on our part and we assume they're going to continue to work on theirs and it'll be done in a time that is appropriate for both sides," Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey told reporters after the two leaders spoke over phone.

That is great news for the Indian side showing the importance of India in future of US foreign policy.

As developments break we will keep you posted but word has come that the next major developments will be October 22nd.

Thanks,

Varun

Whats up with the Nuke Deal?

Economic Times has a great story updating on the Nuke Deal between US and India. It talks about how a delegation of Indian American leaders will be going to India to lobby hard to make sure the deal passes the tough political dialog in India. The team will be led by USINPAC and is coordinated by USINPAC India Team Leader Robinder Sachdev. Check out the article here!

Indians on the Hill

The Washington Post just published an article on the growing influence of Indian-American groups in Washington. Using the example of the landmark US-India nuclear deal, the article points out that even politicians who use nuclear nonproliferation as a staple of their strategy came around in bipartisan form to overwhelmingly accept the deal. Why was this? Many attribute it to the powerful presence of Indian lobbyist groups on the Hill.

Sanjay Puri, Chairman and Founder of USINPAC, is interviewed on why he founded the group and the position USINPAC and other Indian-American groups will have in the future. USINPAC 2008 Web Director Varun Mehta was also quoted in the article using the example of Obama’s swift reaction to the memo his campaign sent out attacking Hillary Clinton’s ties to wealthy Indian-Americans and alleged support of outsourcing.

Throughout the article it is mentioned that many of these new Indian-American groups are trying model themselves after Jewish-American and Israeli lobbyist groups that have had success in representing a small minority of the country on the Hill. What are you thoughts? Is this the right path for Indian-Americans? Where would you like to see the community in the future? Tell us what you think of the article!

Anay Shah
Blog Editor

Chris Dodd on Indian-Americas

Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd recently filled out a questionnaire for USINPAC about Indian-Americans and issues related to them. Dodd talked about immigration reformed and strengthening US-India relations. He supports the full passage of the US-India Nuclear deal and would be in favor of seeing India’s induction into the UN Security Council. Read the rest of the questionnaire here.

Anay