IndiaPost.com - PM expresses 'deep gratitude' to Indian Americans

India Post News Service

NEW YORK: It was an unprecedented gesture of gratitude. And can only be expected of a leader of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's disposition. At a reception of over two hundred specially invited members of the Indian American community from across the country hosted by India's Ambassador Ronen Sen, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on Sept 27, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accompanied by wife Gursharan Kaur, individually met with and shook hands with every single guest and official present on the occasion.

Coming for the reception minutes after the US House of Representatives cleared the bill on Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, the Prime Minister said the historic agreement on cooperation in the development of civil nuclear energy in India that he and President Bush embarked upon is nearing fruition. "We are on the verge of securing a new status in the global nuclear order," Prime Minister Singh said, thanks to the leadership of President Bush and the friendship of the people of the United States. "India will be at long last liberated from the constraints of technology denial of 34 years," he said. "It will add an important strategic pillar to our bilateral partnership.

We will widen our clean energy options." Thanking the Indian American community for their efforts in this context, he said, "It is in no small measure due to the very supportive role the Indian American community and the friends of India in the US have played. I salute each one of you for this magnificent contribution."

"I feel a deep sense of gratitude to all you've done in the last three years to make the US Congress realize that the nuclear deal is in the interest of India, the US and the world at large," he added. Singh reminded the audience that, three years ago, when he addressed the US Congress, he had said that some bilateral relations are based on principles and some on pragmatism. "What is truly remarkable about the India-US relationship today is that it is based on the twin pillars of both principle and pragmatism."

Indo-US relations are made lively for both being "argumentative societies" although the arguments are between friends and equals and not adversaries, he said. On the economic side of the partnership between the two countries, Singh said they are seeking cooperation in new areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, health care and space applications. "With the launch of the Chandrayaan Moon Mission, with two American instruments aboard, next month, we will cross another milestone," Singh said.

On the educational front, the two countries have jointly invested in doubling the funding for the US-India Educational Foundation which will now offer the Fulbright-Jawaharlal Nehru Scholarships and Grants to Indian and American students, teachers and scholars, he informed. The India-US partnership enjoys strong support that cuts across party lines in both India and the US, Singh pointed out. "The overall sentiment that emerges from our respective domestic debates is a strong positive endorsement of our strategic partnership," he said.

The two countries face common threats and challenges of terrorism, energy security, proliferation, drugs, maritime security, climate change and environmental degradation, he said. Significantly, Prime Minister Singh announced the setting up of two new Indian Consulates in Atlanta and Seattle by 2009, which would enhance India's consular and cultural outreach. As for the Indian American community, Singh said it inspires people of Indian origin around the world with its leadership, enterprise and creativity.

"You have among you Nobel Prize winners and Abel Prize winners; great writers and artistes; business leaders and scientists. We are all inspired by the life and achievement of Sunita Williams and Kalpana Chawla; of Indira Nooyi and Vikram Pandit; of Jhumpa Lahiri and Mira Nair; of Srinivasa Varadhan and Sabeer Bhatia. I could go on with this endless list which should hang in any hall of fame in the evolving global community. "You have become the "brain bank" of the country of your adoption. I hope that you will also become the "brain bridge" between our two countries in frontier areas of technology as well as in trade and investment."

The Indian government has created new opportunities to tap this vast reservoir of talent for which it set up the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and launched the Overseas Citizens of India scheme, he said. "I know many of you want to see further improvement in the OCI scheme. We are working on it," he assured. "We are aware how fervently you choose to retain your Indian identity, your Indian connections and your Indian heritage, even as you integrate in societies where you live and contribute as good citizens of America." India, Singh said, has traveled a long distance to reach where it has reached today. "We have moved forward as a dynamic and creative nation regaining our rightful place in the global community.

The rise of India is a force of peace, development and stability in the world." He however, said there were still many hurdles to cross, for which the country has the will and ability to meet the challenge of change. "India's emergence as a major democratic power and an open economy has been made possible by the creativity, enterprise, energy and the talent of its free people. A people who now live on every continent of our planet.

A people on whom the sun never sets," he concluded. At the onset, Ambassador Ronen Sen announced the clearing of the nuclear deal in the US House of Representatives on Saturday evening to thunderous applause from the gathering. He said, "We have crossed one more lap of what the Prime Minister had initiated in July 2005.

The Prime Minister has made history and it is a privilege for all of us to have witnessed that history." Several of the Indian American community leaders who were instrumental in lobbying for the deal's fruition with US Senators and Congressmen over the last three years, were present at the reception. The community reception was the last of the events on the Prime Minister's five-day visit to the US, where he addressed the 63rd United Nations General Assembly session, met with President Bush at the White House and held discussions at a number of bilateral meetings with various world leaders. He left for France the same night.