|
Published by the Press, Information & Culture Wing, Embassy of India |
In this Issue Opinion Feature: Interview - Jaswant Singh, Minister for External Affairs
|
 |
Indians in US are "best educated" Through hard work, luck and patience, the half a million strong Indian community in the United States has established a clear lead over most other ethnic groups in terms of economic prosperity, professional standing and educational capability. A recent study carried out on behalf of the US National Research Council says that Indians are the best educated among all immigrant groups from major countries in every continent. This pioneering study has also revealed that in terms of income, immigrant Indians come on top among other immigrant groups in the USA. In fact, they are also outdoing native Americans in many spheres. Indians have made it to the top in business, science, industry, banking and share-brokering. What is more, in five years from now Indian professionals will literally control the cyber heartbeat of USA. According to Mukesh Patel, one of the architects of Smart Modular Technologies based in the Silicon Valley in California, considered to be the epicenter of a global revolution in computers and communications, Indian talent is exploding in USA's high tech hubs - at the chip design level, in hardware and software. There are more than 40,000 Indian born professionals and enterpreneurs in the Silicon Valley area alone. No wonder, an otherwise rigid American administration grants one third of the total work visas to Indian computer professionals alone. In fact, in 1996 the US Information Technology Industry (IT) successfully battled the US Administration's move to limit the entry of Indian computer professionals visiting USA on work visas. Recently, the India-born US-based entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia was in the limelight when he sold his leading free e-mail service, "Hotmail", to Microsoft in a deal reported by analysts to be in the US $ 30 million range. It is significant that Hotmail has been getting many of its kits from Bangalore and other high tech centres in India. Dr. Raja Reddy, another India-born scientist, has become an acclaimed authority on the science of robotics and artificial intelligence through his work at the Carnegie Mellon University. In the area of medical research and health services, Indians have left indelible footprints on the American landscape. The spectacular achievement of Dr. Raj Puri in zeroing in on a substance called Interlukin-13 while examining the breast cancer cells has been hailed as a radical step towards cancer treatment. Another Indian, Dr. Deepak Chopra, a convert to Ayurveda and spiritual healing has become a world celebrity by his lucid exposition of the spiritual therapy. "If you have a surgery," said a report in The Wall Street Journal, "chances are one in ten that your anaesthetist is from India." The India-born Nobel laureate Dr. Hargobind Khurana laid the foundation of modern genetic engineering by creating a biologically active synthetic gene, while Dr. Anand Mohan Chakraborty holds a patent for genetically engineering a bacteria capable of gobbling up oil slick. Dr. Narendra Karmarkar, a mathematician working at Bell Laboratories, is credited with devising a unique mathematical model called the Karmakar algorithm which reduces the time and money required for network planning in communications. The "motel explosion" across the coastal stretch of USA was triggered off by a wave of Gujarati businessmen holding British passports, who had been expelled from Uganda by President Idi Amin in early 1970s. Not willing to be cut off from their cultural roots, the Indian immigrant community in USA has built a substantial number of temples dedicated to various deities from the Hindu pantheon. Besides serving as a focus of faith for US Indians, these temples also act as a platform for cultural programmes and spiritual activities. For immigrant Indians, these temples are the shining symbol of the rich and ageless Indian culture. |