Friday, March 03, 2006

US President Mr Bush's india visit

I noted following items from all the storm going on in the media over this visit.
1. Right before visit, news was hot about protests happenning whole over India. People were confused over the real agenda of the visit, but categorically said that Bush is a terrorist after what he did in Afghanistan and what he is doing in Iraq.
2. Some people voted to give due respect to a visitor as per Indian traditions and they seemed eager to understand the use and advantage of the impending nuclear deal between host and guest.
3. Some people (mainly NRIs, industrialists) wanted India to take advantage of the situation and giev a good impression on guests.
4. CEOs of US companies (visiting India with US President) found indian infrastructure and bureaucracy discouraging for foreign investment. They think India should open up foreign investment in insurance, power, roads, ports, etc. to boost economy.
5. Few publications in the US painted a rosy picture of India as the next big thing in teh world economy.
6. Apart from this, there was no other news. It seemed like nothing else was happenning in India.

I agree that US president is most powerful man on the planet. But does this mean we forget our priorities and issues we want to get addressed. I remember when Indian Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh was on US visit last year, few elements of indian media picked up some issues which needed to be discussed between India and US.
Why no one in media raised such issues this time. Some of the issues in my mind:
1. Terrorist activity in Kashmir and east India and its support from foreign elements. As US expects whole world to condemn any terrorist acts on americans (on US soil or not), we should expect the same from them. I have noted that whenever any visitor visits US, Mr Bush says few lines to condemn terrorism and his conviction continue his fight against it.
2. Immigration issues: Due to slow permanant immigration process, many skilled workers (in thousands) have to lead a indecisive and tormenting life. They get exploited by employees and have minimal rights/information. US should make the process more transparent and predicatable.
3. It has become a common story about newly married indian brides getting ill-treated in the US. NRIs go to India and marry indian girls on false promises and then exploit the bride's family for dowry or never take their bride's to the US. High-level government co-operation is required to nab such culprits.
4. Foreign investment into India: Before we open our doors for foreign companies, we should ensure we have proper labour, pollution, industry, human-rights, etc. laws in place. It is no secret that foreign companies are attracted to India because of cheap labour and ill-equiped law-system. They take advantage of this and end-up creating environmental and human-rights hazards. Coca-cola plant polluting ground-water in Kerala, French ship laden with deadly lead coming to Gujarat for dismantling, pharamceutical companies doing testing on indians in India without proper safety procedures, etc. are few examples. Many such tragedies don't even make it to the news.

I feel that news media should raise such issues at such times and run a follow-ups on the progress.

What do you guys feel? Any other issues we should (have) raised?

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