New Delhi
3 October 2007
With over 100 billion dollars riding on the nuclear deal, Indian-
American organisations with close links to Corporate America will head for New Delhi
later this month on a mission to ascertain the state of play of the negotiations and report
back to the Congressmen and women with the findings.
A 10-member delegation comprising representatives of Indian-American organisations is
expected in New Delhi on October 22 and 23 for a first hand account of the status of the
nuclear deal. They will want to hold formal discussions with the Congress party, the Left
parties, the BJP and a nascent Third Front.
The delegation will include the office bearers of the Asian American Hotel Owners
Association, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, the Indian
American Forum for Political Education and the US India Political Action Committee.
Indian Americans, numbering about 25 lakh, say they have invested human, political and
financial capital into lobbying Capitol Hill to support the proposed India-US civil nuclear
cooperation agreement and they cannot understand the delay in taking the nuclear deal
forward.
The Indian-American community feels it owes answers to the American Congressmen
and Congresswomen who they have lobbied ever since the Joint Statement of July 18,
2005 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George Bush.
The visit by the delegation will have come after the meetings of the UPA-Left political
committee on October 5 and 14 and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General
Mohamed ElBaradei's talks with the Indian leadership and officials in New Delhi and
Mumbai next week.
The US Chamber of Commerce estimates that the nuclear deal will generate over 100
billion dollars worth of new opportunities in India in the energy sector alone. The Left
parties's opposition to the nuclear deal has made the US corporates and lawmakers
impatient and the Indian-American delegation hopes to take back answers to the
questions they have been asking.
Sources tracking the US engagement of India on the nuclear deal said that the American
lawmakers have adopted an attitude of wait and watch. The Bush Administration, in turn,
has decided to pursue a hands-off policy and back off from the nuclear deal just so New
Delhi can sort out domestic problems, the sources said, citing US Assistant Secretary of
State for Central and South Asia Richard Boucher's remarks last week.
The sources told this newspaper that American diplomat Geoffrey Pyatt, who ended his
term in New Delhi and has since moved on to the US Embassy in Vienna, is keen that
certain Indian-American organisations join Washington's efforts to court the Nuclear
Suppliers Group by holding outreach activity in Vienna next month.
The population of the Indian-American community in the US is 24,79,424, according to
the US Census Bureau, 2005 American Community Survey. Only 9,76,234 (or about 40
per cent) are not US citizens. Over 20 per cent of the Indian-Americans are employed in
the educational services or healthcare industries and 19 per cent are professionals in
scientific and management careers. The median income of an Indian-American
household is 71,932 dollars. The per capita income of an Indian-American individual is
32,528 dollars.
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