The Fiery Dragon, the Roaring Tiger and the United States of America

“Sir, Can I understand what exactly are you going to do in the United States of America”?

We, here in India,are not used to such dignified conversations very often in public offices, and I was impressed by the cordiality that marked the American's Consular Officer's voice as he looked at my US visa petition request.

“Sure!” I started. “ Amongst a wide range of responsibilities at my Client's location in the USA, one of my primary responsibilities would be to brief the testing teams already there about the Loan Origination System developed here at offshore over the last 2 years. As the lead developer of this system, I would share my expertise in handling the system behavior, to enable them understand it before they can start testing them with critical real time data. ”

I answered him in the best english that I could muster with my Bihar-Jharkhand background,
I hoped he would understand what I had just said. And that he did, atleast that was what he told me.

“Very well, sir.”

However, all the while that I answered, he never took his eyes off the petition, filling up certain blanks with utmost dexterity and poise . For some reason, he did not want to look at me or know who I was. So, as I spoke, I was looking at the walls nearby, across the bulletproof screen which seperated the first and the third worlds.

After a dozen odd questions, he brought this up.

“But why doesn't your company recruit somebody in the United States Of America instead of you going there all the way from India? Sir? ”

He sounded like Obama there. With a distinct difference in his interrogation this time, I suddenly felt like the poor accused in the courtroom waiting for the questions of all kinds to be framed, to which he has no answers, but has to present one, to escape punishment. The American Consular sounded like the indifferent judge who has already assumed you are guilty and doesn't give a damned to what you have to say. Heck! Didn't I just tell him I was an expert at the system? I still went on explaining just why on earth, it was important for me to go to the USA, hoping he will have the guiding light of human logic.

“This is a mission critical project Sir, and my team has been selected on the basis of a very refined skillset, which takes not less than 3 years to acquire. Since the project is critical and has a time line ,given the government regulations attached to it, recruiting someone at this juncture would increase the training and knowledge transfer costs to my client, and also put this entire system testing in jeopardy. Moreover, with the kind of sensitive data that the system is designed to handle, an expert in the system is a primary requisite.”

It was the best I could have done with the question , since I was never told that I would be asked such 'why's ?' and 'what ifs ?'. I patted myself on having played it pretty straight, and my interrogator looked pretty satisfied too. I waited for this man to end his verbal questionnaire and look at me for heaven's sake. It is difficult to hold a conversation,or an interview for that matter, when the addressee of your statements is imaginary. Meanwhile, he was stamping every thing on my petition as I waited for him to tell me “Congratulations Sir! Have a nice stay in the United States of America, the great nation !”. (Yeah right, That's what they generally say when they oblige you with a Visa. Meanwhile ,you are supposed to be smiling very cordially. That's what the Visa Cell told me at the visa briefing prior to this interview/ interrogation.)


And the next moment, I was walking out with a DENIED visa printed in BOLD GOTHIC over an orange sheet with something scribbled illegibly. I am sorry to be skipping the last part of our conversation here, where the American consular nullified the Great-American-Dream of a Third world Software Engineer. Its pointless to reproduce it here, since the end result was an orange sheet saying I wasn't skilled enough to enter the United States of America. Moreover, this write-up isn't about an individual phenomena, so this author's personal ordeals are besides the point really.

The sequence of events described above happened well over an year ago, and through such time and since the post liberalization reforms in the 90s, me, like about 2.3 million other Computer and IT Engineers and service personnel across the Indian subcontinent have worked on a plethora of global projects, big and small, witnessed stunning innovations in the IT products space in India, winning accolades for our employers and ourselves in return worldwide, including the United States of America. American companies, which constitute the largest clientele of the Indian software products and its services, were up in arms hailing the wonderful Indian software guys, who've made managing these big companies a hell lot easier, and with what panache! fantastic!

Well, Not really. Everything is not fine just yet, and everyone is not happy either, since the recent economic downturn witnessed in the world's leading economies and political superpowers has left the incumbent governments of these countries with acute disorientation about the road ahead, and the most affected country, of these macro-economic failures, is the United States of America. The incumbent and famously 'Black ' president of the USA, Barack Hussein Obama was elected amidst great hope and expectations of a messianic retrieval from this economic dropdown. His election, one still remembers, was hailed as the day when History was made, America had chosen its first Black President and in an irony of sorts, with a Muslim middle name.The American people saw this charismatic orator and his bunch of Democrats as the chosen ones, to bail them out from what then threatened to be and today is, the worst attack on its economic structure and institutions post 9/11. Since the time that the Great American Slump started, the causes of which induce case studies across the globe today, America at present stands as a country plagued with a punctured housing bubble, its Banking system on Artificial Life Support after plundering away billions of dollars to fuel the hollow consumerism, the highest ever unemployment rates in its modern history, and a growing Islamophobia in the wake of being the E.N.O(Enemy Number One) of the Islamist terrorist organizations across the planet.

The American government is having a tough time even contemplating a strategy to any of these, an exercise that has been further aggravated by the growing relevance of the US affairs to the Sino-Indian economics, which not only defied the decrees of the recession that hit the world, but also jumped out of it surely and strongly showing the world, just how to go about it. Sadly, America, instead of hailing the Eastern powers' formula supported by sound economic and monetary policies and fiscal prudence particularly in Indian context, is instead citing them as one of the chief factors that are propelling its economy southwards.

The United States of America cites trade issues with China, which recently claimed the status of the world's second largest economy, to be the bedrock of its losing competitive edge in the world trade. America accuses China of boosting its exports, which are already the cheapest in the international markets, further by devaluing its currency, the Chinese Yuan. It hails China as a violator of civil liberties, with regards to freedom of Information on the internet as well as off it, and there is a rising concern over the exponential rise in the American trade deficit with this Eastern powerhouse. Also on the table are other such bones of contention, the most important among them being the slipping American geo-political advantage in this part of the world, that is increasingly drifting in favor of the Chinese, who are present almost everywhere from North Korea to Afghanistan and now the Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Whilst some of these issues indeed carry some credibility, such as China's steep trade deficits with its trading partners, it's facade of democratic exercises amidst global condemnation circling its denial of political freedom to the Chinese people and a terminally sick civil society , most other American accusations against China are just knee jerk reactions to this unstoppable dragon. Ironically, the top American Economists and China watchers worldwide have come up with predictions of the Chinese economy growing by over 10% through the next 2 decades (much like the last 3 decades), before it topples America to become the largest economy in the world.
That too, is no good news for America, and its concerns are out in the open.

Coming to the Indian context, Indo-US diplomacy thrives on the politics of the world's 'Largest' and the world's 'Oldest' democracies. The science of such politics is rather ironical, since the two typologies form the extreme ends of a democratic dichotomy. The foreign policy drivers, the present issues facing each country, the growth trajectory to be followed, and their historical backdrops are all poles apart, however, the 'largest-oldest' rhetoric imparts a much needed diplomatic cover to the wrap the differences underneath. More recently, despite a successful nuclear deal with the Indian nation (which again, has the strings of protecting US advantages at any cost, attached to it), the USA has come out openly, blaming the Indian services sector for its unemployment woes.

It all started with Mr. Obama, as I mentioned earlier, who was elected as the epitome of Yankee renaissance, savior of the failing banks and the redeemer of jobs lost, and meanwhile India watched these developments in Washington from close quarters. In a democracy, which America is, an election is a big event that marks and creates a government and in turn shapes its national policies. But that's only until the next one. However, each government is expected to frame its foreign policies with regards to its historical relations with the country in question, so as to preserve the groundwork done by the previous regimes. And that's precisely what Mr. Obama needs to realize here.

Ever since the democrats assumed office in the White House, the United States of America has blatantly accused Indian Information Technology and the Services sector of eating away American jobs, and blasted American Technology firms of cheating the American people by outsourcing American jobs to the guy in Bangalore. Such American firms have been warned with the consequential punishment of ending tax breaks to curb offshoring of jobs. The American companies on the other hand are at their wits end, since they are bound to lose out on the cost advantage(by as much as 70 percent) that India offers with its low-cost high-skilled techies. The bitter irony of the fact being that all this in a country which is the epitome of Free Markets and a champion of Globalization, accusing other nations of protectionism at the slightest instance of deviation from its interests, which again are not any stable either.

At the receiving end of the new found US wrath are Indian IT&ITES firms and Indian techies, who to tell the truth have little to do with the unemployment in the United States today. Apart from the humane angle to the woes of a jobless American, to which all of us fully acquiesce and sympathize, an Indian firm, if it operates in the US today, is primarily due to the masterly lessons on Globalisation and Free Market setups by non other than the United States. The democrats need to learn and realize that these very firms are also the ones responsible for creation of a lot of jobs and employment in the US, apart from the best- in-class services rendered. In another U-turn from its globalization sermons recently ,the United States has now hiked the H1 and L1 Visa fees by over 200 percent and come up with more stringent procedural blocks to deter Indian companies from sending their skilled personnel to the United States.That it cited the 'strengthening of its porous Mexican border' to curb illegal immigration as the purpose that the increased fee hike would serve, just goes on to show the extent of the diplomatic hypocrisy involved under the false bonhomie.

The latest of such measures of the new American Protectionism , as the Indian business houses are now labeling it, has been the gubernatorial decision of democrat-run state of Ohio, which has henceforth banned Indian companies from acquiring any business which is funded by the taxpayer's money. This essentially means that even if an Indian firm offers a quote to get the work done at a cost which is 70% less and also the best-in-class than an American Company offers, that work order will end up to the American Company. The logic behind such a ban is simple, to bring into effect the populist measure of job creation and retention (doesn't matter if that comes at twice the cost ) ahead of the congressional elections scheduled later this year. The Ohio governor also for that moment stepped into the shoes of a quality auditor, branding Indian Software exports as
'Sub- Standard', though the top bosses of most of the Fortune 500 companies have repeatedly hailed Indian IT products and Services as the best in the world, and not just products of 'Chop-Shops' as one American senator would like to think.

Today, What America is facing is precisely what India has faced ever since it was free again. The problem of unemployment has long been a hurdle to economic progress and inclusive growth and is a standard issue across democracies of the world. To blame it squarely on Outsourcing and Offshoring is merely to close one's eyes to the problem underneath, and that is just what the Obama administration is upto. Despite being the Oldest democracy in the world, American government is acting in ways that can only be termed as immature. The problem of American unemployment is largely due to the consumer centric policies of the past and its capitalistic tendencies, to draw its youth away from the art of production towards hollow consumption. The sub prime crisis was just one example of this lack of fiscal prudence and unlimited spending on credit. While a sub prime crisis has its remedies in bail out packages and other stimulus measures, the problem of unemployment is a persistent one that cannot be treated overnight and which would require much more from Mr. Obama than blaming the Indians about every job lost. It would need a revival of the Great American spirit of Innovation alongside acknowledging the fact that the great nation of the USA is not the sole contender for economic supremacy anymore. Americans like everyone else need jobs, and more jobs come only from more business. That's also what the Americans have been teaching everyone all through, so why bend the rules now?

Nearly a year after Mr. Travis Allen, the American consulate officer, refused my Visa request, I now understand why he was behaving strangely then. Probably there were talks in the American Embassy of outsourcing the Visa Interviewing process too, and probably he thought his job would also land up with another Travis Allen, somewhere in Bangalore. But If our Travis does it better and faster, why not?