Indus Valley Times

By Barada Das

 Cuttack ,Feb 25 : The Thinkers’ Club arranged it’s 112th webinar over the zoom Platform here to discuss on the recent expatriation policy of the Trump Administration on illegal immigrants.  Sree Bibek Pattanaik, Retired IAS was the Chief Guest of the meet.

Mr Pattanaik in his inaugural speech told that, America is never the friend of any country from inception of the country. They work in their business interest.

 Our Prime Minister had been to USA in the first term of Trump and he appealed to the Indians in the country to support Trump. It was not a wise gesture of our P.M.

At present, the administration has deported several Indians who were there without valid papers. As per their constitution, they handcuffed these persons and placed in a military plane like cargo and landed in Amritsar. These persons were carried in sub-human conditions. This is something barbaric and not acceptable in civilized societies.

According to Mr Pattanaik, illegal immigrants are not hard cored criminals, they have gone there due to economic necessity. The Government of India need to investigate the reason for which these poor citizens of the country fled to a foreign land.

 Many of them have sold their immovable properties to pay the brokers and other middle men. They have landed in nowhere now.

The first batch was of 114 persons.  Some of them have been dropped at Panama. The American constitution is not authorized to deport Indian citizens under the asylum of a different country.

Dr Malay Mishra, the Ex Ambassador was the chief speaker. In his speech, he said, “ America is not a friend of any country in permanent basis.

Their friendship is always conditional and related to their interest. Trump in his earlier term said, Modi need to know, that he has a friend in the white house. Mr Modi believed this statement and spoke in the Indo American meetings at their land and advised his men to support Trump.

This was not a wise gesture of Modi. This is evident from the current developments. Modi was not officially invited to the Oath ceremony of Trump. Subsequently when Modi visited the USA to greet the second term President, he was not properly received at the airport. He was received by some junior officers at the white house. Whereas, the Japanese Prime Minister and 3 state heads of some different countries were received By Mr Trump in person.

 The body language of Trump showed that he is not interested in Modi. Giving further stress to his statement Mr Mishra said, USA is extending their hand to China. If there will be a war between China and India, USA will not support India.

 Similarly if there is a war with the Pakistan, USA will not support India. USA is interested to sale F-35 jets and its Petroleum products to India. This is not to our advantage. The Transportation cost of oil from USA will be costlier in comparison to the stock of Middle east and Russia.

The American fighter planes are no doubt much sophisticated. At the same time, it is comparatively much costlier to the equivalent brands of other countries. The maintenance cost of these planes are also prohibitive to us. In another corner India exported 135 Billion Dollar worth goods and services in the last fiscal. The Import of India in the matching period is 100 billion Dollars. This led to a surplus in balance of trade to 35 billion Dollars. Trump also announced matching tariff on import of Indian goods to USA. This will cause in decline of exports from India. The country may be forced to devaluate its currency to accommodate the USA.

 Mr Mishra suggested India to be self reliant in arms. The startup India and make in India need to work vigorously. The reliance on fossil fuels will be a catastrophe. The entire world is putting thrust on green energy sources and renewable clean fuels.

The country should gear up its research machinery and save drain of valuable foreign exchanges. It is necessary to maintain a delicate power balance between the super powers like Russia, China and USA.

The other speakers were Mr Pratap Rout and Dr Santosh Kumar Mohapatra an economist and columnist. They accepted to the views of Mr Mishra and Mr Pattanayak. According to them, the illegal immigrants were doing small jobs in USA.

They were contributing to the GDP of the country. Expulsion of these persons will create problem to the Americans immediately and at the same time it will increase the unemployment level in our country. They felt sorry for the lukewarm response of the Indian Government to this issue. There was some discussion in the parliament but that was not enough.

 The Government should check the unlawful immigrants from our country. The situation affects image of the country in global front. Those who go in this way are doing such things and accepting the perils associated with it due to problem in the system. The Government needs to study their problem and devise certain remedial policies for it.

Baroda Das, President of the Club moderated the meeting. Mr Pratap Rout, Umasankar Misra, Engnr Sudhakar Patri, Jyoti Malla participated in the discussion. The meeting ended with the customary vote of thanks.