Thread by @RajeevSrinivasa

indians have a misconception about long-term US resident/citizen indian-americans: that they care about india.

for many of my IIT classmates who have been there for 40+ years, this is not true. they get teary-eyed about 'america the beautiful' and july 4th.

i generalize. 1/n

i am not blaming them, either. they may be married to americans, and their children are americans, and they will almost certainly die there, and once their parents die, they lose allegiance to india. this is the seductive 'melting pot'.

those who care about india return. 2/n

that is also a generalization. i know people who are passionate about india after living in the US or UK for 50 years. my UK doc uncle who died last year was one such; i have friends who also are.

the best way to support india's interests in the US is to create linkages. 3/n

economic, military, diplomatic, cultural, etc ties. yes, a diaspora helps for sure. but supporting h1b to enhance diaspora not the best way. india as a market where US firms invest (and the diaspora as MNC managers can help in this. i know. i did) is good. indian IP better. 4/n

helping create indian startups and nurturing them by exposing them to the US market is also a good thing diaspora people can do. speaking up for indian or hindu causes, as for eg re 370/CAA, or the calif textbook case, are good. but none of this means GoI must push h1b. 5/n

i'm all for supporting the diaspora. all i'm saying is that h1b is not the ONLY, or even the BEST, mechanism for this. thus it should not be given undue priority just because it helps some IT svcs firms.

i've seen both sides as an MNC Dir in SV/India, and as VP in IT svcs. 6/n

i'm not saying i have all the answers, but decades in the US and back in india, and in edu and opinion writing, give me some experiences i can leverage. i am open to being corrected, but i think the innovation that led to h1b (onsite offshore model) is defunct now. move on. 7/7