Opinions are never right or wrong, never constant and yes, the opinions are changing. “You can’t contain Sachin’s deeds in a statistical frame. He brings unstinted joy to the art of batting. Statistics will happen because cricket is about runs and wickets. But how can you evaluate Sachin’s contributions by just counting the number of runs he has scored. To me, he best symbolizes the heights an individual can rise to dominate a team sport. Words can never capture the beauty of Sachin’s cricket,” this is just one of many quotes from the cricketing legend Kapil Dev on Sachin Tendulkar who now feels that it’s time Sachin quit ODIs. “From what we have seen in the last three months, he should have announced his retirement before the World Cup. It’s important to know that every cricketer has his time,” Kapil told ‘Headlines Today‘.

Surprisingly, it’s not just Kapil, but a large number of Indians seem to be of the opinion that the god of cricket should leave one-day cricket and it was quite evident in a Times of India online poll which concluded that 57 percent of respondent feels that Sachin should retire from ODIs. While 41 percent answered ‘No’ to the question ‘Should Sachin retire from ODIs?’, as many as 57 percent of respondents voted ‘Yes’.

TOI had nearly 47,000 people responding to its poll out of which 19,127 voted ‘no’ and 26,813 answered in favor of the question and around 817 (2 percent) people were undecided.

The calls come from different corners asking Tendulkar to call it quits from one-day cricket and many eminent cricketers were heard echoing the public opinion including Kapil Dev, EAS Prasanna, Sourav Ganguly and Kirti Azad. Ganguly once said, “The thing I like most about Sachin is his   intensity. After being in the game for so long, he still has the same desire to do well for India in any international match. I tell you what, this man is a legend.” And today he says, “Sachin has to ask himself whether he is good enough to play one-day cricket day in and day out; whether it’s helping him missing tournaments and playing a one-day series after 8-9 months; whether it’s helping him as a one-day player or if it’s helping Indian cricket as a one-day team. If Sachin can’t get an answer to these questions, he has to go.”

Former Indian cricketer EAS Prasanna backed Ganguly and Kapil and said, “If he continues to fail like this, people will have a wrong impression of him. I think it is better to retire when he is at his best,” MSN reports.

Former test cricketer Kirti Azad said, “The selectors should waste no time in dropping Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman from the national team if they do not retire on their own following the massive drubbing in the Test series against Australia.”

The genuine thought process that went into the call for Sachin’s retirement from one-day cricket by general public is quite questionable as it’s highly possible that the public anger and frustration over India’s pathetic show Down Under, Ricky Points decision to retire, and the opinions of former players have influenced the results of the poll.

Related articles

• Tendulkar should reconsider ODI career – Ganguly (espncricinfo.com)
• Kapil Dev calls for Sachin’s retirement from ODIs (thehindu.com)
• India debates Tendulkar’s one-day future (thehimalayantimes.com)
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India, the land of nonviolence, is no more a gun-shy nation as the country is now second in gun ownership in the world with more than 40 million guns. Rising incomes have made high-end weapons a new form of bling in the traditional peace-loving nation and the bitter memories of never-ending terrorist/Maoist attacks warrant them to be armed, writes Mark Magnier of Los Angeles Times.

Indians seems to have left the idea of nonviolence long back and are increasingly worried about their security in this era of violence. “This forgiveness-peace idea will only make Pakistanis think we’re soft targets. All that Gandhi stuff is for tourists,” the article quoted, Raja K.S. Sidhu, a native of north India who owns a Luger, a German World War II-era pistol.

Acquiring a gun license is not so easy in India; however, regardless the strict controls on weapons, Indian own nearly 40 million (4 Crores) guns, second highest in the world after United States which owns around 270 million guns. While the number does look big for India where the gun culture has never been so profoundly prevalent as in U.S., the rate of private gun ownership in India is just 3.36 firearms per 100 people in India while its 88.8 in the United States. The number of guns should be seen in the context of the population in each country and the rate of guns per population in India and China (which also has around 40 million guns) is not alarming at all. According to gunpolicy.org, Pakistan has around 18, 000,000 guns, Russia 12, 750,000, United Kingdom 4,060,000 and Australia has 3,050,000 guns. Though India is ranked second in 178 countries in the number of privately owned guns, the disparity is quite evident in the fact that the country is ranked at 110 in a comparison of the rate of private gun ownership.

Shockingly, out of 40 million guns in the country, only 6,300,000 are registered guns and the rate of registered firearms per 100 people in India is 0.53. It’s practically impossible to count the exact number of unlawfully held guns; however, estimates suggest that there are around 33,700,000 nonregistered guns in India, which is 2.83 illicit firearms per 100 people.

According to the data provided by India’s National Crimes Records Bureau, there were around 80,000 violations of Arms Act in 2009 such as making and transporting illegal weapons, which is an 8 percent increase from 2007, Magnier writes. While there is an increase in the number of Indians buying firearms, most of homicides in the country remains to involve knives and other weapons, and guns account for just 14 percent of killings. Comparing the rate of violence in India and the United States, the homicides rate is 2.78 per 100,000 people in India while its 4.96 per 100,000 in the U.S.

Only a valid licensee is permitted to manufacture small arms, ammunition or related components in India and the country is ranked ‘medium’ in a classification of the world’s small, medium and major firearm manufacturers, reveals gunpolicy.org. However, the prevalence of illegal ‘home-made’ firearm manufacture is very high in India. The annual value of small arms and ammunition exports from India is reported to be at $12,851,45923. India is categorized as minor in a comparison made of the world’s major/mid-level/minor/unknown small arms exporters.

The gun lovers in the country demand that people needs better access to firearms for its low police-to-population ratio (142.69 police personnel for every 1 lakh population), one of world’s worst.

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In fact, there are stacks of gold bars worth a whopping £156billion stored in an old canteen deep below the streets of the capital.

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On Saturday, 32 out of the 240 flights that Kingfisher operates each day were cancelled and the situation was likely to continue for four days, the airline said in a statement.

“It is a very serious matter, we recognize it and DGCA has called Kingfisher to find out what’s going on, what are their plans and why did not they anticipate the problems and inform DGCA before,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the sector regulator in India.

Kingfisher has so far failed in efforts to get fresh equity capital. Banks own about a quarter of its shares after the company‘s debt was restructured early last year.

State-run State Bank of India, the lead bank, has refused to lend further if the airline did not infuse fresh equity.

Singh said it was the government’s responsibility to help national carrier Air India, but in case of private airlines such as Kingfisher, it was for the bank to take a call on providing fresh loans.

Kingfisher, named after the country’s most famous beer, lost 4.4 billion rupees in fiscal third quarter that ended in December, and its bank accounts had been frozen by the tax authorities over outstanding dues.

“As far as private airlines are concerned, they are talking to banks, and banks will lend them money only if they are confident that their business plans will succeed, only if it is within RBI guidelines,” Singh said.

When contacted by Reuters, DGCA chief E.K. Bharat Bhushan declined to comment.

Meanwhile, passengers have been venting their anger at the airline on social networking websites, blaming the company’s inability to provide on time information about cancelled flights.

India’s airline companies, on course to lose $3 billion for the year ending in March, have struggled with low fares, high jet fuel prices and massive competition. Five out of six major carriers in India are loss-making.

Shares of Kingfisher have gained 1.5 percent since mid-September, when its auditors first cautioned the company needs equity infusion to function as a going concern. The benchmark index gained 9.5 percent in the same period. (Reporting by Anurag Kotoky; Editing by Rajesh Pandathil)

-REUTERS

  It is always seen that people prefer to select extraordinary names for their new-born so that he or she remains exceptional in the crowd, reveals “The New York Times.” However, a new study demonstrates that if parents want their children to succeed in life they should better pick simple names that are easy to pronounce for their babies.

According to Aol Jobs, Melbourne University scientist Simon Laham, Adam Alter of New York University Stern School of Business, and Peter Koval of the University of Leuven, Belgium, revealed individuals with easy to pronounce names have more positive impression on people than people with complicated names. While conducting study, the researchers found that very few participants liked easy to pronounce names. However, it was noted that out of 500 U.S. lawyers, the ones with simple names had succeeded faster and are in senior positions.

Earlier researchers have highlighted that a name can affect your life as candidates with African American names were less expected to be called back for a job interview; kids with popular names are less likely to face trouble with the law; females with more feminine names are less probable to pursue math and science; and boys with names that are also common amongst girls are more probable to be suspended. The findings based on the “the name pronunciation effect” is completely new. The research, which comprised names from Anglo, Asian, Western and Eastern European backgrounds, was conducted in both lab settings and natural environments, and was in print online in December in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

It was seen that the scientists were very careful in differentiating pronounce ability with ‘unusualness’- a feature that is eminent to flash unfairness. For instance Barack Obama, which is certainly an unusual name but it is not hard to pronounce. The scientists also prohibited the ethnic or the national factor associated with the name to avoid provocation of the negative feelings.

While conducting the lawyer study, the scientists believed the relatively recent entry of the few into the field might distort the results. Names like Smiths and Johnsons ranked higher than the Pfefferbergs and Borgognones. However, when the scientists considered the Anglo names alone they found that the seniority was connected strongly with the pronunciation of the person’s name. Independently of all those other features of the name, the mere ease of pronunciation is enough to drive outcomes,” Adam said. “There’s sort of a warm glow associated with things that are easy to process.”

Further, the study highlighted the fact that an individual tends to feel good when his or her minds process something easily, without any effort. Thus when it comes to a name, they feature that excellent feeling to the name- bearer.

Adam believes this can be progressing; the majority of things that is essential for the mental resources for our ancestors to progress was possibly dangerous, or cause for concern.

Politicians, with easily pronounced names are more likely to get votes than one with complicated names. This was brought into limelight by 35 undergraduates, who participated in a mock ballot study of 12 names, without having any knowledge about the candidates. It was found that those with simpler names were more expected to win.

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Top Indian industrialists are funding alumni base of Harvard University, reveals a recent survey by the U.S. News Short List. Meanwhile, the Indian universities are suffering from lack of contemporary IT infrastructure, absence of best practices and low student gross enrollment ratios (GER).  Yet, the top industrialists choose to invest westward instead of directing their funds towards Indian universities.

As per the news survey conducted annually among 1,800 schools and reports of two-year alumni, Princeton University was rated on the top, making it the most loved university for donations. It is also to be noted that unlike Indian universities, which are largely funded by tuition fees, western universities are mostly funded by donation. For example, only about 20 percent of Harvard expenditures are met by tuition fee collections while nearly 50 percent comes from donation. A significant amount of the donation comes from its alumni base.

A number of studies that are conducted to study alumni donation patterns reveal some relevant questions being asked like the age of the donor, what affiliation the donor has and what is the motivation of the giver. A few studies seem to suggest that some alumni donate with the hope that their children would get an easy passage into the same Ivy League institutions. Even when Anand Mahindra joined the ranks by giving the highest donation to any humanities discipline at Harvard, questions were raised whether the donation was timed with his two sons seeking college admissions.

Indian businessman Siddharth Yog gifted $11 million to his alma mater Harvard Business School and it made front page news since he made it to the rare category of single largest personal gifts made by any Indian to Harvard. Prior to him donations given to Harvard were by Anand Mahindra who donated $10 million, Ratan Tata donated $50 million to fund a campus building and Narayana Murthy donated $5.2 million to publish ‘The Murthy Classical Library of India’.

This has been an ongoing debate and every time an Indian donates to a university abroad, the question gains momentum again. When Ratan Tata became ‘the largest international donation in the Ivy League university’s 102-year history’, the apparent question asked was how Indian universities can compete globally, if Indians continue to fund western universities. Among other philanthropic contribution to American Universities are Rohini and Nandan Nilekani who had gifted $5 million to Yale University.

It isn’t that the donation to Indian universities is completely non-existent, but it is quite bleak compared to the amounts donated to universities abroad. Nandan Nilekani’s donation of $2.6 million to his alma mater, IIT to build a new hostel wing is often talked about.

At the same time there have been a few thoughtful Indian philanthropists who have contributed to the Indian education system. Azim Premji who is the chairman of Wipro and the third richest Indian, donated $2 billion to the Azim Pemji Foundation that works towards educating children in rural India. This has by far been the biggest act of philanthropy by an Indian. HCL founder Shiv Nadar donated 580 crore towards the Shiv Nadar Foundation which will be used to fund educational causes in India. Vineet Nayyar, MD of IT services company, Tech Mahindra, donated one third of his shares in the company to the Essel Social Welfare Foundation, a Delhi-based organization. The organization supports education of the girl child and the handicapped. Asit Kotecha, who owns Pashmina Realty and is founder of ASK Group, donated 30 crore to the Mumbai University for building an international convention centre (ICC).

On the other hand various reasons are citied for funds not flowing in for Indian universities by the Indian entrepreneurs. The reason why they contribute to endowment funds abroad rather than invest in Indian education as per Pramod Bhasin, Genpact President and Chief Executive Officer is “I think one of issues that people face, particularly NRIs, is that charitable donations made in India, may not be tax deductable as in the U.S., depending on factors such as how is a trust registered, whether it is recognized internationally or not…That could be an issue,” as reported to Business Line.

Another reason for the donations to universities abroad is that the Indian entrepreneurs feel that Indian universities do not have the ability to utilize the funds well.

Raising funds for building infrastructure, apart from day to day operations is a constant need of Indian universities as well as universities abroad. Many reports in fact throw up facts on how Indian universities do not rank in any of the International quality surveys. Further statistics also stress on the immediate need to build hundreds of new universities and to increase gross enrollment ratios at Indian colleges.

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The international airports in Mumbai and New Delhi have secured global rankings at the Airport Council International‘s (ACI’s) airport service quality awards.

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai, has been adjudged among the top three performing airports of last year in the airport service quality survey, by the Airport Council International (ACI), an official said here Thursday.

 

While the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi has been ranked the first in India and the second best globally, Mumbai’s CSIA ranks the third best airport globally, and has emerged the second best in India in the 25-40 million passengers per annum (MPPA) category of ACI.

The survey was conducted at 180 airports worldwide for the ACI Airport Service Quality Awards(ASQ), 2011, the CSIA official said.

Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd (MIAL) managing director G. V. Sanjay Reddy, commenting on the CSIA securing the top honours, said, it is “a reaffirmation of our vision to transform the CSIA into one of the best airports in the world.”

“Last year, we received this award in the 15-25 MPPA category and again this year in the 25-40 MPPA category. This further reinforces MIAL’s efforts in improving the service quality at CSIA, which has been widely recognized by passengers, on an ongoing basis over the years,” Reddy said.

ACI, an autonomous and independent body, carried out the ASQ passenger survey by measuring customer feedback on a range of service delivery parameters, that track the customer experience at an airport from the moment of arrival to the departure gate.

Analysis of this “real-time” data, recorded on the day of travel, serves as a guide for better aligning service provision with customer expectations.

By benchmarking an airport with other similar airports, ASQ enables airports to see where they stand in competition with their peers, and in turn, helps them prioritize improvement projects and validate their investments in new facilities and services.

CSIA catered to 29.10 million passengers between April 2010-March 2011, compared to 25.6 million passengers during the same period the previous year, a healthy growth of around four million passengers in one year.

MIAL is a joint venture between the GVK-led consortium and Airports Authority of India, with a mandate to modernize, upgrade and expand the existing CSIA.
Source: IANS

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The all-important heart is constantly at work, pumping blood (about 2,000 gallons a day) filled with essential oxygen and nutrients to your body’s organs 24/7. Everything about the heart and how it works is interesting, but here are some nuggets of information we found particularly fascinating.

The Heart Sits in the Center of the Chest, Not On the Left Side

Does this blow your mind because you’ve always been told it’s on the left? When we place our hands over our hearts to pledge allegiance, we actually go a tad too far to the left. The heart is located in the middle of the chest, snuggled between the lungs.

A small percentage of people are born with dextrocardia, a condition in which the heart points more toward the right side of the chest than the left. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, people who have dextrocardia with situs inversus (when visceral organs like the liver and spleen are reversed too) can live normal lives without any disability.

In many cases, though, dextrocardia is associated with other heart defects or other misplaced, and even missing, organs that might require surgery to correct.

The Human Heart Beats Around 70 Times per Minute

This is a ballpark figure. According to Mayo Clinic, a healthy adult heart should beat anywhere from 60 to 100 times a minute while at rest. Do the math, and it adds up to around 100,000 beats a day and 2.5 billion beats in the average lifetime. That’s a lot of pumping.

Newborns have the fastest heartbeats, at 70 to 190 beats per minute, and the hearts of well-trained athletes tend to beat slower, at a rate of 40 to 60 beats per minute.

Faster-than-normal resting heart rate (called tachycardia) or a below-normal heart rate (bradycardia) could be signs of heart problems.

It’s important to watch your normal heart rate over time, too. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found people whose resting heart rates increased from under 70 beats per minute to more than 85 beats per minute over 10 years had a 90 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease compared to those whose heart rates stayed around 70 beats per minute.

Having a Big Heart Isn’t Necessarily a Good Thing

In the literal sense, an enlarged heart is a symptom of heart disease. For an adult, a normal heart is about the size of your fist.

An enlarged heart, termed cardiomegaly, can occur for a number of reasons, some temporary (stress on the body or pregnancy) and some tied to heart condition (weak heart muscle, coronary artery disease, heart valve problems, or abnormal heart rhythms).

Complications of cardiomegaly include cardiac arrest and sudden death (commonly seen in athletes), heart failure, heart murmurs, and blood clots, depending on the part of the heart enlarged.

And a Cold Heart Isn’t Always a Bad Thing

Therapeutic hypothermia is actually a form of treatment for cardiac arrest. According to American Heart Association guidelines for inducing hypothermia, doctors cool a patient’s body to 91 degrees F, 7 degrees below average, in order to slow damage to brain and other organs that begin when the heart stops and restarts.

Research published in the Annals of Neurology in late 2010 found that two-thirds of patients who received the therapy after revival from cardiac arrest recovered and went home with good heart function.

Monday is the Most Common Day of the Week for Heart Attacks

Mondays get a bad rap — Manic Mondays, Monday blues, case of the Mondays — but where heart health is concerned, maybe it’s deserved. Research has shown that more heart attacks occur on Mondays than any other day of the week. One 2005 study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology found that the incidence of heart attack was 20 percent higher in men and 15 percent higher in women on Mondays.

Some experts theorize that the spike has to do with the stress of returning to work after a relaxing weekend, while others correlate Monday heart attacks with the effects of boozy Saturday nights.

Other popular heart attack days: Christmas, the day after Christmas, and New Year’s.

Male-Pattern Baldness is a Sign of Heart Disease

This one may seem strange, but studies have shown that, compared to men with full heads of hair, men with crown hair loss have an increased risk of heart disease, about 23 percent higher, and complete hair loss on top of the head brings that number up to 36 percent. If you’re a guy who also has high blood pressure or high cholesterol, your risk is even higher.

Scientists can’t be sure what causes the link, but it might have something to do with testosterone. Too much of it interferes with hair growth on the head and also causes hardened arteries. The hair-loss link to heart disease could also be genetic.

The Body’s System of Blood Vessels is More Than 60,000 Miles Long

There are three different kinds of blood vessels: Arteries carry blood from heart to organs, veins carry blood from organs and limbs back to the heart, and capillaries connect the two. Together, all of the arteries, veins, and capillaries in the body are long enough to go around the world more than twice.

How tall are you? Think about it.

Hardening of those arteries, called atherosclerosis, is the result of cholesterol and fat buildup in the vessels, which causes plaque. It can lead to coronary artery disease, heart attack, and stroke.

Women’s Hearts Beat Faster Than Men’s

A female human heart pumps about six beats faster per minute than a male heart, which can be explained by the gender difference in heart size. A male heart is bigger (by about 25 percent), so it can pump more blood in a single beat.

But having a quicker heart beat doesn’t equal quicker finishing times for runners. Because men’s hearts can pump more blood, on average, they tend to run faster than women.

Your Heart Doesn’t Stop When You Sneeze

The increased pressure in your chest can affect blood flow to the heart, briefly changing its rhythm, but contrary to common belief, your heart doesn’t skip a beat when you sneeze. That doesn’t mean you should stop saying “bless you” or “gesundheit” after a sneeze, though. It’s only polite!

Despite the name, your heart doesn’t stop during heart failure either. It just can’t pump blood as well as it should. The only time the heart stops is during cardiac arrest.

The Aorta Is Nearly the Diameter of a Garden Hose

Sure it’s the largest artery in the body, running from the heart to the abdomen, but the thickness of a garden hose? That’s pretty big, and a weird thing to visualize.

But its size isn’t the only thing that makes the aorta a big deal: Most aneurysms, or bulges in the wall of an artery, will happen there.

Narrowing, or coarctation, of the aorta is a birth defect (doctors normally notice when a baby is a newborn) that can make it difficult for blood to pass through. Doctors have to perform surgery to remove the narrowed part or open it to correct the problem.

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Chances of getting a work-related visa to the United States becomes harder day by day and the row over the visa policies gets deeper every time. Indians are unfairly treated when it comes to work visas to the U.S. and according to the findings of an American think tank, India-born professionals are denied visas at higher rates than nationals of other countries, an action often done quite arbitrarily.

Indians are the new Mexicans, writes Seema Sirohi, a Washington-based journalist in Firstpost, who feels that denial rates of professionals from both the countries match. She makes an interesting comparison of American babus with their Indian counterparts and says both make a formidable match in exercise of discretionary power. Proving her point, she says the law has not changed at all but the interpretation of which has seen various versions since the recession. And this is the only way one can explain the dramatic increase in denial rates of H-1B and L-1 visas to Indian professionals.

While no apparent reason can be given for this deliberate discrimination, the only possible triggering point is the heated political climate in the country that laments over the jobs offshored and promises greater measures of protectionism.

The immigration and consular officers play a vital role in the increasing denial of H-1B and L-1B visas to Indian. The study by a non-partisan public policy organization, the National Foundation for American Policy, revealed that 2.8 percent of Indians seeking L-1B visas were denied in 2008. They came under the category of “transfer of those with specialized knowledge” within the same company. This rate went up drastically to 22.5 percent in 2009 and the study found that more Indian L-1B petitions (1640) were denied in 2009 alone than in the last 9 years combined (1341). Comparing to other countries, the denial rate remained same, at a very low range, for countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan. For Canadians, the Canadians rose marginally from 2 percent to 2.9 percent and for Chinese, it jumped from 2 percent in 2008 to 5.9 percent in 2009.

The most obvious reason cited is U.S. President Barack Obama’s style of governance and the ongoing campaign where he often stirs up the issue of outsourcing to gather the supper of certain unions and lobbies.

Many firms in the U.S. strongly believe that certain newly-made unwritten arbitrary standards that go beyond the statute and regulations are now applied since there is no change in the existing law, writes Sirohi. The officers, in many cases, make the process much harder, unpredictable and lengthy by demanding the applicants and their sponsoring companies to provide extra evidence and in a certain cases, they even demand the applicants to prove their ‘extraordinary ability’ for L-1B by producing a patent, says the article. Many who own patents are also denied visas.

Since 2009, the companies are not applying in as large numbers as before because of the known displeasure of the consular and immigration officers. The unpredictability of getting a visas have cause many a bad business scenarios for many Indian IT companies as their projects often get delayed due to the inability to sent qualified personnel to the U.S. The rising denials add more pain to the already hiked visa fees, which went up by $2,000 for H-1B and the law is framed in such a manner that basically hurt India IT firms, the article says.

This is a matter of real concern for India and so the issue was on the top list of Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai’s agenda when he visited the United States last week. During his address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mathai has categorically stated that it is a “non-tariff barrier” and it has become quite easy to shoot down the spirits of aspirting Indians for heavy visa fees and eventually turn them down. Over the last five years, a whooping amount of $200 million has been spend on visa fees by Indians and an estimated $30-50 million worth of visas were rejected. “According to a back of envelope calculation – Indians paid over $200 million in visa fees. Perhaps $30-50 million has been taken from young aspiring Indians working in businesses whose U.S. visas were rejected. The pink slip has become a greenback!” Mathai said. “It needs reiteration that the targets of these discriminatory actions are precisely those who have contributed intellectually to the climate of reform in India, and who have been votaries of strong India-U.S. relations,” foreign secretary was quoted as saying in PTI.

Stressing on the need to eradicate discriminatory actions, Mathai said that the Indian IT industry in the U.S. has contributed $15 billion in taxes alone in the last five years. He also quoted a NASSCOM report saying that Indian industry employs over 100,000 in the U.S. up from 20,000 six years ago, which supports 200,000 other jobs, including indirect ones, apart from enhancing the competitiveness of some the U.S. industries. On top of all these, Indian workers in U.S. pay an estimated $1 billion in social security when they are there and none of these would help then when they retire. The author also mentions that the U.S. government has time and again refused to even discuss about an agreement and dreaming about a deal to pay back social security is not worth hoping for.

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