A media veteran of over 40 years, Tarun Basu brings forth an anthology of essays by leading Indian-Americans and Indians in the book, ‘Kamala Harris and The Rise of Indian Americans’.
With 100,000 Indian American doctors; over 20,000 Indian American hoteliers, and one in three tech startups having an Indian American founder, sky is the only limit for the enterprising community, says veteran editor and foreign policy analyst, Tarun Basu.
His recent evocative collection titled, ‘Kamala Harris and the Rise of Indian Americans’, captures the rise of the Indians in the US across domains by exceptional achievers like Shashi Tharoor, a former UN public servant-turned Indian politician, and top diplomats like TP Sreenivasan and Arun K Singh.
Highlighting the achievements of Indians in America, Basu, who was the founder-editor of news agency IANS, told The South Asian Times that the community’s success serves as a ‘model’ for other nations.
“A community that has made its mark with its culture of hard work, risk-taking, inclusive attitude, and passion for excellence can only be rising to greater prominence, making them a global diasporic “model community” for other nations whose governments are studying the success stories of the Indian American community with great interest.
With 100,000 Indian American doctors; over 20,000 Indian American hoteliers; with a growing number of Indian American CEOs employing an estimated 3.5 million people worldwide; with one in three tech startups having an Indian American founder and one is ten tech workers being of Indian origin, only sky is the limit for the enterprising community,” Basu, who is now the president of New Delhi-based think tank Society for Policy Studies, said.
As a long-time analyst of India’s foreign policy, Basu has tracked international relations across multiple Indian governments, having traveled widely with eight Indian prime ministers.
He says the purpose of this anthology of essays edited by him is to bring the unfolding saga of four million Indians in the United States to the global eye.
Indian Americans currently are just 1% of the US population but are expected to rise to 2% by 2030.
The India-born CEOs collectively employ over 3.6 million people world over and account for $1 trillion in revenue and $4 trillion in market capitalization.
The community happens to be the most educated with the highest median income in the US and has excelled in almost every area it has touched―from politics to administration, entrepreneurship to technology, medicine to hospitality, science to academia, business to entertainment, philanthropy to social activism.
The election of Vice President Kamala Harris has put the global spotlight like never before on the small but high-achieving Indian-American diaspora.
As Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Indiaspora founder M R Rangaswamy says in his chapter: “After the election of Vice President Kamala Harris, Indian Americans only have one rung left to climb!”
“The Indian origin community in the US, with its economic, technological, and societal presence, is well placed to deepen further interest in and cooperation with India,” wrote Arun K Singh, former Indian Ambassador to the US, in the book’s epilogue.
The Indian diaspora is 25-30 million strong with a robust presence in Canada, Australia, and Africa, yet only Indian Americans are the most talked about.
“Indian Americans are most talked about because they live in the world’s most powerful and richest nation, a shining exemplar of meritocracy, and yet Indians have excelled in almost every area they touched – public affairs to administration, entrepreneurship to technology, medicine to hospitality, science to academia, business to entertainment, philanthropy to social activism,” Basu explained, highlighting the achievements of Surgeon-General Dr Vivek Murthy, Virgin Galactic’s Sirisha Bandla, and Samir Banerjee, who lifted the Wimbledon boys’ singles title recently.
However, he stressed that there are talented and high-achieving Indians in other countries as well.
“Someone has to start writing about them too,” Basu said.
