Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. managed to defeat Donald Trump and become the 46th president of the United States of America. According to the Associated Press, Biden won 290 Electoral votes as opposed to Trump’s 232, shattering the record previously held by Barack Obama for most votes won by a presidential candidate. Biden’s running mate, California Senator Kamala Devi Harris becomes the first Black and Indian-American woman to serve as vice president. Upon winning, Biden has stated that he stands to tackle the current COVID19 pandemic, raise minimum wages and green energy as well as expand Obamacare. But how will the new president-elect's policies have an affect on India?
H1-B visas
The H-1B visa allows U.S employers to employ foreign workers from specialised fields for a temporary period of time (three years which can be further increased to six). In the year 2018, the US received a total of approximately 420000 petitions for the H-1B visa, about 75% of these coming from India alone. In August, Donald Trump had signed an executive order that stopped federal agencies from replacing US workers and other green card holders with H-1B visas with other foreign workers. This news took a huge toll on Indian workers, especially from the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) fields. However, Biden plans to reverse the decisions made by Trump by removing the limits on employment-based visas by country (currently 140,000 per year) as well as revoke the removal of work permits to the spouses of H1-B visas rule set by the Trump administration. "High skilled temporary visas should not be used to dis-incentivize recruiting workers already in the US for in-demand occupations. An immigration system that crowds out high-skilled workers in favor of only entry-level wages and skills threatens American innovation and competitiveness”, as said by the Biden campaign. Surely this move will be beneficial for both India and the US seeing as the U.S is the largest market for Indian IT firms which provide jobs to 175000 workers and over $57.2 Billion to the GDP of the U.S and thousands of U.S firms will be attracted to India in the coming years. This Of-course all depends on whether Biden can work with the U.S congress to get the bill overturned.
The H-1B visa allows U.S employers to employ foreign workers from specialised fields for a temporary period of time (three years which can be further increased to six). In the year 2018, the US received a total of approximately 420000 petitions for the H-1B visa, about 75% of these coming from India alone. In August, Donald Trump had signed an executive order that stopped federal agencies from replacing US workers and other green card holders with H-1B visas with other foreign workers. This news took a huge toll on Indian workers, especially from the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) fields. However, Biden plans to reverse the decisions made by Trump by removing the limits on employment-based visas by country (currently 140,000 per year) as well as revoke the removal of work permits to the spouses of H1-B visas rule set by the Trump administration. "High skilled temporary visas should not be used to dis-incentivize recruiting workers already in the US for in-demand occupations. An immigration system that crowds out high-skilled workers in favour of only entry-level wages and skills threatens American innovation and competitiveness”, as said by the Biden campaign. Surely this move will be beneficial for both India and the US seeing as the U.S is the largest market for Indian IT firms which provide jobs to 175000 workers and over $57.2 Billion to the GDP of the U.S and thousands of U.S firms will be attracted to India in the coming years.
Paris Climate Agreement
The Paris climate agreement is a deal signed in 2015 by about 195 countries to pledge limits on the fossil-fuel pollution that causes climate change. The final goal of this agreement is to keep the global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees C (compared to pre-industrial levels) and limit the increase to 1.5 degrees C if possible. While strengthening the ability of countries to tackle climate change is the main goal, this agreement was also put in place to help developing countries by laying out a framework as well as increase transparency of action between countries.
Donald Trump announced his decision to pull out of the agreement in June 2017, but this decision only took effect on the 4th of November of this year during the presidential election due to strict UN regulations. Joe Biden officially announced that he would re-join the agreement and lead the effort for every major country to increase their efforts on meeting domestic climate targets.
India, under prime minister Modi’s government, has set targets based on this agreement which include reducing emissions intensity by 33% to 35% of its Gross Domestic Product by 2030 (from 2005 levels) as well as achieving 40% of installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. India has made large strides to a more efficient future seeing as renewables currently make up 23.5% of total electricity generation capacity. These targets were announced from India’s signing the agreement in October 2016 and have all been implemented without the help of climate change experts or external pressure from the U.S. But how will Biden’s presidency affect India?
India is still the second-largest importer of coal, the third-largest importer of oil as well as the fourth largest importer of liquified natural gas. The U.S is still among the most adept on climate change and can surely transfer their knowledge on dealing with the matter as well as provide credit for international investors to invest in renewable projects in the country. India is currently on target to meet its objectives but with a transfer of knowledge from the U.S a change for the betterment of the world is very possible, especially considering Joe Biden’s opposing views to Donald Trump on climate change.
CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and China
Under the Trump Administration the U.S came out as strong supporters of India against Chinese aggression on the line of actual control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. Trump has also shown his support for Prime Minister Modi on numerous occasions regarding the CAA and religious freedom in India as well as flat out rejecting the allegations that the Modi government has been targeting Muslims with this law. This is all likely to change now however as soon as Biden takes to office in January. Biden stated in July that he is disappointed in the measures taken by the Indian government after the National register of citizens (NRC) aftermath in Assam as well as the CAA being passed as a law. The Indian government immediately defended its move stating that the removal of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was done to reduce the increasing instances of terrorism happening in the area. Trump had acknowledged the Indian government stating this as an internal matter and mentioned he would help but not mediate between the parties involved. It still remains to be seen how Biden will handle this issue but he has shown his dismay towards the CAA being inconsistent with upholding a secular democracy. Biden also spoke out against the treatment of the Uighur Muslims by China and called that the Trump administration “take action” against this “genocide”. The policy paper put up by the Biden campaign clubbed together China’s Uighur Muslims, India’s handling of Kashmir and Assam as well as the treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority of Myanmar. To pool these atrocities with the ongoing issue in Kashmir seems ridiculous. It remains unclear how Biden will approach these issues.
Will Biden winning the presidency have a positive impact on India as a whole given India is already on track with its emissions and green energy as well as attracting foreign investment?
Do you think Biden being softer on China than Trump was will see a negative impact on businesses migrating to India?
Can Biden enhance relationships with India and China given his current stance on the CAA and the Uighur Muslim camps or will he simply cave into pressure from the Chinese?
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Superb article mohit keep it up
@Pratyush Hope you're right as “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”― Abraham Lincoln.
Well eveybody is entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts, as said by VP Pence :p
As to who's being delusional, only time will tell I guess.
@Pratyush well if you look carefully in the title of the article it's #Opinionated, and also it's great to be optimistic but not be delusionist.
But Biden didn't win, did he? There are still atleast 4 states that are in litigation right now without which he can't be president. Looks like you guys jumped the gun there declaring him to be the new president :D