South Asia Investor Review

India is losing its best and brightest to the West, particularly to the United States, at an increasingly rapid pace. A 2023 study of the 1,000 top scorers in the 2010 entrance exams to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) — a network of prestigious institutions of higher learning based in 23 Indian cities — revealed the scale of the problem. Around 36% migrated abroad, and of the top 100 scorers, 62% left the country, according to a report in the science journal  Nature .  Nearly two-thirds of those leaving India are highly educated, having received academic or vocational training. This is the  highest  for any country, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Example of The Great Indian Brain Drain. Source: Boston Political Review Brain drain is defined as the loss of precious human capital of a nation. It is a “consequence of an education system designed for ‘selecting’ the best and brightest in an economy that is still too controlled and cannot

At a recent Democratic fundraiser organized by the Israel lobby in the United States, President Joseph R. Biden shared some details of the conversations he has had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu about protecting civilians in Gaza. Justifying Israel's genocidal war on Gaza , Netanyahu told Biden: “You carpet-bombed Germany. You dropped the atom bomb. A lot of civilians died”. Netanyahu is “a good friend, but I think he has to change, and… This (extremist coalition) government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move,” Biden told the attendees at the campaign fundraiser in Washington hosted by former AIPAC board chair Lee Rosenberg.  Last month, Biden used the word “indiscriminate” to describe Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, according to a report in the Times of Israel .  President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu The Israel Lobby: American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC), also known as the Israel lobby, is considered the

Widespread student  protests  on the US campuses against Israel's genocidal war in Gaza are being labeled antisemitic by pro-Israel politicians and donors. They have now joined forces to intimidate the leadership of top American universities. President Liz MaGill of the University of Pennsylvania has already been forced out. Leaders at Harvard and MIT are also under threat.  The Pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Brandeis Center have called on 200 college presidents to investigate pro-Palestinian student groups. Faculty members and instructors at several public and private colleges have either been placed on leave or fired for comments about the conflict, according to  Bloomberg  columnist Noah Feldman. These actions are a direct assault on the academic freedom in America, with long term negative consequences for the world's most admired institutions of higher education.  Pro-Palestine Protest at UCLA. Source: Daily Bruin Academic Freedom:  Academic freedom is abou

Pakistan, which contributes less than 1% of global carbon emissions, is among the countries considered most vulnerable to climate change. About a third of the country was devastated by massive  floods  in 2022. The nation committed continued pursuit of nature-based solutions to the problem at  COP26  in Glasgow in 2021. As part of this commitment, the country is planting one of the world's largest mangrove forests in the Indus River Delta, a key component of its Ten Billion  Tree Tsunami  campaign launched by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.  Pakistan Mangroves Plantation Project. Source: Delta Blue Carbon Mangrove Forest: Also known as  Delta Blue Carbon Project , the mangroves plantation will eventually cover 350,000 hectares of Tidal Wetlands on the south-east coast of Sindh. Currently, Pakistan is estimated to have 600,000 hectares of mangrove forest. Mangroves absorb hundreds of millions of tons of atmospheric carbon, reduce the impact of storms on human lives and economic as

The United States Department of Justice has filed an indictment alleging that an Indian agent hired an assassin to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist. It seems that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Security Advisor Ajit Doval now believe in their own hype about India being a superpower that can get away with murdering American citizens on the US soil.  Sikh Leaders: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (L), Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Mid), Paramjeet Singh Panwar (R) Earlier, a Canadian Sikh leader named Hardeep Singh  Nijjar was murdered  in June this year in British Columbia.  The US DOJ believes that Nikhil Gupta was involved in both the killing in Canada of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and the attempted murder in New York, He is reported to have told an associate two days before the Nijjar’s slaying: “we are doing their job, brother. We are doing their New York [and] Canada [job],” according to the indictment. He lives in India and was arrested on the charges in the Czec

As the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rolls out "Nakbah 2023", a former senior US diplomat has been caught on a viral video telling an Arab street food vendor in New York that the killing of 4,000 Palestinian children in Gaza is "not enough". The video shows Stuart Seldowitz, who worked on the National Security Council South Asia Directorate under President Barack Obama, beginning by insulting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the Holy Quran, and then goes on a hateful anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian tirade. Seldowitz also served as deputy director/senior political officer in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003. This incident raises the question: Is Islamophobia shaping the US policy in the Middle East and South Asia regions?  Stuart Seldowitz, Former US Senior National Security Official US-Pakistan Ties: US-Pakistan relations hit an all-time low during the Obama years when Stuart Seldowitz w

Zionists are "secular" but they use God as their " land agent " who gave them the "promised land", says Professor Avi Shlaim of Oxford University. Jews are God's " chosen people " who are exempt from the rules that apply to non-Jews, according to Israeli author and journalist Gideon Levy. Israel is carrying out " ethnic cleansing  … and that may become genocide”, adds Israeli American scholar Omer Bartov. "No, Palestinians did not commit acts of terrorism, Israel did",  tweets  Miko Peled, an ex IDF soldier and son of a former Israeli general. These few quotes summarize current thoughts of some of the former Zionists.   Israel Turns Gaza into Rubble Israeli author and journalist Gideon Levy: The core of Zionism is the "feeling of being chosen people" that is "deep rooted" in Israel. A consequence of it is that the rules and laws that apply to others do not apply to Israelis. Here's a  quote  from one of

Zionists are "secular" but they use God as their " land agent " who gave them the "promised land", says Professor Avi Shlaim of Oxford University. Jews believe they are God's " chosen people " who are exempt from the rules that apply to non-Jews, according to Israeli author and journalist Gideon Levi. Israel is carrying out " ethnic cleansing  … and that may become genocide”, adds Israeli American scholar Omer Bartov. "No, Palestinians did not commit acts of terrorism, Israel did,  tweets  Miko Peled, son of a former Israeli general. These few quotes summarize current thoughts of some of the former Zionists.   Pro-Palestine Protest at UCLA. Source: Daily Bruin Genocidal War: Israel has completely cut off water, food, electricity, fuel and communications in Gaza. It is bombing its 2 million trapped residents around the clock since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israelis by Hamas. On the ground in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister B

The Biden administration has proposed a number of significant changes to how the H-1B temporary work visas are issued to high-skilled foreign workers. These changes are the result of the government finding earlier this year that companies, particularly Indian body shops, had colluded to try to increase their chances of winning a coveted visa by gaming the visa lottery system. This has helped Indian workers win as many as three quarters of all H1B visas issued in recent years.  H1B Visas Issued in India. Source: Visagrader.com Every year, applicants sponsored by Indian body shops claim the lion's share of H1B visas. In 2022, Indian nationals received 166,384 new H1B visas, accounting for nearly three quarters of all such visas issued by the US government. The figures reported as India  IT exports  include the wages earned by millions of Indian H1B workers in the United States.   Public interest groups have been complaining about the behavior of Indian body shops gaming the system to