5
News India Times
July 17, 2015
– that’s all you need to know
U.S. Affairs
By Arun Kumar
_WASHINGTON
eeping up his tirade
against President
Barack Obama,
Republic presidential
candidate Bobby Jindal
has suggested that “non-aligned
countries like India and Vietnam
are desperate and hungry for
American leadership.
“Frommy perspective, it’s a
complete failure,” said the
Indian-American governor of
Louisiana, who prefers to be
called only “American”, of
Obama and his presidency
showing a complete ignorance of
the changed political realities of
today.
“In seven short years, we no
longer stand with Israel. In seven
short years, we’re on the verge of
allowing Iran to become a
nuclear power, starting a poten-
tial nuclear arms race in the
Middle East,” he told Fox News.
“After winning the ColdWar,
we’re about to allow (Russian
President Vladimir) Putin to con-
tinue to threaten Eastern
Europe. He’s already in the
Ukraine.
“We’ve allowed ISIS to grow in
the void that he created in Iraq
and now could be creating, is
creating in the rest of the Middle
East, including Afghanistan,” he
said.
“China’s rising. We’ve got
countries that are looking for
American leadership.”
Asked what he would do,
Jindal said he would put two
brigades in Eastern Europe.
“But right now, it’s not clear to
me we’ve got the resources to do
that because he keeps – this
president keeps – hollowing out
the military.
“And China, we would work
not only with our allies, like
Japan and South Korea and
Taiwan. We’d work with non-
aligned countries like India and
Vietnam that are desperate and
hungry for American leader-
ship,” he said.
But “it starts with a vision of
America as playing a unique role
in the world. This president -- I
think when he leads from
behind, when he criticizes
America, he doesn’t embrace
American exceptionalism.
“We understand that America
is different, America is special,”
said Jindal.
“We are unique, and we’re
unabashed to say so. It’s not
arrogance to say that we are a
special country and that we are
going to protect our interests
and our allies.”
Accusing both Obama and
Democratic frontrunner Hillary
Clinton of trying to divide
America, Jindal said: “I’m tired of
this president and Hillary trying
to divide us. You’re exactly right.
It’s by class, gender, race, every-
thing.
“I’m tired of hyphenated-
Americans. We’re not Irish-
Americans or Indian-Americans
or African-Americans or rich
Americans or poor Americans.
We’re all Americans,” Jindal said
for the umpteenth time, distanc-
ing himself from his Indian her-
itage. He also agreed with the
interviewers suggestion that a
recentWashington Post story
“saying as an Indian-American
that you had abandoned the
Indian-American community”
was a “racial comment”.
“Absolutely. Look, they can’t
fathom the fact that you can be
conservative and smart or that
you can look a different way and
still be a Christian.”
- IANS
K
India ‘Hungry For American Leadership’, Says Bobby Jindal
Reuters
By Ela Dutt
A
Washington, D.C.-based
Indian-American entre-
preneur and activist was
among 9 Champions of Change
recognized by the President for
their work in the field of pre-
scription medicine.
July 8, Anish Sebastian, CEO
and co-founder of Babyscripts
Inc., which theWhite House
described as “the leading mobile
therapeutics company in pre-
natal care,” was honored at the
White House for his innovations
in prescription medicines for
children.
Champions of Change recog-
nizes innovators, and Sebastian
along with the 8 others are
“making a difference in trans-
forming the way we improve
health and treat disease,” the
White House said.
It’s part of the President’s
Precision Medicine Initiative
launched this year, to optimize
delivery of healthcare by devel-
oping technology to deliver indi-
vidualized treatments. The
White House praised Sebastian
for his leadership in raising
more than $2 million in capital,
developing and clinically vali-
dating the first in kind risk strati-
fied approach toward pre-natal
care. Sebastian then went on to
commercialize the product in
multiple markets. He founded
Babyscripts in March and it has
developed a program delivered
to patients in two parts—an
iPhone App and wireless weight
and blood pressure devices, all
of which allow healthcare
providers to tailor care for each
patient.
Sebastian is also an advocate
of the consumer healthcare rev-
olution, serving as the lead
organizer of the Quantified Self
group inWashington D.C.
A day after the honor
Sebastian said in a post on the
White House website that every
industry stands to gain from this
technology evolution. “However,
I believe that healthcare is
uniquely positioned to reap
some of its most significant ben-
efits,,” he said. “I truly believe
over the next 50 years, health-
care will be fundamentally
reshaped as a more personal-
ized and precise care delivery
model. And, this reshaping of
healthcare will be driven by the
gains in data science,” he said.
Sebastian said his own jour-
ney at this intersection began
with a youthful zeal for technol-
ogy, but it kicked into high gear
with his involvement with
Quantified-Self movement.
“While we are all self-pro-
claimed data geeks, we were
driven by the intrinsic belief that
solutions to our most dire and
critical healthcare needs would
be unlocked by the power of
data .... Through my involve-
ment with this group, I quickly
realized that data science would
be the face of precision medi-
cine and it would be the wave of
the future.”
Indian-American Among White House
Precision Medicine “Champions of Change”
ByManoj Kumar
I
ndia and the United States
signed a tax information
sharing agreement on
Thursday, under a new U.S.
law meant to combat offshore
tax dodging by Americans as
well as by Indians stashing
funds abroad.
The agreement aims to
close a window for U.S. citi-
zens to avoid tax through
financial products like equities,
bank accounts and insurance.
In return, New Delhi
expects to garnerWashington’s
support to bring back illicit
funds stashed by Indians in
foreign tax havens and boost
revenues by getting informa-
tion about Indians working in
the United States.
The agreement “would
enhance tax transparency and
eventually bring in higher
equity into the direct tax
regime which are necessary for
a healthy economy,” India’s
revenue secretary Shaktikanta
Das said at the signing in New
Delhi.
Following his election
promise, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has enacted a
‘black money’ law that foresees
tough penalties and a jail term
for tax evaders who fail to
declare their overseas incomes.
Washington has signed
pacts covering more than 80
tax jurisdictions to implement
the Foreign Account Tax
Compliance Act, or FATCA,
requiring financial institutions
to share information about
Americans’ accounts worth
more than $50,000.
Last year, Modi joined lead-
ers from the Group of 20 coun-
tries in Australia in an agree-
ment for countries to automat-
ically exchange tax informa-
tion on a reciprocal basis by
the end of 2018.
Under the pact, banks,
mutual funds, insurance, pen-
sion and stock-broking firms
will report their American
client details to the tax depart-
ment for sharing with the
United States, said an Indian
finance ministry official.
Investors will have to pro-
vide correct information about
their tax residency and finan-
cial assets that would be
shared with the U.S. tax
authorities, he said, requesting
anonymity because he was not
authorised to speak on the
record. To date, the United
States has intergovernmental
agreements with more than
110 jurisdictions and is
engaged in related discussions
with many other jurisdictions,
the statement said.
– Reuters
India, U.S. Join Hands To
Close In On Tax Evaders
