— R Radhika
The US Congress passed a resolution recognising the “valuable and significant contributions” of Indian Americans, especially the graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the USA society last week.
The resolution passed in the 118th Congress in the House of Representatives on January 10 said that the Indian-American community and the graduates of the IITs have made important contributions across professions and disciplines on the US soil. It was introduced in the US Congress by Subramanian Raja Krishnamoorthi, the US representative for Illinois’s eighth congressional district. The resolution further stated that the presence of Indian-Americans “deeply enriches” the country.
Referring to the US Congress resolution while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the second edition of IInvenTiv-2024 at IIT Hyderabad on Friday, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that India has emerged as a significant player in innovation in India and abroad. “The US Congress recently passed a resolution extolling the contribution of IITians in the development of the US. This is our brand value and strength,” he said during IInvenTiv-2024, which is an annual event to highlight research and technological innovations by Indian higher education institutes.
The recognition comes at a time when major US multi-million-dollar companies are being headed by IIT-ians. Google’s Sundar Pichai is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, former CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal is an alumnus of IIT Bombay. Before Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, Parag Agrawal was the CEO of the social media platform. IBM’s chairman, Arvind Krishna graduated from IIT Kanpur in 1985.
“IIT graduates are highly committed and dedicated to research, innovation, and promotion of trade and international cooperation between India and the United States,” the US Congress resolution states. It further recognised the technological and scientific innovations made by IIT graduates and urged all Americans to recognise the role of the Indian community in helping advance the country.
A similar praise for a non-US educational institution was first done in the year 2005 in the 109th Congress when Congressman Tom Davis lauded the contributions of the IIT-ians. The house honoured the economic innovation attributable to graduates of the IIT graduates.
Over 25 percent of the total one million international students studying in the United States are Indian, according to the latest Open Doors Report (ODR). The number of Indian students studying abroad in the US climbed by 35% in 2022–2023 and reached an all-time high of 2,68,923 students. In comparison to the previous year, the number of Indian graduate students surged by 63% to 1, 65,936 students, or about 64,000 more than before. The number of Indian undergraduate students increased by 16 per cent as well.