Gold card visa opens doors for US firms to employ Indian graduates, says President Trump
Washington DC: US President Donald Trump has announced in the backdrop of his new ‘gold card’ visa offer that American companies can use the initiative to hire Indians who graduate from US universities.
President Trump had offered ‘gold card’ visas for $5 million, in place of the old visas, to help the immigrants get US citizenship. Driven by Trump’s mindset of everything being a business, the initiative is set to come into force by April, with around 10 million card visas likely to be offered in the initial phase.
It would also replace the current EB-5 visa program that gives residency to investors for at least $1 million for business houses that have 10 or more employees.
The new announcement is considered to be a boost for Indian students, with the President highlighting on how the current immigration policy had prevented people from all over the world, particularly India, from staying and working in the US. He said that the immigrants study at various universities in the US and apply for jobs, but their applications are rejected as the employer had no clue about the eligibility of the applicant to stay in the US.
When asked about the consequences of the new policy, Trump admitted that talented people who had studied in the US earlier had been forced to leave the country but had become successful entrepreneurs in their native countries. "They go back to India, or they go back to the country where they came from, and they open up a company, and they become billionaires. They're employing thousands of people," he said. He also stressed on the fact that the US missed the economic opportunity of utilizing such talent.
The President has presented his new gold card initiative as a positive alternative to the current green card, stating that the gold card would provide long-term residency and a pathway to citizenship. Calling the gold card program a game changer, Trump said about the card-holders, "They'll be wealthy, and they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it's going to be extremely successful."
The initiative is also considered as a benefit for the US as it would be a means to generate revenue. "If we sell a million (cards), that's USD 5 trillion dollars," Trump said and added that the revenue could be used to pay off national debt.
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Deaf and mute woman breaks 16-year silence, exposes serial sexual abuse, blackmail in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A deaf and mute woman's complaint about a sexual assault that took place 16 years ago in Mumbai has unmasked a serial predator, revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse and blackmail he perpetrated on several women from the community.
The accused was arrested on December 13 after the survivor broke her silence recently following the suicide attempt by one of the women he allegedly sexually harassed.
Disturbed by the suicide attempt, she confided in her friends during a video call about the assault that occurred in 2009.
According to the police, the survivor, a resident of the western suburbs, communicated in sign language during a video call with her friends and colleagues, who were part of a WhatsApp group, that the accused had drugged and raped her when she was a minor.
She also took her husband into confidence, and with support from Thane Deaf Association president Vaibhav Ghaisis, activist Mohammed Farhan Khan, sign language interpreter Madhu Keni, and a retired officer from the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities Divyangjan, the survivor approached the police.
The survivor, her husband and a few of her friends went to the Kurar police station, where her statement was recorded in camera, with Keni as interpreter, and the accused, Mahesh Pawar, was arrested a few hours later from Virar, a suburb in Palghar district.
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Recalling the trauma she endured 16 years ago, the survivor said that a female friend had invited her to explore the city in July 2009 and took her to Pawar's home in Vakola, Santacruz, an official said.
The accused allegedly offered her samosas and some beverage to celebrate the female friend's birthday. The survivor said she was forced to have the drink, which Pawar had allegedly spiked, and after a while, her friend left her alone with him.
The accused allegedly overpowered and raped her, and later blackmailed her with the recorded video of the assault.
The trauma of assault stayed with her over the years, and the attempted suicide of another woman from the community, allegedly assaulted by Pawar, propelled her to come forward.
A probe has revealed that the accused had similarly drugged and assaulted speech and hearing impaired women and threatened them into silence by blackmailing them with obscene videos, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly shot obscene videos of several women, using which he blackmailed them and extorted money, gold and mobile phones, he said.
He allegedly forced women into participating in nude video calls with him and recorded these to threaten them, the official said.
"As per initial investigation so far, we have evidence of his abuse of seven women, but the number can increase to more than 24," the official told PTI.
While Pawar has been remanded in judicial custody, no other woman has come forward with a complaint against him as yet, he said.
Talking to PTI, Keni said all women who have survived abuse and harassment by Pawar want to lodge a complaint against him.
She claimed that the accused had extorted money from one of the women he abused, but did not return the sum even when she needed it for a medical emergency.
