Richard Verma gets a friendly Senate hearing en route to New Delhi as US envoy
Source: Times of India
Presumptive American ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma got a friendly thumbs-up at his nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, with US lawmakers encouraging him to pursue a wide agenda with New Delhi, ranging from working for more robust strategic ties to stronger trade relations.
Verma, who will be the first US envoy to India of Indian-origin when confirmed, is a former Hill staffer and a Washington insider. The hearing was expected to be smooth, and so it was. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers threw out softball questions, and about the only awkward moment came when New Hampshire's Democratic Jeanne Shaheen held forth about the "nirbhaya" rape case and treatment of women in India - at a time the US itself is roiling in campus rape issues and the Bill Cosby controversy.
Verma negotiated the questions expertly, gently reminding the panel that such tragedies were not limited to India and promising to pursue a progressive and constructive agenda with New Delhi, including taking up the pending nuclear liability and trade issues which some of the panelists raised.
At least two Senators raised India-related issues affecting their states and constituents. John Risch of Idaho, which is home to a national nuclear lab, was concerned about the nuclear deal logjam, and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, home to many of America's pharma companies, was irked by what he saw as India's lack of intellectual property protection. Verma pledged to take up both issues.
Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Richard-Verma-gets-a-friendly-Senate-hearing-en-route-to-New-Delhi-as-US-envoy/articleshow/45367016.cms
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