n2doc
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Trump Has Started a Brain Drain Back to India
In 2005, two years after Sameer Sahay arrived in the United States from India to pursue an MBA, he was thrilled when an Oregon health care company hired him and agreed to sponsor his green card. His life as an American, he thought, had begun.
Twelve years later, Sahay, now 50, is still a data architect, still working for the same firm, and still waiting for that green card. It’s not clear when he’ll clear the government backlog. He does know that his provisional status stalled his career — changing jobs would have required the company to file a new petition. “Personally, I have sacrificed my career to help my family to have a better life,” Sahay says. “That has taken its toll. Had I gotten a green card, I could have moved on, moved up, done a lot more things. This held me where I was 10 years ago.”
Tangled and contradictory immigration policies of this sort have frustrated Indian immigrants for years, but the United States was seen as a prize worth pursuing. Now, though, many Indians — long a vital pillar of U.S. hospitals, tech firms, and engineering efforts — are reconsidering their options. Despite a chummy Rose Garden meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June, the permanent legal status of many Indians in America has become far more uncertain since Trump’s election.
In the president’s short time in office, his promises and policies — from the “Muslim ban” to a directive that may alter who gets a work visa — have convinced many foreign nationals that they are not welcome. For many of the 2.4 million Indian nationals living in the United States, including roughly 1 million who are scientists and engineers, the fears are existential; although roughly 45 percent are naturalized citizens, hundreds of thousands still depend on impermanent visas that must be periodically renewed. Changes in the U.S. skilled visa scheme could trigger large economic and intellectual losses, especially in states with many South Asian residents such as California and New Jersey. Some foreign nationals there wonder if Trump’s policies will trigger an Indian brain drain.
more
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/22/trump-has-started-a-brain-drain-back-to-india/amp/
Saudi Arabias ban on women driving must remain because they lack the intellect of men
Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving must remain because they ‘lack the intellect’ of men, says leading cleric
by Jeff Farrell
A cleric in Saudi Arabia has called to keep the ban against women driving there, after claiming that their “lack of intellect” compared to men meant they should not be in control of a car.
Sheikh Saad al-Hajari said that they had just half the brainpower of males – but this fell to a quarter when they “went to the market”.
But he tried to soften his criticism by adding that they could not pray as much as men because they had periods and so it was “not their fault” they were not on the same cerebral level.
Mr al-Hajari’s comments sparked calls for him to be ousted from his religious role, with his comments described as “offending and denigrating” women in Saudi Arabia.
more
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-woman-driving-ban-remain-lack-intellect-men-sexism-sheikh-saad-al-hajari-islamic-leader-a7960501.html
Geno Auriemma offers to forgo pay in CT education budget battle
STORRS, Conn. -- Hall of Fame basketball coach Geno Auriemma has waded into Connecticut's budget battle, offering to go unpaid next year in response to criticism over high salaries at UConn.
Auriemma is slated to make more than $2 million next year. He offered to forgo his pay after reading comments from a lawmaker who justified cuts by saying that a lot of people at UConn make a lot of money.
"I'll tell you what. I'll work for free next year," Auriemma told the Hartford Courant. "I'll give up what the state pays me, what the taxpayers are paying me, but guess what? I pay my taxes and I don't care how much money it costs for me to have good schools where I live in Manchester. My [adult] kids don't go to school there. I can afford it. I want to be proud of our town's education system. Why is it that older people turn their back on education when somebody paid for their kids when they were in school? We've lost sight of what we have to do for other people."
Connecticut still has no state budget, more than two months into the fiscal year, and Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, has vowed to veto a Republican-backed budget passed by the Legislature, in part because it contains large cuts to UConn.
more
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/20784596/geno-auriemma-offers-forgo-pay-university-connecticut-coach-education-budget-battle
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