Washington: US President Joe Biden has appointed over 130 Indian-Americans to key positions in his administration till now, the best depiction from the community that makes up around 1% of the American population. By doing so he has not only achieved his promise to the community that he had made as a presidential candidate in 2020, but also overtaken the record of his predecessor Donald Trump who had appointed more than 80 Indian-Americans and his previous boss Barack Obama, who had appointed over 60 Indian-Americans to key positions during his eight years of presidency.
Around 40 Indian-Americans are elected at various state and federal levels, including four in the US House of Representatives and more than 20 Indian Americans are leading top US companies. Though the first ever presidential appointment was done during the time of Ronald Regan, this time Biden has appointed Indian-Americans to all most all departments and agencies of his administration. M R Rangaswami, Silicon Valley-based philanthropist and venture capitalist said, “Indian Americans have been imbued with the sense of seva (service) and this is reflected in their enthusiasm to pursue positions in public service instead of the private sector.
The Biden administration has now appointed or nominated the largest group to date and needless to say we are proud of our people and their accomplishments in the US”. Rangaswami is creator and head of Indiaspora, a US-based global organisation for Indian-origin leaders. Indiaspora keeps a track of Indian-origin leaders. Biden, who has sustained close ties with the community since his Senator days, often jokes about his Indian relationship. He made history in 2020 by selecting Indian-origin Kamala Harris as his running mate. The list of Indian-Americans in the White House as assembled by Indiaspora reflects that there would be only a few meetings inside the White House or in Biden’s Oval Office that would not have an Indian-American presence.
His speech writer is Vinay Reddy, while his main adviser on Covid-19 is Dr Ashish Jha, his adviser on climate policy is Sonia Aggarwal, special assistant on criminal justice is Chiraag Bains, Kiran Ahuja heads the office of personnel management, Neera Tanden is his senior adviser and Rahul Gupta is his drug czar. Vedant Patel is currently the deputy spokesperson at the department of state, while Garima Verma is the digital director in the office of the first lady.
