India being made scapegoat: US Congressman
Friday, 09 January 2004, 20:30 IST
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HYDERABAD: The US is losing more jobs to China in manufacturing than to India in outsourcing but the latter is being made a scapegoat, said a top US Congressman here Thursday. Joseph Crowley, the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, said the issue of outsourcing to India was being raised to deflect what had happened in the manufacturing sector. Addressing the 10th Partnership Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here Thursday, he said the trade deficit between India and the US was $5 billion to $12 billion while the same between China and the US was $100 billion to $130 billion. Speaking on the theme "India and US: at a new crossroads", he said: "India is being used as a scapegoat." While the US had lost three million jobs during the last three years, outsourcing had added to the competitive edge of the American companies. "US companies became more efficient and competitive in the global environment," he noted. He, however, said the concern about jobs being lost due to outsourcing needed to be recognised by governments and businesses. He suggested that India could help find ways to help educate American businesses. "There has to be give and take," he said, calling for increased Indian investment in the US. Expressing confidence that relations between India and the US would continue to flourish, Crowley underlined the need to focus on issues on which there was agreement between the two, aside from issues on which there were disagreements. Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas too referred to concern in the US about outsourcing. "In an election year, it is more likely to be rapped up," he said. Cornyn, however, said dislocation of jobs came with globalisation. "Free trade should be our goal and we have a long way to go. Whatever may be the temporary hardships we should join to seek the goal. We should avoid seeking short-term gains in the interests of long-term benefits," he said.
Source: IANS
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