Indian companies have always been lauded for their Corporate Social Responsibility, but this new directive by the US govt will act as a major deterrent to IT plans. The legislation is likely to be implemented by July next year and hopes to raise $4.2 billion towards the 9/11 victims welfare.
India has shown its protest in strong words and called it a ‘retrograde step’ in Indo-US trade relations. The Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma in a letter to US trade representative Ron Kirk wrote that the move was against the mutual conditions to reduce trade barriers between both countries. “The passing of such a legislation would, to my mind, be a retrograde step for greater trade engagement between India and US,” Sharma added.
The bill termed the ‘James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010‘ is named after the 34-year-old NYPD officer who succumbed to respiratory illness as an after-effect of the terror attacks. The US has close to 60,000 workers enrolled for treatment programs related to 9/11 attacks.
The protectionist bill evoked strong feelings among IT companies back home. “It is very unfortunate that the US is raising its work visa fees for unrelated events. It is just very unfortunate,” said TV Mohandas Pai, head, HR and member of the board, Infosys.
President of the National Association of Software and Services Companies Som Mittal said that US lawmakers seem to have developed a new practice of unfairly taxing foreign companies to pay for domestic issues. “The bill is a violation in spirit of the joint communique signed by President Obama and PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh.”
http://news.oneindia.in/2010/12/24/indian-it-majors-pay-911-victims-us-bill.html
Related:
A statement issued U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer said:
“The Christmas Miracle we’ve been looking for has arrived. Over the last 24 hours, our Republican colleagues have negotiated in good-faith to forge a workable final package that will protect the health of the men and women who selflessly answered our nation’s call in her hour of greatest need. We are pleased to announce that we crafted an agreement that will allow this legislation to pass the Senate, and the House, this afternoon. We thank our Republican friends for coming together to fulfill America’s moral obligation to the Heroes of 9/11.
“This has been a long process, but we are now on the cusp of the victory these heroes deserve. We would not be here without the strong leadership of Majority Leader Reid, Congresswoman Maloney, Congressman Nadler, Congressman King, Congressman Weiner, Congressman Crowley, Congressman McMahon, the entire New York Congressional delegation, and most of all, the many brave first responders and community survivors.”
http://www.pinkbananaworld.com/content-detail.cfm?ID=420121
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