Tag: India

The Saga Of The Students From India And Tri-valley University Continues

On By southwerkIn ethics4 Comments

Some of these students have had to wear ankle bracelets that electronically broadcast their location. I have a report that there were 18 students required to wear these and two of these have now been detained. Their appeal is unlikely to be heard until September. If you count the remainder of February, that is seven months wearing an ankle bracelet. What’s more it is long time to be in legal limbo, unable to attend another university or work.

This is from the Times of India –

The Indian students duped by a fake university in the US face an uncertain future as their appeal is not likely to be heard in a court there before September.

The 1,555 students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, feel they are being subjected to inhuman treatment by the US authorities for no fault of theirs. They want the Indian government to immediately come to their rescue and help them transfer to other US universities.

The families of the students are worried as the US authorities have tied radio monitors to their ankles and may deport them for violation of visa rules.

The dreams of the students to pursue higher education in the US came crashing last week after the Tri-Valley University in California was raided for helping foreigners to illegally obtain student visas.

This is a program from an Indian law firm in the United States explaining the situation.

The government of India has expressed concern. This is from the DAILYBHASKAR.in.

Voicing concern over the welfare of Indian students affected by the closure of a California-based university, India on Friday asserted that students had valid visas and conveyed to the US that they should be given chance to clarify their position.

The students hold valid visas, a senior official said here on Friday, adding that India is hopeful they will be given adequate opportunity to clarify their position.

“Our immediate concern is the welfare of students. We are in touch with US federal agencies,” a senior official said. India’s consul general in San Fransisco also is in touch with students, the official said.

I am concerned too. I have a link to an online petition. I want you to understand clearly. This is not a petition that says there should be no investigation or that further inquiries should not be made. The petition asks for fairness. How many of you can disagree with that?

America is a very strange place for foreign students, not quite like the television view. Justice should not be denied but some kindness and a full consideration of their rights is not too much to ask for.

If you want to sign an online petition to ask the State Department to treat these students fairly, you can go here.

To my readers outside the United States, you do not need to be an American citizen to sign this petition!

So, come in and help.

James Pilant

P.S. I’m getting some indications that the investigation is focusing on a relatively small number of students. There is no direct announcement of this, but I am an attorney. The “feel” of the case is wrong. If they considered all of the students guilty, they could have moved all of them to a detention camp, since that number of students would have suggested an international conspiracy. In the United States, you file against everybody possible and then you narrow it down. I “think” (remember this is just my feel for what is going on) that the authorities are trying to sort through the cases and the fact that there are so many agencies involved is slowing the process.

Hundreds of Indian Students Duped by Fake University Face Deportation (via Change.org)

On By southwerkIn ethics

Here is the situation from the Yahoo News article, Feds probe Calif. ‘sham university’ for visa fraud.

The government of India is urging the United States to show leniency toward Indian students who were enrolled at a “sham university” in California that U.S. authorities say was a front for illegal immigration.

The U.S. attorney’s office alleges the owner of Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton used the unaccredited school to charge foreigners millions of dollars in tuition fees and help them obtain student visas to stay in the U.S.

Officials at Tri-Valley did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

There were 1,555 students enrolled at Tri-Valley last fall and about 95 percent of them were from India, according to a complaint filed Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Many of those students, who took Tri-Valley courses online, could be deported if they are found to be in violation of their immigration status.

Okay, these guys were probably duped into enrolling into a money making scheme posing as a college. It’s pretty sad. Now, assume just for a moment that these students were aware in some way that this was a sham. I don’t believe that but let’s assume it for the sake of my next question.

Is this fair? Read on –

Indian officials say the students are being “treated like criminals” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents even though they were issued valid U.S. visas by American consular officials in India.

“I don’t think any of them had any idea this was a sham university,” said Susmita Gongulee Thomas, consul general of India in San Francisco. “I don’t think any of them had the motivation to defraud any rules of the U.S. government … These students came here genuinely to improve their prospects and they should not be criminalized or victimized.”

Students told Indian consulate officials that they were searched, treated rudely and handcuffed before being taken into immigration offices for questioning, Thomas said.

Many have been forced to wear ankle bracelets to track their movements with radio frequency signals, and they must report to immigration officials regularly while they go through deportation proceedings, Gongulee Thomas said.

I’ve had people put in ankle bracelets. Those things are pretty demeaning and easy to spot. I recommended those individuals be put in ankle bracelets because they were flight risks.

These citizens of India came here looking for an education or to work at a job. Doing either one requires having a verifiable identity.

This is from Change.org –

Currently, the students from Tri-Valley have their SEVIS information blocked by DHS without which they cannot seek transfers or admissions to other universities and the students are under electronic surveillance. India has already demanded that the students be treated fairly and expressed concern. The Ministry of External Affairs stated that “we have conveyed to the US authorities that the students, most of who are victims themselves, must be treated fairly and reasonably, and that the use of monitors on a group of students, who were detained and later released with monitors in accordance with US laws, is unwarranted and should be removed.”

Help these students stay in the United States to complete their education. In my experience there are a great number of schools in this country designed to extract the maximum amount of money for the least educational value. Considering the number of these schools, I think it would be wise to give these students the benefit of the doubt.

There is an online petition here. I doubt that the petition will get them released, the fear of foreigners in the United States being at all time high. But maybe they will reconsider things like the ankle bracelets and other objectionable treatment.

If you’ve liked the things I’ve written I would appreciate the assistance. Okay?

James Pilant

Giving Credit For Agreeing With Me!

On By southwerkIn business ethics, Capitalism, ethics, Government Failure, Philosophy of Business1 Comment

I like most people like being told how smart I am. The next best thing to being told how smart you is to find agreement with your ideas. Here’s agreement with my thoughts. I get a certain guilty pleasure putting it up. This is a book review from the web site – Audiobooks Today Blog. Once I discovered the web site, I immediately favorited it. I’m not an audio book guide preferring to read but the book reviews are wonderful. You would enjoy it.

From the article –

THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY by Clyde Prestowitz is a chilling examination of why the American Century is over, and how emerging countries like China will own the 21st. It unravels the history of our giving up production while increasing our consumption of imports, and what this portends for the U.S. unless a radical change of course is undertaken now, (and Americans get back to work doing what they once did six decades ago). Ominously, few in America act as if our affluence or standard of living will ever change, and instead continue to look to the government for bailouts while watching ball games on TV, yet when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner visited Beijing University in 2009—and told students there that the dollar was safe—their response was that THEY LAUGHED. Not only are our remaining high tech jobs moving overseas, along with the plants that make computer chips, but service jobs are moving to India too. To top it off, even as our infrastructure is failing and our debt is increasing, our baby boomers are now starting to retire in record numbers, expecting the government to help support them. Narrated by Erik Synnestvedt, the audiobook pulls no punches in attacking the shrug-away “don’t worry” attitude of the Bush administration, and a universal shortsightedness that focused on quarterly statements while muleishly wearing blinders about the future. Unless we start exporting something other than soda and cigarettes, Prestowitz reveals, Americans will soon be forced to give up the “something for nothing” mantra that has characterized our accumulation of debt on the backs of “third world” producers (including cheap oil for much longer) as they acquire “first world” status from us by owning all our industries.

Like me, the author finds the policies of the United States to be disastrous over the long term. Soon, a visitor to South America, no matter what nation, will notice the obvious similarities to our nation except some of them have much better statistics. What I mean by statistics is infant mortality rate and life span. Some of these nations has overtaken us in these areas.

This country is 38th in life expectancy. The United States of American is second rate in life expectancy in comparison to Costa Rico (and Cuba).

Just great. What’s next? A high infant mortality rate?

Oops! We’re 33rd. For every 1,000 births in this country, more than six children die. Guess who we’re behind this time? Cuba and Slovakia.

There’s 195 countries on the list. I wonder with our infrastructure disintegrating and our hospital system headed toward disaster, how low we can go. Maybe we can hit a round number like 100? What do you think?

James Pilant

Best of the Week- 7 November 2010 (via Sonia Jaspal’s RiskBoard)

On By southwerkIn ethics

Sonia Jaspal is always telling me things I don’t know. If you know me, you realize that this doesn’t happen all the time. Currently, the President of the United States is in India negotiating trade deals and explaining to the nation of India that taking American jobs is really a good thing for us. He was there during the celebration of a major holiday. Sonia Jaspal in this post explains the holiday and its importance.

Learn something New! Give it a read.

James Pilant

Best of the Week- 7 November 2010 This week India celebrated the festival of lights, Diwali. The sound of firecrackers is still ringing in my ears and everybody has binged on sweets and dry fruits. Everybody is spending Sunday recuperating from the excesses of Friday and Saturday. On Diwali, Hindus celebrate Prince Ram’s return to his hometown Ayodya after living fourteen years in exile. Let me go a bit back in Hindu philosophy. As per Hindu cosmetology, the world has a cycle of … Read More

via Sonia Jaspal's RiskBoard

Personal Dharma at work (via The Divine Comedy)

On By southwerkIn business ethics, Capitalism, ethics, Philosophy of Business

Well, it looks like India is catching up with America in terms of corporate financial scandals. What makes this blog really interesting, is that it’s from one of the people involved in breaking the case. It has a little bit of the detective in it. That’s rare in a business blog.

Further, our intrepid writer launches into a fairly lengthy discussion of business ethics, my turf. It’s a perceptive piece.

Please give it a read. Remember business ethics is a worldwide issue.

James Pilant

Today was the first day after the big day. Satyam finally came out with its financials last evening – restated to incorporate the impact of the 1.5 billion dollar scam perpetrated by its erstwhile chairman – in what can only be termed as India's answer to Enron. It was a proud moment for my team in finance – a moment of tremendous achievement and collaboration between us at the office of the Chief Financial Officer, our Finance team, our consulta … Read More

via The Divine Comedy

Business Ethics – India

On By southwerkIn business ethics, Capitalism, ethics

I wish there were more direct references to business ethics in the speeches of our politicians, and not just our politicians, the voices of the pulpit and law office are too often silent in this regard.

The is from a speech by the President of India, Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil.

Finally, I would like to mention that business is for profit but it cannot be divorced from ethics. This basic principle should be the guiding principle for business houses and their management. For corporate India to become a credible partner in India’s progress, a trust based relationship between – government, organizations and society at large, is a must.