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Booting Indian scientists from US is bad policy: Pallone

Democratic congressman Frank Pallone has protested against the revocation of visas to seven Indian scientists working in the United States, saying that this action might affect the free flow of information between the two countries.

In a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, he cited the ongoing review of the visas of 75 other Indian scientists, urging that the importance of US-India scientific collaboration be kept in mind in those cases.

Pallone, who is a co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, said, ''It is unclear how the scientists' research would contribute to the development of India's nuclear programme.''

Pallone said, ''It is not clear to me at this time if the move to revoke the visas was done strictly for reasons of non-proliferation or simply as a way of sending a signal to India about the nuclear tests -- which would not be productive.''

''Especially at a time when relations between the US and India is somewhat tense, it is important to maintain co-operation in such areas as trade, culture and science,'' he added.

Earlier, on the floor of the House of Representatives, Pallone felicitated India on its Independence day.

''The 51st anniversary of India's Independence will fall on August 15 when congress is in recess, so I wanted to take this opportunity tonight to mark this important occasion before my colleagues and American people in this house,'' he said.

He hoped the house would soon vote on a legislation he and others had sponsored, allowing the government of India to construct a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the US capital.

The location of the monument would be adjacent to the Indian embassy in Washington. The National Capital Memorial Commission has already approved the proposal.

''The proposed Gandhi memorial would be a most worthy addition to the landscape of our nation's capital, the capital of the free world,'' Pallone said.

UNI

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