The Stanford India Policy and Economics Club (SIPEC) of Stanford University, California hosted the groundbreaking "Stanford India Dialogue: The Leaders of Tomorrow" conference at the Stanford Faculty Club on March 2, marking the first of its kind on the West Coast, according to Dr. Anurag Mairal, Adjunct Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and a founding member of SIPEC.
"It's a very unusual occurrence. East Coast typically gets a lot of these honors, and it's wonderful that we have decided to create this on the West Coast," Dr. Mairal remarked.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. Srikar Reddy, Consul General of India in San Francisco, reflected on the significance of the event: "I had the privilege of participating in the inaugural session of the India Dialogue led by the Stanford faculty, and now I'm back for the student-led conference."
So happy to address Indian students @Stanford University! Fantastic to feel the energy in the room. Our students will undoubtedly serve as strong bridges btwn our two nations in innovation, knowledge,& culture. Thank you @SIPEC_Stanford for organizing this engaging interaction. pic.twitter.com/I3BwWpzD9l
— Sripriya Ranganathan (@ranganathan_sr) March 3, 2024
Reddy also shared ambitious economic projections, stating, "We are expecting India to be a 35 trillion economy by 2047. And we are also expecting India to overtake the US economy in 2060 means you'll be seeing India as a big developed country and each one of you are going to become partners in this India's economic growth."
He further emphasized the potential impact on remittances, saying, "We're also expecting the remittances from Indians, Indian diaspora living in these countries... it'll bring down 2% because the remittances for Indian DPO, including the 5 million strong DPO in the US last year, we have received 125 billion US dollars."
Following Reddy's speech, Sripriya Ranganathan, Deputy Chief of Mission, Washington D.C., expressed her gratitude for the strong ties between India and the U.S.: "It’s truly an extraordinary privilege to be on this campus today… the threads that connect India and the U.S. are strong, they run very deep and they have been of very long standing."
Ranganathan highlighted the growth of Indian students in the U.S., stating, "In the year 2000… we had about 50,000 Indian students in the U.S. across all institutions. Today we are at 337,000."
She encouraged attendees to maintain connections with India and foster collaboration and cultural exchange: "I would urge you to maintain your connections with India and bring some of these learnings also back to India... If you can join hands with both on campus and beyond... I think that is a area of exploration that we feel would yield us tremendous dividends going forward."
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