Consul General of India at New York Mr. Randhir Kumar Jaiswal, a few days after joining the present position on 19th July 2020  in an interview with The Indian Panorama, had spelt out  in brief  his  priorities which included nourishing and  strengthening the already strong bonds between India and the US, and exploring  new areas of cooperation and relationship in diverse fields of  economy, trade, technology, and   culture etc. Ambassador Jaiswal added  that serving the Indian Diaspora remained the primary focused concern of  the Consulate. The strengthening of multi-stake holders relationship will be another priority, he said. The Indian Panorama interviewed him a couple of times, and each time, Mr. Jaiswal was forthcoming on all issues raised ,and questions asked.

Three days to the end of the year 2022, Mr. Jaiswal agreed to sit with the editor of The Indian Panorama to share for the readers of the publication his thoughts. It was a long interview in which Ambassador Jaiswal touched upon all the aforementioned areas.

In the part 1 of the interview published two weeks ago, Ambassador Jaiswal focused on the vibrant Indian American community and its contribution.

In part 2 of the interview, we brought  to readers Ambassador’s perspective on Indian students as a powerhouse of knowledge, catalysts of  national integration, and promoters  of Indian arts, culture and values.

In this third part of the interview, Ambassador Jaiswal speaks about promoting economic relations between the two nations as one of the important functions of the Consulate, besides reiterating what he had said in the first part of the interview that the Consulate is “committed to public service”.

Here are some excerpts from the interview.

 TIP:You spoke about the Consulate’s relationship with the Diaspora, and with the Indian students here.  What else do you think is the function of this Consulate?

Ambassador:An important function of the consulate is to promote economic relations. So, we have product launches in the Consulate. Weare promoting “one district one product” scheme of government of India. When we had the parade this time, the consulate float  was based on one district one product. The idea is thatthere’s so much of capacity in India that we must realize that capacity,  produce goods and services for the Indian domestic market, and  also bring those goods and services  from India to the world outside. So,  on trade side with the US  we want to see how best we can leverage technology partnership with companies and link those companies with companies in India so that they can add value to a clean development or green growth or digital pathways or digital led development that we are committed to.

Then, also on the investment side, trying to identify the right partners for investors here how they can invest in India;  how  they can be partnered in a good story; how they can be part of  the PM Shakti Infrastructure Program. Huge infrastructure projects are being undertaken in India- airports, expressways,  cities, new cities, Film City; all those things are being built. We have to see  how American companies can contribute to our growth and development. And then of course, you know, as part of our general overall friendship that we have to maintain, we are also in touch with US stakeholders, political stakeholders, so that we can inform them while that is happening in India on the economic side, on the reform side,  so that there is a better appreciation of our relationship,  and how India comes  up with the overall strategic partnership.

TIP:Well, they say the number of complaints and grievances go to show the dissatisfaction of people with an organization. How  satisfied you are  after almost three years herewhen you find that the number of complaints and grievances has gone down considerably, almost non- existent?

Ambassador:  The motto of the government of India is “people first”, and  that has been an approach with us at the Consulate. If a person is there, if he has a problem,  the problem needs to be solved. It  is in  line with  the mission – Karm Yogi . This is another reform that we have undertaken. Prime Minister Modi has  undertaken transformative reforms which have  changed bureaucracy and the way it is perceived,  the way it should be doing things for the society,  from rule  based to role based. That is the tagline- from rule  based to role based. We have to have a helping attitude; we have to have a positive attitude. We have  to have a problem-solving attitude.

In the last year we introduced three features in our  consular services, bringing in more technology in a public service delivery. That is what is happening in India as well. We launched a mobile app of the consulate, so it becomes easy for people .If you go to a website and fill in a form, the form goes left, right, you don’t know where it goes. But on an app if you want to fill in a form it’s very easy. So that has made life easy for consular applicants. Most  of the queries that are generated on PRAMIT were about status check. What is the status of my passport? What is the status of my visa? Of course, I mean, status of visa is not there because you know we tender  it the same day or the following day. So,  we introduced an interface which  was somewhat difficult because we were dealing with two different technology platforms. We introduced  a status check in the form itself . So,  instead of asking us, they can themselves put their number and get the status check, and  that has been a major hit. We have at least 5000 to 6000 applicants using status check mechanism on PRAMIT on a  monthly basis, which means that the number of queries generated from a system has gone down substantially. And the third feature that we introduced  is  artificial intelligence based strong chatbot. If you have a query, you put your query, the chatbot will answer. Basically, chatbot is able to answer 99% of the questions. So, these three things have made life easy for everyone-people at the consulate and the public seeking consular services. They don’t have to run around. They don’t waste time and that savestheir  time, and  also their  energy.

TIP: Well, you are making great use of the latest technology available to make things easier for both the consulate employees and the public, who until a few years ago, had to spend days together, running from pillar to post have a passport or visa issued, and of course, for other services.

Ambassador:Also,  one more thing I would like to mention,  that we are committed to public service and for that reason, this consulate is open seven days a week. This Saturday also, we had to keep the consulate open as there was a case of emergency at the airport. One young student who was flying out lost his passport after he had checked in. It was a problem. We called him here. We got the passport issued, and then he was able to take another flight. So,  we are always there to attend to emergencies. I would encourage people to use the emergency helpline to request us even on a Saturday or a  Sunday; we’ll be more than happy to render all assistance. But also,  I would like to tell  your readers that they should  use the emergency helpline for emergency only, not for  random questions on India or things that may not be related to emergency.

In the last several years, we have taken  a problem-solving approach. People who applied for asylum can ask for a passport, and  they will be given a passport.You ask for a visa; you will be given a visa. Similarly,   if you don’t have your passport details etc. and  you have  I797 we are giving people passport services as well. So, it has helped everybody.  This system has been helpful to people  and we have also reformed the way we work.

TIP:And besides passport,  visa and  all other consular  services, how do you help the Indian origin people or the Indian community in your jurisdiction?

Ambassador: There have been  many death cases. If a person here is alone and  there is no survivor, we take care of various needs, including cremation and sending the mortal remains to India. In fact, we do it almost on a weekly basis. For that sort of support,  we team with theTeammate, which  isan organization here and is very helpful. They deal with all sorts of trauma cases in the community, not just in the United States, but  also in Canada. They can reach out within hours in any corner of the nation because  they have their volunteers.  We have been able to provide a lot of help to the community with support from Teammate.

Just a month back there was an accident in which  seven students were involved. Three or four of them  died. We immediately contacted the families and then we ensured that the mortal remains were sent back. These are critical situations, we understand. It’s very sensitive for the  family; we understand their emotion.

We also render services in terms of reaching out to women folk who are disturbed here, for one reason or the other. We provide them. We connect them to NGOs. We provide legal services. We also provide some other assistance and required financial assistance at times. So, we have many people-to-people issues too to deal with,  and we are doing our best tohelp them resolve them.

                                                                                        (To be continued..)