'Without ending bureaucratic tyranny, talent won't return': Security analyst counters Amitabh Kant on H-1B

Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, said on Saturday that India needs deep systemic reforms to attract talent back from abroad. "Without breaking the stifling hold of the bureaucracy that specialises in killing everything initiative unless some babu can exercise a vice like grip over everything, nothing will happen," he responded to former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who argued that Donald Trump's 100,000 H-1B fee will choke US innovation, and turbocharge India's.

"Without creating an environment in which innovation, invention, industry is rewarded and trading is not, nothing will happen; without creating conditions in universities that attract the best and brightest who are given salaries according to their accomplishments and not salaries linked to what some IAS officer gets, nothing will happen; without delinking salaries of tech qualified people from that what the cab sec gets, nothing will happen," the security expert added.

Kant suggested that by slamming the door on global talent, America pushes the next wave of labs, patents, innovation and startups to Bangalore and Hyderabad, Pune, and Gurgaon. "India's finest Doctors, engineers, scientists, innovators have an opportunity to contribute to India’s growth & progress towards #ViksitBharat. America’s loss will be India's gain," he wrote on X.

However, Sareen said that without ending the inspector raj, "the tyranny of petty bureaucracy and obstructiveness of superior bureaucracy and rapaciousness of politicians and babus, nothing will happen." He also highlighted the need for improved civic infrastructure. "Without creating decent living conditions - traffic, roads, basic civic amenities, law and order, rule of law, transparent governance and not petty potentates who lord over people because they passed a shitty exam and who cower before bully politicians, nothing will happen."

He criticised incremental tinkering and urged a mindset shift. " if we can’t run cities like Bangalore and Gurgaon, we can’t manage traffic, we allow anarchy on roads, how will you attract people back? Unless you can create an INDIAN DREAM to replace the AMERICAN DREAM, how will you get people back? We have been hearing so much but on ground, nothing has changed except on the margins," he said, concluding with a call to action for political and bureaucratic reform to "MAKE INDIA GREAT AGAIN."

The US administration, under President Trump, had on Friday signed a proclamation increasing the annual H-1B visa fee to USD 100,000, a move that sparked panic among Indian technology professionals in the US. The proclamation was set to take effect on September 21. Reports emerged of Indian H-1B visa holders returning to the US from abroad amid fears of being stranded or denied entry.

The H-1B visa programme is heavily utilized by Indian professionals, who account for roughly 71 percent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The abrupt hike raised concerns for Indian IT companies, with Nasscom warning about potential disruptions to onshore projects.

Subsequently, the White House clarified that the USD 100,000 fee would be a one-time charge applicable only to new visa petitions and would not affect current H-1B holders or renewals. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated: "To be clear: 1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. 2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter."

She said H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would. "This applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders. It will first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle."