10-day trip to include Delhi, Mumbai.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will lead a 10-day expedition to India this November, in order to explore trade opportunities.
The trip, which is expected to cost around $50,000, will take Haley and five employees of the South Carolina Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Office to the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, and the state of Punjab, where Haley’s parents are originally from. The trip will last fromNovember 12-22, just one week after the 2014 midterm elections, in which Haley is running for re-election.
By exploring trade opportunities with India, Haley, 42, hopes to spur job growth within South Carolina and boost the state’s economy. Haley has made it her mission to decrease unemployment since she took office in 2011, and has received both praise and criticism for her effort. By going to India, the birthplace of her parents, Haley is hoping to flex some cultural muscle and secure some major corporate and political partnerships.
Speaking to the Charlotte Observer, South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt said that the trip would be “special” for Haley, who will have a tight itinerary to follow as she holds several meetings with the country’s business and political leaders. Names have not yet been disclosed as to who Haley will be meeting, however, nor is it likely that Haley will have time to pay any personal visits to relatives she has in India.
This isn’t the first time in recent months that a US envoy has traveled to India in order to forge ties and build relationships with institutions in the subcontinent. Last month, a delegation of some of the leading universities in the US visited New Delhi to build ties with leaders in the country’s government, education, and technology sectors. Several US lawmakers have also visited the country over the past year, including Ami Bera (D-CA).
Haley’s parents, Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, are both from the Amritsar District of Punjab, although Haley herself was born and raised in South Carolina.
A Republican, she will be running against Democrat Vincent Sheheen, who she narrowly defeated at the polls in 2010. The key issues of the campaign this year are likely to be the economy, improving education around the state, as well as the controversial Affordable Care Act, for which Haley has been vocal in her opposition.
2 Comments
Why should Nikki take a tax paid trip to her native land supposedly to lure jobs to SC when India’s median income is $616/mo? Many US corporations have relocated their manufacturing and technical jobs to that country for the cheap labor, why would India move jobs here in SC? Seems like a tax paid vacation to me.
HOPE Mr.Modi, the prime minister of India at the time of Ms.Randhawa’s visit will give her a visa! He has been denied a US visa for 10 years and this might be a good time to give back. Plus she has always tried to hide her heritage & often claims church going credentials by way of marriage to Mr.Haley. This trip will be a tough one to come through. You should have waited till May 16th to announce this trip ( after elections results in India).