Dr. Craig Hall [ The Consul General of USA ] addressed the students of XISS

Ranchi, Jharkhand | July | 07, 2016 :: Xavier Institute of Social Service organized an interactive session with Dr. Craig Hall, The Consul General of USA as the key speaker on 7th July, 2016 in the XISS Auditorium.

Dr. Craig Hall addressed the students and faculty members of all departments of the Institute. He threwlight on the strengths of India-US relationship and highlighted the potential of this to grow  further. Dr. Hall believes that there has been a lot of development between India and US and US-India relationship presently is stronger than it has ever been. This relationship has grown to include not only the economic aspect but also health, military, and education.

He quoted Obama saying, “US-India relationship could be the defining partnership relation in the world in 2016”. He explained that the relation has been strong for quite some time and the strength of this relationship is further growing in the fields of military, outer-space, health, and higher education.

Dr. Hall added that the relationship with Jharkhand can be leveraged by American businessmen to bring direct business in the country. He envisions Jharkhand to be the model state to showcase the potential of the eastern part of India amongst the business community in the US. Dr. Hall mentioned that Jharkhand is making a significant progress and as per the Joint Report of World Bank and Government of India, it is ranked 3rd in the parameter of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ among the Indian states. Dr. Hall emphasized on the need to put Jharkhand on the US map and increase the business opportunities for people both in India and the US.

Once such instance where Jharkhand is emerging in a big way is in the field of health where the US health scientists have been allowed to research in Jharkhand in the areas of identification and treatment of diseases like Tuberculosis, malaria and dengue-fever.

To realize the dreams of India and the stat of Jharkhand, he emphasized on the role of education as a means to achieve it. Dr. Hall believes that although, business and economics are the cornerstones of the relationship, but “people ties are the glue to this relationship” and many of these people ties are embedded in education part of the relationship. There is an average 30% increase in the number of Indian students studying in the US. He encouraged the students and faculty members to explore the possibilities in the fields of research and education being carved out of the emerging US-India relationship.

The talk was followed by a Q&A session with the audience. The event concluded with the presentation of mementos to Dr. Craig Hall and his team by Dr. Fr. Alexius Ekka which was followed by the ‘Vote of Thanks’extended by Dr. R.K Agarwal. Director – XISS, Fr. Alex Ekka initiated the seminar and welcomed the guests. Dr. Craig Hall, was accompanied by Dr. Greg Pardo, Assistant public affairs officer and Deputy Director of the American Center, Kolkata and

Ms. S. Narayan, USIEF. Greg Pardo was previously a political officer in the Office of the Coordinator for Cuban Affairs where he worked on human right issues and with civil society groups. Dr. Greg Pardo formally introduced Dr. Craig Hall.

About Dr. Craig Hall: He is from Florida, joined the foreign services in 1999. He began his assignment as the US Consul General in Kolkata, India in August 2015. Previously, he was the Deputy Political Counselor at the US Embassy. Dr. Hall has completed a PhD in religious studies and takes into perspective the relationship between religion and politics.