Visa reforms need of the hour: Som Mittal

BANGALORE: Stating the importance of bringing in Visa reforms to accommodate service and employment travel, President of The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) Som Mittal has said that he hopes that it will, at least become a topic of discussion in the United States of America.Speaking in the context of an Indian IT major which was served notice for allegedly violating the B1 Visa norms in the US, Mittal said that reforms in Visa norms is the need of the hour.He said that most visa norms are from "yesteryears" and hence need reforms. He said that world has globalised and there is a far greater need to travel.The NASSCOM president said that it is getting clearer for the US authorities about the need for Visa and travel reforms. "US needs access to talent", he said and added that it is important to look at the larger picture of reforms, rather than an single incident. "Business wants it," he said and added that political rhetoric and other constraints will be there, but business will grow the market. He said that both Indian and US companies are important to each other and will also need access for better utilisation of business opportunities."We need more IITs to come up", he said and added that there is a need to attract faculty when quizzed about the premier institutes across the country. The topic has been under controversy as Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has stated that IITs are not world class institutions. Mittal asserted that there should be more efforts to concentrate on "what we don't have but what more we want to have." Pointing at the government's decision to set up IT Research Academy, he said that this is intended to invest into research and attract better qualified people and faculty as well."A lot of changes need to be done, faculty salaries need to be increased", he said.