New Indian Consul General vows to serve community |
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Ambassador Sanjay Kumar Panda, who arrived here Nov. 14 to serve as India`s Consul General for the West Coast and Guam, hopes to eliminate the slow churn of consular bureaucracy during his three-year tenure in the U.S. He says he wants consular services to be seen as friendly by the community and also the staff to solve individual problems within two working days. Panda, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1991. His latest posting in the Indian Ocean region gave Pandaample opportunities to interact with the U.S. on maritime securityconcerns in the area, amongst other issues. Sri Lanka and the Maldives are strategically important to both countries but have a history of political instability, he said, noting that the U.S. and India have worked to develop a collaborative strategy for the region. During the interview in his San Francisco office, Panda addressed the unease of investors looking at India post-demonetization a year ago — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s ambitious attempt to rid his country of black money — and the installation of the Goods and Services Tax, a unified tax structure, which allows people to pay to a single entity.
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