Eric Garcetti renominated US envoy to India

New Delhi, January 4

US President Joe Biden has renominated Eric Garcetti as the Ambassador to India among a large number of recommendations for various posts, including several Indian-Americans such as Richard Verma to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.

The US had been without an envoy to India for over two years. Besides India, Biden has also approved nominations for Ambassadors to over 20 countries, including the UAE, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Colombia, Azerbaijan and Cambodia.

Appointment had been pending

• In July 2021, US President Biden nominated Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti as his Ambassador to India
• But the Senate confirmation of Garcetti had been pending for more than a year
• His nomination was initially blocked by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley because of allegations of inappropriate behaviour by one of his senior staffers

Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has been proposed as US representative on the Executive Board of the WHO, Kalpana Kotagal as Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Geeta Rao Gupta as Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues, Anjali Chaturvedi as General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs and Ravi Chaudhary as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force.

Biden has also nominated the first Muslim-American woman to be a judge on a federal court as part of a list of diverse judicial nominees. If confirmed by the US Senate, Nusrat Jahan Choudhury of Bangladeshi descent would serve in a federal district court in New York state. Appointments were also announced for the chiefs of Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Federal Aviation Administration, Postal Regulatory Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Archivist of the US, Circuit and District Judges and Insurance Trust Funds.