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Newsmakers of the Week JANUARY 31, 2025 | The Indian Eye 26

NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

Selected stories about Indian diaspora from our website www.theindianeye.com

VIVEK RAMASWAMY ELON MUSK
Republican Leaves ‘DOGE’ for SpaceX becomes a Launch Pad

his Ohio Plans for India-US collaboration

ndian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will no longer co-head the n a first-of-its-kind event, Elon Musk hosted a delegation of leading Indian
Department of Government Efficiency with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the business figures at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. The exclusive gath-
Iformer announced hours after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration Iering provided an opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs to engage directly
on Monday (local time). Ramaswamy is planning to announce a run for Ohio with Musk and tour the company’s cutting-edge space exploration facilities.
Governor next week, Politico reported. The visit on Friday included a tour of Starbase and a chance to witness the
In a post on X, he said, “It was my honor to help support the creation of successful launch and booster catch of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 7.
DOGE. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining govern- During a moderated discussion, Musk emphasised the potential for deep-
ment. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most er collaboration between the United States and India, particularly in areas
importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!” like technology and space exploration. “Things are trending positive. I’m cer-
Musk made it known recently that he wanted Ramaswamy out of DOGE, tainly in favour of lowering trade barriers to increase commerce between the
sources told Politico on the condition of anonymity. US and India,” he remarked.
Ramaswamy “just burned through the bridges and he finally burned Speaking about India, Musk said: “India is one of the ancient civilizations
Elon,” said a Republican strategist close to Trump advisers. “Everyone wants and a very great and very complex one.”
him out of Mar-a-Lago, out of DC”.
The H1-B visa debate was the final nail in his coffin, Politico reported. The Indian delegation, representing diverse sectors from tech-
In late December, Ramaswamy criticized American culture, saying that tech
companies hire foreign workers in part because of a mindset in the country nology and manufacturing to renewable energy, discussed oppor-
that has “venerated mediocrity over excellence,” Politico reported. tunities for collaboration on global challenges. Topics included
In a statement, Trump transition spokesperson Anna Kelly praised Ra-
maswamy, saying he “played a critical role in helping us create DOGE” and the role of technology in finance and regulation, partnerships in
that his plan to run for governor “requires him to remain outside of DOGE space and AI innovation, and India’s growing role in the global
based on the structure that we announced today.”
A source told Politico that Musk and Ramaswamy are now on good terms innovation landscape.
and that “the reality is that it wasn’t possible” to run for governor and co-lead
DOGE “both at once.” Musk offered insights into his companies’ work, including SpaceX, Tesla,
A major divide emerged within Donald Trump’s MAGA team, as Musk and Neuralink, highlighting his belief in the transformative potential of tech-
and Ramaswamy who advocated for the expansion of the visa program for nology. “The goal of SpaceX is to expand the scope and scale of consciousness
‘highly skilled workers’ faced heavy backlash from within President-elect’s beyond what we know to understand what questions to ask about the answer
base, CNN reported. that is the universe.
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Musk emphasised the impor- He went on to state: “One of the things we’re aiming for with Grok is
tance of attracting top engineering talent to maintain America’s technological we’re pretty confident that soon Grok 3 will be the most sophisticated AI in
edge. “The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super the world”
motivated in the USA is far too low.” Continued on next page... >>

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