False claim: 58% employees at NASA are Indian - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
15th June 2019 / 7:48 pm
A message going viral on messaging platforms claims that 58% of the employees at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are Indian. This claim is part of a longer message in which it is mentioned that the CEOs of several top companies are Indian.
Google’s CEO is Indian
Nokia’s CEO is Indian
Adobe’s CEO is Indian
Amazon’s BOD is Indian
MasterCard’s CEO is Indian
Microsoft’s CEO is Indian
Nasa has 58% Indian employees
In the next few years, India will be the World’s IT hub
(Found on LinkedIn)
— Dr. Kash Sirinanda (@kashthefuturist) June 11, 2019
A screenshot of the above tweet has been shared widely on WhatsApp. The text of the same has been posted by individual users on Facebook. It has also been posted by several Twitter users.
The claim that Indians account for a whopping 58 percent of the employees at NASA, is patently false. The relevant information is available on the website of NASA. According to the Data and Analytics Unit of the agency, Asian Americans (which includes Indians) or Pacific Islander account for merely 8 percent of the total workforce.
The website states, “NASA employs nearly 17,000 people with diverse backgrounds. Seventy-two percent of NASA employees are White or Caucasian, 12 percent are Black or African American, 7 percent are Asian American or Pacific Islander, 8 percent or Hispanic or Latino; 1 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native, and less than 1 percent are more than one race.”
According to the NASA Model Equal Employment Opportunity Agency Plan and Accomplishment Report, the percentage of Asian American or Pacific Islander (AAPI) has risen steadily from 4.5% of the total workforce in 1996 to 7.4% in 2016. However, it is still nowhere close to 58%. Moreover, it may be noted that ‘Asian American’ refers to several Asian ethnicities and not only Indian. Thus, the proportion of Indian employees to the total is likely to be lesser than the figure provided for AAPI.
NASA is an agency of the United States Federal Government. Its employment policy categorically states that US citizens will be hired, and exceptions to this rule have been rare.
Moreover, it may be noted that the CEOs of the companies listed in the viral message are of Indian origin, and not Indian citizens. Google CEO Sundar Pichai is an American citizen; Rajeev Suri, the CEO of Nokia, is from Singapore; CEO of Adobe, Shantanu Narayen is an American citizen; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella too is an American citizen. Alt News could not ascertain what ‘Amazon’s BOD’ means. The CEO of Amazon is Jeff Bezos, an American. Alt News could not ascertain MasterCard CEO Ajaypal Singh Banga’s nationality.
The claim that 58% of employees at NASA are Indian, is false.
Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.
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