INDIA-USA RELATIONS

THE STORY OF USA INDIA LINK

1. 1893: Swami Vivekananda attended World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893. Promoted Yoga & Vedanta.
2. 1930’s & 1940s – Frank.D.Roosevelt voiced strong support for the Indian Independence movement.
3. 1940’s : Panagarh airport (in WB) was used by US Air Force as a base.

Post-Independence

1. 1948: Nehru rejected American intervention in resolving Kashmir issue. (by a 3rd party)
2. 1949: Nehru visited USA. Truman administration was completely inclined towards India. Nehru rejected food aid (1 MT of wheat)
3. 1950: Poor harvest led India to ask from USA for America food aid.
4. 1959: Dwight. D. Eisenhower – 1st Us president to visit India. [Check on China’s malafide Intentions. (Communist China)]
5. 1962: USA supported India explicitly in 1962 Sino – India war. John.F. Kennedy appointed J.K. Galbraith the ambassador to India. He established one of the first Indian Computer Science dept. in IIT Kanpur.
6. 1969: Richard Nixon became the Prez. of USA. He had close ties with Pakistan aiding it militarily & economically. He also established ties with China.
7. 1971: War support to Pakistan.

Post Pokhran Nuclear Test

1. 1974: India’s nuclear test [Pokhran I]. USA opposed the test but also said that India did not violate any agreement.
2. 1978-80:  India refrained its support to USA when USSR invaded Afghanistan.
3. 1980’s: Defence & Technological ties established.
4. 1990’s: Relations improved after LPG.
5. 1998: Pokhran-II. USA imposed economic & nuclear sanctions on India. However economic sanctions were not that effective & were Lifted in 2000-01. [ With Bill Clinton’s visit to India. India-US Science and Technology forum was established.]
6. 2001: 9/11 Attacks.  Bush collaborated strategically with India.      
7. 2004: India & USA pursuing a strategic partnership. [shared values and convergent geopolitical interests.
8. 2005: Defence framework agreement. Open skies agreement signed (Trade, Tourism & Business via increased no. of flights.)
9. 2008: Nuclear sanctions revoked.
10. 2010: Obama visited India and backed India’s bid for permanent UNSC seat.

During PM Modi Period

1. 2014: PM Modi’s visit, Madison square public meeting conducted. Bilateral Talks between India & USA.
2. 2015: Obama invited as Chief Guest in Republic Day parade. Delhi Declaration of friendship. [Post 2015 Development Agenda]. Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley. (Digital India). “ChaleinSaathSaath: Forward Together We Go”, and “Sanjha Prayas, Sab ka Vikas”(Shared Effort, Progress for All) was adopted by both the leaders.
3. 2016: Modi invited to Joint session Of USA Congress.
4. 2019: Howdy Modi event organised in New York city
5. 2020: Namaste Trump event organised. Legion of Merit award given to Modi for elevating India – US ties. QUAD exercise for the first time.
6. 2021: Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) (earlier established as Strategic Energy Partnership in 2018) launched. India & USA engage across five pillars of cooperation: Power & Energy Efficiency, Responsible Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Growth, Emerging Fuels (biofuels) 2nd phase of Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Research (PACE-R) to include smart grid & grid storage.

Significance:

Geo Political:

1. Geographical location of India: Indian Ocean in south having Critical Global line of communication [50% of container products & 70% of ship-borne oil & petroleum traffic] + QUAD.

Containment of assertive China:

2. USA acts like a ‘stabilizing’ force for India and India acts like a stabilizing force for USA. India’s national interest in Afghanistan & Pakistan region. (But as of now, the dynamics of Afghannistan-Pak region has changed). USA’s commitment to maintain security & freedom of navigation on the high seas.
3. 2+2 dialogue: with the defence and foreign affair ministers of both the nations. It was started on the lines of 2+2 dialogue with Japan.

Economic:

1. Trade has increased from $10 bn(1999)  to $80.5 bn (2021). Trade surplus for India ($20-25bn) [But it is reducing].
2. Export items : Gems, Pharma, ICT Products, machinery, & mineral fuels.
3. Import items : Agri produce, Aircraft, mineral fuels, machinery, optical & medical      instruments.

Energy Cooperation:

1. Civil Nuclear cooperation,2008.
2. Crude oil purchase: US-India energy Dialogue – Trade & investment in energy sector.

Defence:

1. USA is the 2nd largest supplier of arms to India. Bilateral dialogue mechanism for defense include: Defence Policy Group. (DPG), Defence Joint Working Group (DJWG), Def. Procurement & Production Group (DPPG), Senior Tech. security Group. (STSG)Joint Tech. Group (JTG), Military Co-op. Group. (MCG), Service to service Exec. Staring Group’s (ESGs).
2. Cooperation in counter terrorism – Intel sharing, info exchange & operational co-op.
3. Military Exercises - Yudh Abhyas (Spl. Forces), Vajra Prahar. (2018) (Spl. Forces), Tiger Triumph (Tri – service (2019)), Cope India (Air Forces), Red Flag (USA, France, South Korea), Malabar (Naval)

Cultural & Scientific:

1. 2 Lac Indian Students studying in USA     
2. 4 million strong diaspora.
3. NASA & ISRO are working on human space flight programme and NISAR which help us monitor implications of climate change.
4. In healthcare, cooperation during Covid-19 – Corbevax (Baylor College & BioE),
5. Similarly, Indian tech companies are contributing to the US to more than 80 billion USD to US GDP and more than 600,000 jobs.

Challenges

1. India’s IPR regime – USA designated India on the Spl. 301. Priority watch list.
2. Trade & Tariff – USA removed India from General system of preferences. [It provided preferential duty free access to products upto 6 bn USD]. In return India imposed retaliatory tariffs on several American imports. [USA put sanctions in WTO on India]
3. Data Wars: India has restricted companies from sending crucial data to American cos.
4. Pakistan policy: USA’s softened stance towards Pakistan. (US recently provided Pakistan with a $450 million package for what Pentagon termed as “F-16 Case for sustainment and related equipment”)
5. The India-Russia engagement: There is lack of consensus between both the countries on the Russia Ukraine conflict- one of the most worrying issues in global geopolitics. India has chosen to increase its oil imports from Russia (being offered at discount). The India-Russia Defence ties has also been an irritant in the Indo US relations.  The CAATSA Law has been part of the discussion between for a long time on India’s purchase of the S400 Triumf from Russia.  India & Russia are exploring ways of conducting bilateral trade by bypassing the dollar based financial system.

Way forward

1. Such a partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies is critical and should continue to be strengthened in response to increasing threats in the Indo-Pacific region so as to send an unequivocal signal that sovereignty and international law must be respected.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently told President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war” on account of Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US was pleased with the formulation and its articulation in full public glare.

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