Challenges in Indo-US Relations: A Perspective
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
India’s relations with the US have come a long way since the 1990s — there is growing political and security cooperation, expanding economic engagement, widening interface between the two societies, and the intensifying footprint of the Indian diaspora in the US.
Yet, writes C Raja Mohan (director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and a contributing editor on international affairs for The Indian Express) “some of the questions that animate the media and political classes have not changed since the 1990s. Does the US president want to mediate on Kashmir? Will the American talk of democracy and human rights derail Delhi’s relationship with the US?”
And “can India really trust the US to extend full support in coping with the China challenge? At the same time, Delhi also worries that the US may be trying to ‘entrap’ India into an alliance. While we expect the US to give iron-clad guarantees on supporting us (that is what alliances are supposed to do), we insist that Delhi will never enter into an alliance with the US.”
The gap between Indian policy and discourse, thus “endures.” The problem is “reinforced by Delhi’s under-investment in public understanding of American society. Unlike India, Russia and China have put large resources in American studies at their universities and think tanks. The Indian government and private sector will hopefully address this gap in the not-too-distant future.
“Through the last six months of the Biden presidency, there has been little informed debate in India on the extraordinary policy shifts that are unfolding in Washington.
There are for example, big changes in US foreign policy. “Biden has concluded that four decades of America’s uncritical engagement with China must be reconstituted into a policy that faces up to the many challenges that Beijing presents to the US.
“Biden’s decision to respond effectively to China’s aggressive policies in the Indo-Pacific has strong backing from the Republican Party. Biden is also focused on renewing the traditional US alliances to present a united front against China. He is also seeking to overcome Washington’s hostility to Russia by resetting ties with Moscow.
“America’s new orientation under Biden has opened much space for India to widen and deepen ties with Washington. But what about the question of democracy and human rights that seems to be exciting the sceptics of the India-US relationship?”
Science and technology central to strong and lasting Indo-US ties
Binay Panda (Professor, School of Biotechnology &. Special Centre for Systems Medicine) sees India and the US as “true partners through joint efforts in making the next generation of quantum computers, achieving breakthroughs in the use of AI, making genome sequencing and analysis affordable, designing and building the next generation of airplanes running on clean energy, and making the first woman pair, one Indian and one American, land on Mars. This is the only way the world is going to believe in the true power of democracy.”
Although geopolitical and geostrategic interests take precedence, the “21st century wars will not be fought with boots on the ground or with aircraft carriers or submarines. It is science, technology, and trade that will determine who wins or loses the war. Therefore, the focus in the India-US relationship needs to shift to science, technology, and trade.
To achieve this, Panda writes “first, India and the US need to jointly establish 100 chair professorships in frontier areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), genome technology, nanotechnology, deep ocean exploration, quantum computing, clean energy, and functional materials, and choose their best academics to work in both countries with complete freedom to move, interact and jointly work on those projects.
“Second, they need to establish a new joint research council with at least $10 billion funding to support such research projects. Funds for the proposed research council may come from public and private entities and individual donors, with a prominent India-American leading the effort. Third, each of India’s top 20 universities should choose a partner university in the US with a defined budget for research, joint studentships, and a mechanism of free-flowing faculty between them. Fourth, research programmes on translational areas useful in critical sectors such as agriculture, services and pharmaceuticals should be established.
“Fifth, discussions on science and technology will not yield dividends unless a robust trade policy is in place. Successive US administrations have indeed wanted to push trade with India to the forefront. However, India has been reluctant due to its domestic compulsions. In critical sectors such as agriculture, reform in India will take time to overcome tariff and non-tariff barriers. The recent farmers’ agitation gives an idea about the contentious nature of agricultural reforms. For the US, scientific collaborations and selling technology to boost productivity for Indian farmers should take precedence over pushing dairy and other farms produce to the Indian market. India needs to invest heavily in infrastructure, both physical and intellectual, and in technology to authenticate agricultural products to help farmers produce internationally competitive produce. India also needs to open up its services, finance, legal, health care and pharmaceutical sectors to US companies. It is unacceptable that the US goods and services trade with India is less than $150 billion compared to nearly $630 billion with China.”
