Significance of Biden’s wins

Context- Impact of Joe Biden’s wins on ties with India.

How US-India relations under different administration?

1. Clinton administration-

• The Clinton years witnessed dip in India and the US bilateral relations.
• India was pressurized to “freeze, rollback and eliminate” its nuclear programme and to settle Kashmir dispute with Pakistan.

2. Bush administration-

• George W Bush ensured the success of the nuclear deal between India and the United States. The agreement mainstreamed India’s nuclear programme.
• Bush administration depended on Pakistani cooperation for its war in Afghanistan, and India’s importance was mostly as a lever to pressure Pakistan.
• Progresses in trade – S.-India trade were close to $40 billion.

3. Singh-Obama administration-

• Surge in Trade– Between 2009 and 2014, U.S.-India trade nearly doubled.
• Supported India– For permanent membership of the UN Security Council and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, helped it become a member of the East Asia summit.
• Military ties– strengthened military to military ties in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Promoted Indian engagement in Afghanistan and opening to Central Asia, encouraged the European Union to engage more closely with India.

4. Trump-Modi administration-

• S.-India ties did not strengthen under the Modi-Trump administrations.
• Trade grew at the slowest rate than in the preceding five years. Moreover trump administration terminated India’s designation as a preferential trade status under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) trade programme.

What are the significances of Joe Biden win?

Concerns-

1. On Civil rights and democracy:

• This is a major concern for the Indian government, which has got support from the Trump administration on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Also, Biden co-associates have been particularly vocal in several issues against Indian administration. For example, Jammu-Kashmir issue, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, communal and caste-based violence, actions against non-governmental organizations and media freedoms.

1. India not high on Biden-Harris priority list– Biden-Harris list of priorities includes

• Dealing with COVID-19.
• healing domestic divides.
• Reviving the U.S. economy– repairing ties with Europe, evolving a calibrated China policy, rejoining multilateral initiatives such as on climate change.
• Reinstating the Obama-era Iran policy and furthering peacemaking in Afghanistan.

Significance of Biden win-

• As India slide rapidly into autocracy, people desperately need leaders who will appeal to our better rather than baser instincts.
• Indian judiciary and media should take lessons from the U.S. Example, where so many State-level courts and the national media fought back against Mr. Trump’s attempts to cow them. They paved the way for this election result.
  

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India rated as an “electoral autocracy” by V-Dem Institute