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Context- Impact of Joe Biden’s wins on ties with India.
How US-India relations under different administration?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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-
- 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.
- 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.
