A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindon airbase in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Blinken and Indian leaders on Wednesday will discuss a plethora of pressing issues such as the fluid situation in Afghanistan, regional security concerns, COVID-19 response and ways to boost Indo-Pacific engagement, people familiar with the agenda of talks said.
A report co-authored by second generation Indian Americans has taken a pessimistic view of the United States-India relationship, owing to the problems with economic and trade ties between them.
India and the United States may be moving towards a resolution of the stand-off over senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade's case with the envoy getting exemption from personal appearance in a New York Court hearing visa fraud charges against her even as she got her accreditation to the United Nations headquarters.
Unlike the GOP manifesto where the presence of one of the most influential and powerful Republican Indian Americans who served on the Platform Committee and actively participated in the foreign policy deliberations, transforming the original anemic language on India into substantial declarations, the lack of any Indian American Democrats with even a semblance of gravitas on the Democratic Platform Committee has resulted in the original bland language vis-a-vis India being ret
The maiden bilateral meeting between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday will further strengthen the US-India strategic ties and allow the leaders to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and how the two countries can work together to fight terrorism, a senior White House official has said.
Dr Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and the highest ranking Indian American in the Obama administration, who accompanied US President Barack Obama to India said that today his agency's developmental relationship with India has evolved into a peer to peer partnership unlike in the past when India was simply an aid recipient.
A genuine attempt was made to reset relations in a positive way, signalling a stepping back from the brink of conflict, much to the relief of the world, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The role played by the Indian expatriate community in the US acted as the lever for the change of perception about India,' says Foreign Secretary Shashank.
'With China investing in Iran's energy sector, India cannot afford to lag behind.'
Rapid strides in digital payments notwithstanding, the Indian economy will likely remain cash-dependent for many years to come, at least that's what the automated teller machine makers and cash logistics companies are betting on. After growing at over 20 per cent for most of 2020, currency in circulation growth fell to 8.5 per cent as of October 29 this year, shows data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The reason for the steep rise in currency last year was the uncertainties related to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, where people preferred to hoard cash to meet exigencies.
The case of 100 Indian workers who had alleged slave treatment at US shipyard, is keenly being followed by the Indian consulate. These workers had accused their employer Signal International of tricking them into coming to the US. These workers were forced to live in subhuman conditions and were made to pay $1000 as house rent. They are demanding of case of human trafficking against their employer from the US Department of Justice. They have been living there since a year.
Over a million Chinese counterfeit electronics parts are being used in American military hardware, a key Senate Committee has warned, raising the possibilities that some of these fake parts may have been used in military jets which have been sold to India.
In a US-India Joint Leaders' Statement issued after the first in-person bilateral meeting between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Friday, the two leaders underscored the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan.
"A stable and settled Afghanistan, where the rank and file of the Taliban has given up violence against the government, and the people, cut all links with terrorism, subscribe to the values of the Afghan Constitution and its laws, and where development is the hard rationale, is what we seek and quest for," Permanent Representative to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri said.
Two powerful US Senators have urged President Joe Biden not to impose provisions of the punitive Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act against India for buying the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia.
The push-back by Hillary Clinton was no longer available to keep the proponents of the thesis away that somehow it was India's problem that Pakistan misbehaves in Afghanistan or misbehaves at all, says K C Singh.
'As Prime Minister Modi said, our ties are no longer just another partnership. It is a far greater and closer relationship'
'There are three pillars of concern: The expansion of Hindu majoritarianism, the concentration of executive power and decay of independent institutions, and curbs on free expression and dissent.'
The terrible beauty of Doval's initiative is that it is all about a new journey rather than about a set compass pointing toward a pre-determined destination, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"Contradicting the emerging narrative, Indian-Americans remain committed to the Democratic Party. Nearly three-quarters of registered Indian-American voters intend to support Joe Biden this Fall, compared to just 22 per cent for Donald Trump," it said.
'The current period of implementation and consolidation will put the relationship on an even sounder footing when the leaders in both capitals determine it is time to quicken the pace,' US experts tell Aziz Haniffa.
Here's the full text of address to the nation by President Ram Nath Kovind on the eve of the Republic Day 2022.
China on Monday expressed the hope that the Taliban will stand by its commitment of establishing an "open and inclusive" Islamic government in Afghanistan and will ensure a peaceful transition of power without violence and terrorism.
In a show of solidarity, the CEOs of some 40 top American companies have come together to create a global task force to mobilise resources to help India fight the battle against Covid-19.
"Non-proliferation is an issue that the US and India can work together on," US Ambassador Timothy J Roemer said on Thursday, when asked about his views on India keeping away from NPT.
Obama says China shouldn't be threatened by good Indo-US ties.
The new equation between 'Namo' and 'Barack' may well 'convert a good start into lasting progress.'
"A Biden administration will be mostly positive for India," said Rick Rossow from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "I expect most positive areas of cooperation -- notably defence -- to be maintained," he said.
Prime Minister Modi needs to call Biden next month and clearly say: 'Mr President, the threat from China is clear and present. We, in New Delhi, have determined it to be an urgent national priority to outfit our submarines and aircraft carriers with nuclear propulsion and we want to cooperate with America on this programme",' advises Ajai Shukla.
The international community must be clear that such a behaviour is unacceptable, a top US senator said.
'But one of the important things to remember is that what we are seeing today in India -- the destruction of the forests, the opening up of the forests to mining companies.' 'It's a horrifying thing that's going on.' 'Yet, if you look at who owns the mining companies, you will see that almost always they are vegetarians!' 'They are people, who in their own lives would probably not even hurt an insect, but yet have no qualms about destroying an entire ecosystem.'
The project, to be taken up through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, will be carried out in Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh initially, an official statement said.\n\n
The United States is closely monitoring the situation along the India-China border, a senior official said on Tuesday and expressed concerns over Beijing's pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate its neighbours.
World leaders thanked India for its help and support in combating the coronavirus pandemic through "early and meaningful" shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as they addressed the high-level UN General Assembly session this year.
United States Pharma giant Pfizer is in the final stages of an agreement with India to supply anti-COVID-19 vaccines, Chief Executive Officer Dr Albert Bourla said on Tuesday, observing that the domestically manufactured vaccines would be the backbone of vaccinating the Indian people.
According to the Biden-Harris Transition, 'the president-elect noted that he looks forward to working closely with the prime minister on shared global challenges, including containing COVID-19 and defending against future health crises, tackling the threat of climate change, launching the global economic recovery, strengthening democracy at home and abroad, and maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region'.
Juster said as democracies, the US and India are committed to a rules based order as well as to peace and diplomacy.
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