'The American envoy has not quit over any tension in ties or over any issue related to meeting BJP PM hopeful Narendra Modi.'
India and the United States have jointly refuted the perception that there was a "lull and dip" in the relation between the two countries and it is "oversold".
The February 13 meeting between Nancy Powell, who quit as United States ambassador to India on Monday, and Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, was frosty enough to convince the Roosevelt House (the official address of the US embassy in New Delhi) and the White House in Washington DC that much had to be done before US diplomats could aspire to any significant access to a Modi-led government in India.
Kathleen Stephens, the new United States interim ambassador, on Friday took charge of the American embassy in New Delhi and said she was looking forward to working with India for strengthening and broadening the Indo-US partnership.
The meeting between United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was a "pragmatic" and "necessary step", according to a media report, that said it seems "likely" the visa status of BJP's prime ministerial candidate "could change" if he is elected to the top post.
Nancy Powell, the new United States envoy to India, will be bring a bust of Eleanor Roosevelt -- the first lady of the US from 1933 to 1945 with her when she will leave for New Delhi next week.
She also met American Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell, who was in New Delhi on a stopover to her vacation.
The Congress on Wednesday expressed sadness over 'pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated' while being deported from the United States and recalled that America had to express regret over the treatment meted out to India diplomat Devyani Khobragade in 2013 after the then United Progressive Alliance government retaliated sharply.
Indian-American Richard Rahul Verma has been sworn in as the United States ambassador to India by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Nancy Powell, being the quintessential diplomat, and attempting to be as circumspect as possible, replied, "Iran and India have a long tradition of trade across energy and other fields. It is one that is clearly a part of our sanctions regime, that we are hoping to see it significantly reduced."
The US has taken the first step to open channels of communications with a leader it had so far refused to engage with, at least openly.
Seasoned American diplomat Nancy Powell, who was sworn in as United States ambassador to India, has identified five priority areas to take the relationship between the two countries to a new level. "Our look forward will encompass: Bolstering trade and investment to reduce barriers, including through negotiation of a bilateral investment treaty, and expansion of the areas where we can do business, including full implementation of the Civil-Nuclear Agreement," Powell said.
Indian employees of the United States embassy and consulates in India are being grossly underpaid in comparison to their American counterparts working in these missions, according to information made available to the government.
Reacting strongly to reports of Bharatiya Janata Party being spied upon by US National Security Agency, India on Wednesday summoned a top US diplomat in New Delhi to raise the issue, saying it was "totally unacceptable" that an Indian organisation or Indian individual's privacy was transgressed upon.
The father of the Indian woman diplomat, arrested on visa fraud charges in New York, on Tuesday met Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and was assured of the government's support.
Top American lawmakers and eminent Indian-Americans have hailed President Barack Obama's decision to nominate Richard Rahul Verma as his next envoy to India, noting that he would make an excellent ambassador.
Forty-eight-year-old Verma, who played a quiet but key role in deepening Indo-US ties, will quit before the president-elect assumes charge as his team said the envoys, who are political appointees, will not be given any "grace period" beyond Trump's inauguration day.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday cancelled his meeting with a senior United States Congressional delegation ostensibly as a mark of protest against the treatment meted out to India's deputy consul general in New York.
The new American Ambassador to India, Nancy J Powell, flagged off these concerns at what was her first public address in India after she presented her credentials to President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday.
Indian tax laws are a source of frustration for US companies, says US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell.
Ahead of United States envoy Nancy Powell's meeting with Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday hoped America will apply with regard to the Gujarat chief minister the standards consistent with its policies in dealing with issues like human rights.
Verma, 46, is the first Indian-American to be the US ambassador to India and is expected to be sworn in shortly.
The United States is proceeding with the prosecution of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and has no intention to withdraw the case of visa fraud against her.
Asia Society-organised a Q-and-A session between Nancy Jo Powell, America's first woman ambassador to India, and society president Vishakha Desai. Vaihayasi Pande-Daniel, who attended the interaction in Mumbai, presents an excerpt from the hour-long interaction
The United States has hoped that the major diplomatic row over the arrest of the Indian Deputy Consul General in New York will not affect bilateral ties with India. In a major diplomatic embarrassment to India, 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer, was taken into custody on Thursday as she was dropping her daughter to school and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty.
The United States continued to maintain silence on granting a visa to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi, whose party-led NDA is projected by exit polls to form the next government in India.
Continuing to maintain silence on granting a visa to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi, United States has said the heads of state and government are eligible for A1 visas and no individual automatically qualifies for an American visa.
Special 301 Report expresses concern over weak IPR laws, to conduct reviews.
In her first interview to CNN-IBN's Suhasini Haider after taking over as the US Ambassador to India in April 2012, Nancy J Powell, compared India's 'lower'oil cuts unfavourably to Japan that has already received an American sanction waiver after it cut oil imports by a whopping 80 per cent in April. India has announced a 34 per cent cut so far.
Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in New Delhi onto participate in the fourth round of Indo-US strategic dialogue even as US announced to invest $100 million in India's burgeoning clean energy sector.
The United States has said it is focused on moving forward its relationship with India and asserted that the legal procedure against diplomat Devyani Khobragade is separate from the diplomatic process.
Two US lawmakers write to the House Speaker asking to extend an invitation
'A senior US diplomat last week asked me when things will go back to normal. I had to tell her that if normalcy meant getting back these perks, it is not going to happen for a very long time, if ever at all,' says Mohan Guruswamy. 'For the Indian public now is outraged that US diplomats have enjoyed all these winking at the rulebook.'
Richard Rahul Verma, the first Indian American to serve as US Ambassador to New delhi, quips that surviving the first month in India is his first goal.
The investigations into and actions being taken by the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service against Devyani Khobragade were not shared with Secretary of State John F Kerry, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, or Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, reveals Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa from Washington, DC.
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Arvind Kumar Sharma, a 1988-batch IAS officer and one of the many joint secretaries in PMO, definitely wields some power.
The news report was immediately refuted by both the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the National Security Advisor, who said that there was no discussion of specific threats with the Russians.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday handed over to CBI the probe into Bollywood actress Jiah Khan's death, five months after Mumbai police concluded it was a case of suicide and charged her live-in partner Suraj Pancholi with abetting it.
The West has always preferred a timid, half intelligent and a dependent India rather than a decisively independent and self-reliant one. A pliable Indian leadership suits the West best, says Tarun Vijay.
'Imagine a scenario where a terror strike by Pakistan-supported jihadis causes thousands of deaths in India. India in retaliation destroys terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.' 'There is a clamour for revenge in Pakistan and that country begins to fuel its missiles for a nuclear strike against India and that is detected by Indian satellites.' 'No sane government in India will then wait for the nuclear bombs to fall on Delhi before launching its own strike. To be effective, this may well involve nuclear weapons.' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says the change in the 'No First Use' pledge in the BJP manifesto is long overdue.
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