Robin Raphel, a former US diplomat now under a counter intelligence investigation, has spent much of her professional life dealing with Pakistan and defending it against criticism as she doled out billions in aid to the "frenemy".
With a decelerating economy that weakens India's hands on geopolitical issues, it will be interesting to know which way this trip will go.
Economist Abheek Barua's insight into the global and domestic economy at the turn of the financial year.
As the United States and China joust for supremacy, India might remain on the sidelines with its limited resources.
Praising the US for turning barriers into bridges of partnership, he said that America had stood with India when the support was needed the most, like when terrorists attacked Mumbai in November 2008 and in other economic endeavours as well
When Obama signs the NDAA 2017 into law this week, the US-India partnership will be enshrined in US legislation, binding every succeeding administration, whatever its inclinations, to treat India as a 'major defence partner,' says Ajai Shukla.
Here are some of the best images clicked across the globe in the month of August.
BJP president Rajnath Singh has said that he did not bring up the Modi visa ban issue even once during his deliberations in Washington, DC, also dismissing the controversy over letter to President Barack Obama by Indian parliamentarians, reports Aziz Haniffa.
Lauding the Senate confirmation of 37-year-old Vivek Murthy as the youngest ever Surgeon General, more than a year after his nomination, US President Barack Obama has said the Indian-American physician would hit the ground running as the country's top doctor.
'I am hopeful that you will see more focused attention on this relationship,' former US assistant secretary of state Nisha Desai Biswal tells Alokananda Chakraborty.
If confirmed by the US Senate, Haley, 44, would be the first Indian-American to serve in a Cabinet-level position in any presidential administration.
As Americans welcomed Donald Trump as their 45th President, police arrested nearly 100 protesters involved in "vandalism," blocks away from the venue for his inauguration celebrations, marred by sporadic violence and clashes between masked protesters and police.
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The president called for tax reform that eliminates corporate-friendly loopholes, highlighted his earlier proposal for free community college.
India and the US should not get into any lengthy investigations for business related concerns.
The United States National Security Agency has sent some staffers home because of the government shutdown despite crucial security services being exempted from the shuttering of offices due to lack of funds.
For one thing, US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was perhaps right in postponing the quantitative easing taper even though the markets had complained at that time that they were primed for some reduction in QE3 and the Fed had missed an opportunity to execute their plans without causing too much of a flutter.
'The speech he delivered had a profound impact on my colleagues,' US Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
Here's why Rajeev Srinivasan believes there will be nothing particularly positive about the prime minister's US visit.
BJP president Rajnath Singh has said that if the party comes to power in the next general election, its foreign policy wouldn't be much different from that of the Congress government. Aziz Haniffa in Washington
The incredible demand to be a part of Indian-American history in greeting Prime Minister Modi has pushed us to find more ways to let the community participate.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
Calling the US "the anchor of global security," Obama in a televised address offered moral, political and strategic arguments for being ready to launch limited military strikes while trying to negotiate a diplomatic solution.
'We had to convince our people that we were doing nothing that would erode our strategic programme. We were all the time arguing that we are not doing anything, which will remotely impact on our strategic programme.'
Modi has debunked the uncontested wisdom of foreign and strategic policy remaining unchanged and running on a broad national consensus. This is clearly seen in his unhesitating embrace of the US and the clear hardening shift in India's stance on Pakistan, says Shekhar Gupta.
New book claims Amar Singh gave between 20 and 100 per cent of his entire net worth to the Clinton Foundation.
'He needs to control his foot soldiers by taking either stern action against the over enthusiastic members of his group or convince them to stop causing him this embarrassment.' 'We know that most of these leaders are not going to be prosecuted by Indian authorities. So we are seeking alternate means to bring them to justice,' FIACONA President John Prabhudoss tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com
'We have never before seen an Indian prime minister's visit to the United States so heavily business-oriented and so packed with meetings with the US business community.' Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports from Washington, DC.
It would be a huge achievement if the new administration manages a successful transition to some sense of domestic and international normalcy in these frantic times marked by the pandemic and rise of illiberal regimes across the world, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
The fragmentation of politics and the pressures of coalition management have contributed to a near-secular rise in budgetary social expenditures and spending on subsidies since 1991, leaving little fiscal space for government-led capital investment.
Norman Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis, believes that the US has enough highly skilled engineers and raising the cap on H-1B would hamper the wages of senior workers already in the industry.
'Modi's idea of India is to make it less liberal, less tolerant and a less accommodative of diversity.' 'We are headed, if Modi continues, to become an ill liberal democracy.' 'Modi is not Vajpayee. Vajpayee was fundamentally decent, tolerant and fair. He played by the rules of the game. Modi is a different story.'
Three years after the horrific massacre of Sikh worshippers at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, gurdwara by a gunman with ties to supremacist organisations, a federal system to help track hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindu, Arab American communities has been formalised.
The office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara on Sunday, October 19, in papers filed with the US District Court in Manhattan strongly argued in favour of immunity for Prime Mimister Narendra Modi in a pending lawsuit against Modi that has been brought by an organisation based in the United States.
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.
'It would be very easy for me to say, it's only the Pakistanis that want the Kashmir issue to remain alive.' 'Trust me, there is a vested interest on the Indian side in keeping the issue of Jammu and Kashmir alive.'
The letter, to maintain the current policy of denying Narendra Modi a visa to the United States, was released just as the BJP president arrived in Washington DC for a round of meetings with US lawmakers. Aziz Haniffa reports
Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid speaks about the importance of the fourth edition of the India-US Strategic Dialogue, which he co-chaired with United States Secretary of State John Kerry in New Delhi
Hindu American Foundation: 'As an organisation that works on issues affecting Hindu minorities... in the civil war although all groups were affected, Hindu temples and Hindu institutions were disproportionately affected, and Hindus continue to be affected.' Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States Prasad Kariyawasam: 'Assume that Sri Lanka is referred to the ICC through the UN Security Council -- which will never happen because Sri Lanka has enough clout to block it. But assume it is. Still, the ICC cannot handle it because retrospectively they don't have jurisdiction.'
Mahendra Raj is a towering figure of 20th century Indian architecture.
Friends and colleagues pay rich tributes to the "charming, approachable, and very accessible" Indian Constitution scholar Granville 'Red' Austin.
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