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Sep 28, 2021
Ramaharitha Pusarla

India-US Firm up an Alliance on Emerging Technologies

Modi embarked on his first overseas since the pandemic beyond the immediate neighbourhood to the US on September 23rd. Besides the imbued strategic significance, thanks to Modi regime’s proactive connect with the Indian diaspora and the soft power at play, Modi’s US visits have turned more consequential. Baring Indira Gandhi, Modi has thus far been the only Indian Prime Minister to have engaged with three American dispensations. This repository of experience and the continuity of the engagement with three different Presidents bestows Modi with a unique understanding of the expectations of the United States from India and vice-versa. In a welcome departure form the string of the virtual bilateral summits which has become a norm the pandemic era, the in-person talks offered the leaders to build personal rapport. Rightly so, the warmth on display during the Modi-Biden bilateral at the White House had a lot to convey. Besides, dispelling the speculations of the current democratic regime being highly critical of India’s landmark legislations and spurious allegations on human rights, the interaction laid a strong foundation for collaboration and cooperation on new technologies. The 21st century global order is increasingly shaped and influenced by technologies. With a focus on seeking investments and technology, Modi held meetings with CEOs of five companies on the first day of his visit. These include a meeting with semiconductor and wireless technology manufacturer (Cristian Amon of Qualcomm), ed-tech giant (Shantanu Narayen of Adobe), solar panel manufacturer (Mark Widmar of First Solar) and World’s leading investment firm (Stephan Swarzmann of Blackstone Group)1. The bilateral meeting which commenced after the Quad summit, had the leaders lay a clear vision for the strategic partnership. Leaders affirmed enhanced cooperation on three Cs - Covid, Critical technologies and Combatting climate change. Significantly, Indo-US bilateral talks and the Quad agenda had many issues in common. India and the US shared similar views on Myanmar, UNSCR 2593 on Afghanistan and Indo-Pacific. Biden commended India’s presidency at UNSC and backed India’s permanent membership on a reformed UNSC and entry to Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Biden appreciated India’s announcement of resuming exports of Covid-19 vaccines to COVAX. Expressing shared commitment to combat Covid-19, leaders appreciated the finalization of MoU on Health and BioMedical sciences to bolster cooperation in global health, pandemic preparedness, biomedical research to reduce risk of future pandemics. Biden accorded highest priority to climate change and globe trotting of special envoy John Kerry is a testament to this commitment. Hailing India’s domestic goal of 450 GW renewable energy by 2030, countries have agreed to accelerate clean energy development through Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) and Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue (CAFMD) under the Clean Energy Agenda 2030 partnership. In lieu of the importance of critical and emerging technologies in strategic priorities and delivering growth, leaders agreed to revive High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) by early 2022 to catalyse high technology commerce. Along similar lines, countries decided to expand partnership in new domains of strategically important technologies- space, cyber, health, AI, semiconductors, 5G, 6G, block chain and advanced telecommunication technologies. Calling for an early conclusion of Investment Incentive Agreement, India and the US looked forward to address trade concerns and identifying areas of specific areas of engagement to enhance bilateral trade. Again, in line with the Quad agenda, both countries discussed the need to set a sustainable and transparent framework to uplift the economies. Opaque trading practices of China have become a bane on international trade and supply chains. A well laid out roadmap to counter these mercantilist practices is a commendable move. Biden affirmed unwavering commitment to India as major defense partner and welcomed the project to co-develop UAVs under Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). Notably while India’s defense purchases from US have been on a rise, the concomitant surge in technology transfer (ToT) and co-production has been nominal. Instructively, the two last aspects have been the pillars of strong Indo-Russian partnership. In the aftermath of the US pullback and looming terror threat from Af-Pak axis, leaders reaffirmed to stand together in the fight against global terrorism. Condemning cross border terrorism, leaders denounced use of any terror proxies and “emphasized the importance of denying any logistical, financial or military support to terrorist groups which could be used to launch or plan terror attacks”2. To counter terrorism, leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in intelligence sharing and law enforcement. The emphatic statement on terrorism certainly sounded hallow given America’s reluctance to sanction Pakistan the mothership of terrorism. Further, Secretary of State Blinken’s remarks of “reiterating the importance of diplomatic engagement with Pakistan” in his meeting with Pakistan foreign minister Qureshi a day before scheduled Modi-Biden talks exposed the incongruities and lack of intent of Biden administration3. Similarly, US’s vacillating stance towards China came to light after Blinken deleted tweets in support of Hongkong just days after announcement of security alliance AUKUS to counter China4. Indeed, these infirmities in walking the talk is further exacerbating looming trust deficit which US is trying to assuage. Indeed, similar inconsistency featured in the presser after Modi-Kamala Harris meeting. Harris statement of calling upon “Pakistan to act against terrorist groups operation from its soil to ensure they don’t threaten the security of both the US and India” are figured in India’s release were missing in the White House statement5. Reinforcing the import of Gandhiji’s message of non-violence during Modi-Biden talk, countries agreed to launch US-India Gandhi-King Development Foundation to advance cooperation on health, education and environment, countries. By and large, the agenda of the Indo-US bilateral appeared to be a sub-set of Quad cooperation. In line with the global challenges of 21st century, India and US have formalized an ambitious partnership framework with critical focus on technology, economic cooperation, health and climate. However, the productive bilateral agenda, critically missed on the hard power objectives mirroring America’s global retrenchment policy. This drastic shift in priorities demonstrated America’s defiance to identify an assertive and rising China as a threat to peace and stability. For all the talks of shared responsibility to uphold democratic values and international law, amid a glaring paucity of promising cooperation on India’s two biggest security problems- China and Af-Pak axis, the only big gain for India from this comprehensive global strategic partnership is collaborating on emerging and critical technologies. https://www.firstpost.com/world/meet-the-five-top-american-ceos-prime-minister-modi-met-on-day-1-of-his-us-trip-9992541.html accessed on Sep 28th 2021 https://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/34320/USIndia_Joint_Leaders_Statement__A_Partnership_for_Global_Good_September_24_2021 accessed on Sep 28th 2021 https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinkens-meeting-with-pakistani-foreign-minister-qureshi/ accessed on Sep 27th 2021 https://www.nationalreview.com/news/blinken-deletes-tweet-saying-we-stand-with-the-people-of-hong-kong-in-favor-of-milder-message/ accessed on Sep 27th 2021 https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/kamala-harris-slams-pakistan-on-terror-in-meeting-with-narendra-modi-101632461344609.html accessed on Sep 28th 2021 Image source: India Today

Sep 28, 2021
Myind Staff

Navjot Singh Sidhu takes Gandhis by surprise, resigns as Punjab Congress chief

In what comes as a sudden development, Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from his post on Tuesday, minutes after the allotment of portfolios in new Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s Cabinet. In his resignation letter to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, Sidhu wrote, “The collapse of man’s character stems from the compromise corner. I can never compromise on Punjab’s future and the agenda for welfare of Punjab. Therefore, I hereby resign as president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Will continue to serve the Congress.” According to a report by the Indian Express, sources said Sidhu had been opposing tooth and nail the allotment of the home department to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, arguing that the portfolio is traditionally with the CM. Earlier, he had put his foot down when the party considered Randhawa for the CM post. The report further added that when Randhawa’s name was proposed for the top job, Sidhu had left the hotel where he was meeting Harish Rawat, Congress general secretary and head of the selection committee, in a huff. He was learnt to have left for Delhi to hand over his resignation as PPCC chief. In what seemed to be the pinnacle of the infighting between Navjot Singh Sidhu and former CM Captain Amarinder Singh, the latter was replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi as chief minister of Punjab on September 20. CM Channi's cabinet was sworn in six days later on Sunday. The finalisation of the cabinet was preceded by marathon meetings with the party high command. Even after these long meetings, not everyone in the party was happy with the final list of cabinet ministers. Six Congress MLAs from Doaba and one former Punjab Congress Committee President demanded that Navjot Singh Sidhu remove Rana Gurjeet Singh from the proposed cabinet list due to his involvement in the 'mining scandal' and instead 'include a clean Dalit face in view of upcoming polls." Furthermore, a source quoted by Indian Express said, “You find out who was backing APS Deol and you will know. What was the point of the whole exercise to change the government when you are getting former DGP Sumedh Saini’s lawyer as AG? This is unacceptable to Sidhu.” The source said Sidhu had “made it very clear to the high command that he would not tolerate corruption”. “Sidhu is disappointed with the choice of Rana Gurjeet Singh as minister. The party has been on the defensive since day one over his appointment. His appointment made Amarinder look better — that he had dropped him from the Cabinet after the sand mining imbroglio and now he is back when the new government was expected to be above board. Look at the appointments in six days. What is the message that we are sending? It is like the old group is back,” the source added. Reacting to Sidhu's sudden resignation, former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh tweeted: “I told you so…he is not a stable man and not fit for the border state of Punjab,” in an apparent dig at the party leadership. Image courtesy: PTI/Twitter