#129: PM Modi in USA
The deals, the details and all you need to know for UPSC
PM Modi landed in the USA on his first ever state visit from June 20-24 2023. He participated in the International Yoga Day at New York making a world record representing highest number of nationalities presented in a single yoga session. But the real glamour joins the party at the city of Washington DC where PM Modi became only third world leader after Churchill and Mandela to address the US Congress twice.
In this blog post, I am documenting all the important information from the POTUS-PM meetings and other relevant information that you need to know for the UPSC Civil Services Exam.
Keywords for Mains Answers
Most consequential partnership in the world
President Biden’s description of India-US relationship
Mutual trust and shared strategic priorities
PM Modi’s description of defense partnership
Transition to transfer of tech, co-development and co-production from old buyer-seller setup
Even sky is not the limit for India-US friendship
Overcoming hesitations of the history wrt trade and ties
Emerging cooperation in AI
AI: Artificial Intelligence
AI: America and India
Keywords: Mnemonic to Remember HES FAT
2H: Healthcare and Humanitarian efforts
2E: Energy and Education
3S: Startups, Semiconductors and Sustainability
2F: Finance and Farming
2A: Art and AI
2T: Trade and Tech
Diplomacy under different leaders
Under different PMs and POTUS
Clinton Vajpayee era: Summit level diplomacy
Manmohan-Bush and Manmohan-Obama era: Nuclear diplomacy
Modi-Obama and Modi-Trump: Trade and Military diplomacy
Modi-Biden: Technology diplomacy
Soft Power Elements
“Be it creative reels on Insta or real time payments, coding or quantum computing...the youth of India are a great example of how a society can embrace latest technology”
Mushroom to millets, srikhand to sandesh, dosa to aloo paratha; we celebrate all our diversity
Niagara falls, Indian consulate and Empire State building colored in tricolor on eve of PM Modi in US
Samosa Caucus: Informal grouping of Indian-origin Americans in Congress
Some stats
Indian Americans are 1% of US population but pays 6% of total income taxes
40 Indian origin Americans made it to various high offices across US
35 Indian origin judges in the US as per a US report
46/100 total digital payments happened in India
Discussions and Business focus areas
Collaboration on ‘nearly every human endeavor’ [POTUS said]
Indo-Pacific, a common priority
Semiconductors supply, RAN telecom networks
Major defense partnership w/ more joint exercises
Shared expertise on critical and emerging technologies
Deals on procuring drones, manufacturing chips in India
Preventing misuse of the emerging tech (eg: AI/Quantum)
Using new ways to diagnose and treat the cancer and diabetes
Human spaceflight to ISS & Indian astronauts in space (June 2024)
Accelerate global clean energy transition & tackling climate change
Technical cooperation via Critical and emerging technologies (iCET)
New consulates: US in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, India in Seattle
People to people ties emphasized with 4mn Indian Americans in US
Other decisions: Artemis Accords, General Electric to manufacture jet engines in India
Quotes from PM’s Speeches
Terrorism is an enemy of humanity and there can be no ifs or buts to dealing with it
Democracies matter and the democracies deliver. It is a spirit that supports equality and dignity
The scope of our cooperation is endless. The potential of our synergies is limitless and the chemistry in our relations is effortless. Our relationship is spread from the sees to the stars!
This is not era of war but one of dialogue and diplomacy. And, we all must do what we can to stop the bloodshed and human suffering
Democracy is the idea that welcomes debate and discourse, democracy is a culture that gives wings to thoughts and expression.
Hesitations of the history are behind us now. We are at crossroad where this is our calling for the century
When India grows, the world grows
When defense and aerospace in India grow, industries in the state of Washington, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania thrive
On China (indirectly)
A region where all nations, small and large are free and fearless in their choices, where progress is not suffocated by impossible burdens of debt, where connectivity is not leveraged for strategic purposes, where all nations are lifted by the high tide of shared prosperity.
Important details
General Electric - Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Deal Significance
India’s first indigenous fighter jet LCA Tejas is powered by GE’s F404 engines
India failed to develop a jet engine despite DRDO’s multiple efforts
Only few countries have mastered the tech & metallurgy to make combat engines
This deal offers important economic and national security benefits for India-US
GE in India: Tech Centra in Bengaluru (since 2000) and Multi modal factory in Pune (since 2015)
Other tech transfer talks happening b/w India and Safran SA of France and Rolls-Royce of UK for Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA)
INDUS-X: India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem
It is launched at an event coinciding with PM’s visit (not launched by PM/POTUS)
Help armed forces with capabilities to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific
Allows Indian-US startups to co-develop & co-produce advanced technologies
It will vitalize defense industrial cooperation unlocking new innovations in tech
Agenda
Formation of a senior Advisory Group
Collaborations of startups with defense major’s supply chains
Academic and startup programming partnerships with universities
Mentor-protege partnerships for startups by defense firms of both countries
Possibilities
Joint innovation fund to engage private investors
Standardization of Indo-US certifications for tech startups
Easing regulations for cross border development and trade
Public private partnerships in innovation, testing and lab certification
Artemis Accords
Estd. in Oct 2020 by US and 7 partner countries; 26 countries signed till now
A US led alliance for int’l collaboration in planetary exploration and research
Set of 13 principles to promote peaceful and cooperative exploration of space
The principles are mostly reiterate establishing international law on space exploration. eg
Commitment to not use space for military purposes
Willingness to share scientific data from space missions
Promise to cooperate on matters of safety of space assets and astronauts
Closely linked with NASA’s Artemis Program aiming to:
Returning to moon
Setting up permanent station there
Using this station for deep space exploration
Artemis also intends to take first woman and first person of color to the moon
Artemis-1 Mission launched on Nov 16 2022:
Sent unmanned Orion spacecraft
Carried heavy duty rocket called Space Launch System (SLS)
Went around moon and came back on December 11
China and Russia are not part of initiative seeing it as US dominance in the space
India’s signature does not open automatic partnership in Artemis Program but opens possibilities of closer space cooperation
India in Minerals Security Partnership
US led 14 countries collaboration aiming to catalyze public and private investment in critical Mineral Supply chains globally
- Members: US, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, S. Korea, Sweden, UK, European Commission, Italy and (now) India
- Could focus on the supply chains of the minerals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium, and 17 Rare earth materials
- Cobalt, Nickel, Lithium are required for the batteries used in EVs
- Rare Earth Elements (REE)
use in trace amounts in the semi-conductors and high end electronics manufacturing
a) comprises of 17 elements classified as Light REE and Heavy REE
b) India has Lanthanum, Cerium, Neodymium, Praseodymium, and Samarium (Light REE)
c) Heavy REE like Dysprosium, Terbium, Europium not available in India deposits
d) High dependency on China for HREE (70% global production)
Amrican Exceptionalism to American Excpetion-ism
- US making exceptions for India away from the world
- Recent examples:
a) CAATSA exemption for India despite buying S-400 from Russia while Turkey and China sanctioned u/ CAATSA for same
b) No Secondary US-sanctions on India for Russian trade in wake of Ukraine war
c) Exceptions in Int'l Religious Freedom Act for last 4 years
Why?
- India's democratic values, ancient and historically; serves US purposes in power game
- India's geography in south Asia and boundary with China
- Economy market and military buyer
- India-American diaspora
PM’s gifts to the Mr. and Mrs. Biden
For POTUS Biden
The Ten Principles Upanishads
A book translated from Sanskrit by Shri Purohit Swami and great Irish poet WB Yeats (Nobel Prize Winner in 1923)
President Biden has Irish roots
Yeats was friends with Gurudev Tagore and worked well in bringing Indian texts to westerns audiences
A sandalwood box from Jaipur containing Lord Ganesh idol and diya
It also carries 10 small boxes with different items from different states as seen in the image below
For FLOTUS Dr. Biden
A 7.5 carat lab grown diamond from Surat in a papier mache box known as kar-e-kamaldani from Kashmir
Marking 75 years of Indian independence, the diamond is 7.5 carat
Such diamonds are produced with Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) tech or High Pressure, High Temperature (HPHT) method
Takes 2 months to complete the process of producing one such diamond
It is eco-friendly for it is made via wind and solar energy and emits only 0.028 grams of carbon per carat
Falls in the category of 2A type diamonds purity (top grade molecular purity) seen in Kohinoor like diamond
such diamonds are naturally found only in mines of Golconda (India) and Canada
Said to have been certified by International Gemological Institute (IGI)
World’s largest certification player for lab grown diamonds
Second largest player for certifying natural diamonds
Partnerships and Initiatives
Indo Pacific Deal
Joining of Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative
Initiative seeks to promote a safe, secure, and stable domain and promote its conservation & sustainable use
People Centric Efforts
Domestic renewals of plea-based temporary work visas of Indians
Indian consulate in Seattle, US consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad
Joint task force to advance cooperation b/w leading scholars on climate change
Health
Collaboration among scientists to develop AI enabled digital pathology to be used for cancer diagnosis
Diabetes collaborations in progress
Sustainable Development
National climate and energy goals on mind
Commitment reinforced towards creating innovative investment platforms for lowering cost of capital to attract private finance internationally for multiple projects in India
Terror and Drugs
Broader and deeper bilateral counter-narcotics framework under development to disrupt illicit production and trafficking of drugs
Cross border terror condemned, Pak urged to take immediate action to ensure that none of its territory is used for launching terrorist attacks
Call for:
Trial of perpetrators of 26/11
Concerted action against all UN listed terror groups: al-Qaida, ISIS, LeT, JeM, Hizbul Mujhahideen
Defense
F414 jet engine joint production in India (GE x HAL)
MQ-98 Sea Guardian UAVs to India for intelligence, surveillance etc.
Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) b/w US Navy w/ L&T Shipyard in Chennai
INDUS-X for join defense tech innovation
Technology
Semiconductors
Test facility in India
Centre for Commercialization and Innovation
60K Indian engineers to be trained by Lam Research
India in Minerals Security Partnership
Task force on development and deployment of Open RAN systems
ISRO astronauts trained by NASA for joint ISS flight (2024)
Human spaceflight cooperation by end of 2023
Others
Boeing to invest $100mn in infra, pilot training
India, US to end 6 WTO disputes, lift some tariffs
Opinion: Dr. C Raja Mohan
1. The sweeping ambition of the agreements unveiled by PM Modi and POTUS Biden is breathtaking
2. The duo of PM and POTUS has nudged India and US on the road not travelled before- towards a join construction of a stable Asian balance of power system
3. The new India-US defense partnership makes it possible to conceive of an Asia that is not vulnerable to domination by any one power
4. This defense cooperation stems from an unmistakable convergence of Indo-US geopolitical and geo-economic interests in Asia
5. In technology, The story is no longer about the US selling arms to India, it's about Indian companies participating in the defense supply chains of American companies.
6. US-India security partnership in the US-India security partnership now becomes a new and significant variable in Asian geopolitics.
Hi, at @CSEWhy I invite you to support me! You can do that in three simple ways:
Become a blog contributor and have your write ups featured on my blog. Write me an email if you’d want to be a contributor at whycse@gmail.com
Share the link to this post on your WhatsApp story
-OR- Contribute a small amount (Pay What You Want) by clicking here (I send a valuable gift to everyone who makes a contribution)
To find links to my Twitter, Telegram, YouTube and Podcast Visit my Website
How can I get pdf of this info?
You are awesome!!!