United States: India’s Foreign Policy Challenges

India and the U.S. share common ground at the level of democratic ideologies, their economies and problems faced due to terrorism. At present, the two countries have wide scope to engage in 5-T areas viz. Tourism, Trade, Technology, Tradition and Talent.  There is scope in future agreements in areas of defence, IPRs, IT, travel and energy related issues.

But looking at the fact that India’s experience of engagement with the U.S. has not been very fruitful; India needs to tread the path very cautiously. Current foreign policy challenges for India are as follows:

• India needs to effectively pursue the US support on nuclear deal and defense framework. The ‘understanding’ between the two countries needs to be taken forward towards more tangible outcomes.
• The bilateral relations between the two countries need to be on equal footing. Americans are known to tenaciously safeguard their own interests while blithely overlooking the interests of the less powerful countries in bilateral relations with them.
• For India, to have a mutually beneficial relations with United States needs a lot of trust. The real challenge for India ahead is to accelerate this sense of mutual trust and uphold its creative leadership. At the same time, in an effort to make stringent relation with US, India must not give in to American demands to tweak our markets.
• The second challenge for India is to engage in a relation, which not only matters pertaining to the two countries but also in broader areas like tackling terrorism, climate change, warming relations between Russia and China, trouble in West Asia, and other concerning global issues.
• India also needs to have a cautious of the so called “Rebalancing of Asia Theory” and India’s use as a hedge against China. This might derail our “Neighbor First” policy stance. India needs to be careful on what constitutes rebalancing and interference. There is a need to be careful not to spoil its relations with its neighbours.