Donald Trump India Visit; US, India should enhance nuclear, space cooperation to further ties

Kashmir Times. Dated: 2/23/2020 1:19:45 AM

NEW DELHI, Feb 22 (Agencies): India-US relations share a long history and has seen upd and downs. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited the US during 1949. This trip preceded India’s formal declaration of neutrality in global affairs. It was a clear statement of intent from India that it is not keen to join either the Soviet or the US camp during the Cold War. Over the years, Indo-US relationship has evolved, though it has been a very bumpy ride. Even today, the US is fully aware that even though India is buying military hardware from it and dumping a ‘cost-effective’ energy supplier like Iran, it does not necessarily mean that Delhi has given up its ‘objectivity’.
The US is aware that India values its policy of independence and would not like to join any camps.
The relevance of Indo-US relationship is often discussed because both countries share values like vibrant democracies and open society. However, all this is at a superficial level. There are two strategic technologies, namely nuclear and space which, over the years, have influenced this relationship. The nuclear and space sectors have also been responsible for all the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in the bilateral relations. Before and immediately after independence, few Indian scientists were either studying or working in the US. Most were working in the field of Physics and other subfields like nuclear and space sciences.
After independence, most of them returned to India and started undertaking technological developments in these fields. Subsequently, some Indian scientists were sent to the US to get trained on specific systems. During 1950s and early 1960s, India’s political leadership decided that two major areas where it should focus are nuclear and space. Many space scientists went to the US to study radar, telemetry and various aspects of communications.
All this was much before the establishment of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) [it was established in 1969]. The US partnered in India’s initial forays into space sciences-- the sounding rocket programme (1963).
But India’s nuclear policies have been the main reason for the souring of the relationship. India conducted its first nuclear test on May 18, 1974 (Pokhran-I). Code-named the ‘Smiling Buddha’, India claimed it was a peaceful nuclear explosion. However, the US was upset as this was a blow to the non-proliferation architecture that they were trying to build to ensure nuclear supremacy remained in the hands of only a few states. In 1954, India had engaged with Canada and the United States under the “Atoms for Peace” programme and there was an agreement to establish the CIRUS research reactor at Trombay (Mumbai) in India’s quest for nuclear energy.
In 1998, India once again conducted a series of nuclear tests (Pokhran-II). India’s political leadership – from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi to Atal Behari Vajpayee – who were involved in deciding India’s nuclear policy stood their ground and did not budge under US pressure. This clearly demonstrated to the US that India would always follow an independent policy. India’s refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) also showed the limitations of US’s ‘coercive’ policy it had been pursuing all these years.

 

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