The Triangle

Issue date: 7/31/09 Section: Ed-Op

Media Credit: Olivier Douliery MCT Campus

A growing alliance between the United States and India has been demonstrated during this past month. Much of the change has been due to the gregarious efforts of our very own Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton. Since the new Obama administration took office, she has been making bold moves as one of our best resources at rekindling and fostering our international relations.

Earlier in July, Clinton spent some time with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and various other political leaders in India. Clinton "with both poetry and pose" announced at a local university in New Delhi, India that we pledge to "embark on a new era of deeper relations with India," according to a recent New York Times article. Above all else, I pondered whether this newfound friendship was due to any financial or military gain by both nations.

Apparently the Obama administration has struck a deal that "will open the door to lucrative military sales by the United States to India." This new covenant allows for the establishment of "two sites where American companies [could] build nuclear power plants." Although I dislike this power sharing game supplied by countries handling nuclear warfare, I'm at ease with the strategy employed by our political leaders for it "is a symbolic acknowledgment of India's rising role in the world," according to a New York Times article. However, Clinton makes it clear that the growing ties between the two nations go further than a nuclear alliance. She hopes "that the partnership that we are developing together will truly change the future for all the children in both of our countries." Makes sense since there are approximately three million immigrant Indians in America today.

Although progress is being made in this department, not all talks have been of success. In a salesperson's field a sale is made in every negotiation. Either you sold your product or idea or the potential buyer sold you a reason for why he shouldn't buy it. The United States and India are split on the talks on emissions. America hasn't sold this one just yet.

During the second week of July, Clinton met with India's Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh in an effort to "push India to reduce carbon dioxide emissions when it already had among the lowest levels of emissions on a per capita basis," according to New York Times columnist Mark Lander. Although the Obama administration guarantees that these mandatory national cuts in emissions are in no way orchestrated to hinder India's economic progress, India's stance remains unshaken. India's most convincing argument against the clause is that "their economic growth should not be constrained when the West never faced such restrictions during its industrialization," according to the New York Times.

But India indeed supports the environmental progress our world is making.

Despite a conflict of resolution with the emissions, India still maintains its promise to continue its cooperation in green technology. In a recent New York Times article, Ramesh "proposed teaming with the United States on solar energy and biomass, and setting up Indian-American centers to study the long-term effects of greenhouse gas emissions."

Albeit the United States and India haven't come to agreement on all fronts, major leaps are underway to not simply maintain healthy relationships between the two world powers but also to deepen them.



Mihir Oza is a pre-junior majoring in business and finance. He can be reached at op-ed@thetriangle.org

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