Barack Obama and his Indian policies, will Obama benefit India

Flipped through an interesting rediff article on Barack Obama and how his policies will benefit India. Read about India-US relationship in the coming times of Barack Obama's president ship.


Barack Obama is the new president of the US. Though Barack Obama will reinforce America's already improving bilateral ties with India, but the two countries might witness friction over critical issues like non-proliferation, according to analysts. "Barack Obama is a living example of what is best about America. I have no doubt US-India relations under him will see the strengthening of the relationship under the last two Presidents. There will be, I believe, policy continuity," former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth said.
"I have no doubt he recognizes the importance of India as a major global power in the 21st century and he is going to work to see that relationship strengthened and expanded," Inderfurth, who is expected to play a major role in the Obama administration, said.
"For India, Obama has said he would support the nuclear accord. The question will come in as to how far he pushes on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. India is not likely to agree on either of those. So there is a potential structural glitch," said Walter Andersen, a onetime senior State Department official.
"I don't think US Foreign Policy is going to change all that much. There is going to be consistency on big issues," Andersen, currently the Associate Director of the South Asia Programme at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, added.
Obama's controversial stance on Kashmir
On Kashmir, Anderson said the US under Obama is likely to take a 'cautionary stance' though the President elect has during his campaign has talked about the need for a resolution of the issue.
"I think President Obama sees India as an important democratic element of stability in an uncertain area," Andersen said.
"All of the signs are that he has very strong and positive feelings toward India. And I would say not so much at the level of the big shots but at the grass roots level. Apparently when he was studying in New York, I think his room mate was Indian and he has eaten Indian food," Gould, a scholar who has written extensively on India and South Asia said.

Contending that effects of US's economic condition on India go much farther than US policy regarding outsourcing, an Indian American financial analyst argued that Obama's ability or inability to tackle America's financial woes will play a major role in India's economic growth in the near term.
"Today, India is a country that no longer heavily depends on outsourcing. The financial ties run much deeper. Obama's ability (or inability) to tackle his country's financial woes will play the biggest part of India's near term growth," he said, adding global markets can now breathe a sigh of relief.