What does Joe Biden win unfolds for India?

Joe Biden isn’t someone new for India. In 2006, he stated that “My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States”.

The India-Biden History

He was one of the key person who backed the Civil Nuclear deal with India. The deal made India the only nation who could do nuclear trade without signing NPT. India considered NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) to be discriminatory since it allowed only five countries: United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, and China to hold nuclear weapons and restricted other countries to use it for peaceful purposes like energy generation only.

During Obama-Biden administration, US officially declared its support for India’s membership in a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council. They also named India a “Major Defense Partner”.

Also, don’t forget that after 1978 visit of US President Jimmy Carter, it was the Democrat president Bill Clinton who visited India. This was in the year 2000, that’s 22 years gap. His visit was very important since India-US relationship were deteriorated due to nuclear tests of 1998.

Joe Biden may sound as India’s friend but remember there aren’t any friends in politics, only interests. He is the same Biden who made sure that India does not get access to cryogenic tech for its space programme in 1992. The Senate Committee voted to block further American aid to Russia if Moscow went ahead to help India. Denied of foreign technology, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) took two decades to develop indigenous Cryogenic technology.

Not getting further back, let’s look over the future with Biden

The Democrats are more liberal on immigration and therefore it is expected that Biden would be softer towards Indians who want to study, work and live in US. He has promised to support family-based immigration, increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration, reform the temporary visa system for high-skill, specialty jobs, eliminate the limits on employment-based green cards. He has also promised to restore the naturalisation process for green card holders. Biden had also told to work on giving citizenship to undocumented 11 million immigrants including more than 5,00,000 Indians.

India’s key ask from the incoming Biden administration would be the restoration of GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) benefits, as well as the removal of tariffs on steel and aluminum i.e. removing trade barriers and encouragement of ease of business which didn’t happened under Trump administration. The main difference in the trade negotiating position would be the addition of issues like human rights and climate change and therefore there is little hope for India here.

The Negatives:

• CAA and NRC: Biden’s website states that “Joe Biden has been disappointed by the measures that the government of India has taken with the implementation and aftermath of the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act into law. These measures are inconsistent with the country’s long tradition of secularism and with sustaining a multi-ethnic and multi-religious democracy”.
• Kashmir: Biden’s website states that “In Kashmir, the Indian government should take all necessary steps to restore rights for all the people of Kashmir. Restrictions on dissent, such as preventing peaceful protests or shutting or slowing down the Internet, weaken democracy.”
• Kamala Harris has been a sharp critic of India’s Kashmir policy. In 2019, she backed the demand for international intervention in Kashmir. She stated that “We have to remind Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world. We are keeping track of the situation. There is a need to intervene if the situation demands.”
• Policy towards China: Biden is unhappy with US — China trade war but had told to fully support India against Pakistani and Chinese aggression. He also told to meet Dalai Lama and sanction China over Tibet. Overall, it may seems that Biden would be lighter towards China than Trump and his anti-China promises are may be too big to be real but only time would decode it. Let’s also wait for the time when Biden acts against inhuman activities in China.

Remember that Trump was no saint.

Trump raised tariffs on imports from India, on everything from steel to rubber, causing a “mini trade war” with India. He has removed preferential treatment given to Indian exports, further hurting the Indian economy at a time when it’s been bleeding. Several changes to US visa policies have made it harder for US firms to hire Indians on H-1B work visas. A Democrat administration is likely to open up not just Iranian oil but also strategic space for India with Iran in the Middle East.

India signed the Paris climate agreement in October 2016 under the presumption that the US will keep its word on the Green Climate Fund that would have invested in Indian renewables. Trump in attempt to save funds, blamed India and China as the reason for US walking out of the Paris Agreement. A Biden-Harris presidency may also look differently at the Paris Agreement.

No matter how many differences Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump have, all worked for a stronger relationship with India. Thus there aren’t any reasons to believe that the oldest US president Joe Biden would not continue that. Though, yes he would have his own nuances too.

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