BIDEN BEAR HUG FOR MODI AS REALPOLITIK ECLIPSES HUMAN RIGHTS

ITS India versus China. And it is all happening in the USA.

- GURBIR SINGH

NEWSCOPE

President Joe Biden has pulled out all stops to give a red carpet welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The state visit, only the third in Biden's tenure, was designed to elevate USIndia relations to a new high. A huge guard of honour on the South Lawn of the White House; a state dinner with portobello mushrooms personally put together by a chef specializing in vegetarian cuisine; and Oval office deals that allow transfer of US technology denied to India for the last four decades.

The signaling is very clear from Washington. India is no more a pariah. She's now going to be US' big Asian partner. After years of denial of jet engine technology, GE Aerospace will sign a deal with Hindustan Aeronautics for manufacturing GE's F414 engines to power India's light combat aircraft, the Tejas MK-2.

Among other things, the state visit green lights India's purchase of about $3 billion worth of MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones. The decks have also been cleared for Micron setting up a semi-conductor chip plant in Gujarat. The US company will be investing $825 million in the facility soon after China banned its products on security grounds.

Backsliding democracy