Ambassador ends lecture series
T.P. Sreenivasan discusses recent India-U.S. relations
By Shayna Strang, contributing writer
Posted on November 20, 2006

The Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs ended its Guardian Lecture Series with Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan’s presentation of “India and the U.S.: The New Strategic Relationship.”

In 2004, Sreenivasan retired from the Indian Foreign Service after more than four decades of diplomatic influence across the globe. Previously, the ambassador was governor of India, vice chair of the International Atomic Energy Agency and representative of India to the United Nations and United States.

“A strategic partnership between India and the U.S doesn’t exist as of yet,” Sreenivasan said Wednesday night.

As the ambassador spoke, a decision was being made about the Senate seeing a bill that would begin a partnership between the two countries. Each Senate bill sponsor can introduce a bill to the  floor for its consideration.  And in a turn of events, both the U.S. and Indian Counsels are collaborating to promote the bill.

“We are actually witnessing history being made,” Sreenivasan said.

In the past, most efforts to form a partnership between the states have been unsuccessful.

But recently, it was decided that U.S. interests require a strong relationship with India since the two countries have the largest democracies in the world.

“Historically, India and the U.S. should have been strategic partners 60 years ago,” Sreenivasan said.

In 1947, India structured its constitution after the U.S. Constitution when India gained its independence from Great Britain in 1947. This made India the only democracy in Southeast Asia at the time.

Sreenivasan said this should have united the two countries, but many choices involving India’s nuclear power drove them apart.

After India refused to sign the 1994 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would have imposed sanctions on India’s nuclear program. Later, when the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was opened for signature in 1996, India composed its own document explaining the country’s policy on nuclear testing. In 1998, India and the United States began talking in an attempt to establish friendly relations between the two nations.

During the year these discussions lasted, the United States developed “Five Benchmarks” in response to India’s policy. 

“No agreement was made between the countries, but an understanding was reached,” Sreenivasan said.

Then, in 2000, President Clinton took the first trip to India since President Carter’s trip in 1978.

“Clinton’s visit opened a new relationship between the countries, not a strategic partnership,” Sreenivasan said.

When the relationship reached a plateau, President Bush tried to take it further and began negotiations to form a strategic partnership. When the prime minister of India came to Washington, D.C., in July 2005, a new era began. Negotiations were made and India was considered a responsible state with nuclear technology, like the United States.

But steps to form a partnership stopped abruptly when the alliance depended on the amending of the Law of Nuclear Acts. Strong opposition was seen from both sides. To India it was not worth it, and agreement was perceived as surrendering to a U.S. dictatorship.

If the amendment passes, both countries will benefit and each nation could see a boost in their economy. In the United States, as many as 14,000 jobs could come from this partnership, while energy production would increase in India.

“We are in a crucial moment,” Sreenivasan said. “It is important that the nuclear amendment come through.”

“We were very lucky that Ambassador Sreenivasan agreed to come to JMU to speak,” current Nelson Institute Director J. Peter Pham said.