Can the US and India Really Work Together?

President Obama's upcoming trip to India is probably the most highly mediatized presidential visit ever. The fact that the trip comes so soon after a "shellacking" in the mid-term elections makes it even more important. Expectations are running high in both the US and India with geopolitical experts and media pundits comparing the visit to Nixon's trip to China in 1972, which ushered in a new era in US-China relations. Larry Summers, Obama's outgoing economic advisor, is even calling for the so-called Beijing Consensus to be replaced by a "Mumbai Consensus" as India is poised to eclipse China's economic growth by 2015.

Hyperbole aside, is the nascent US-India partnership going to achieve the depth of the unshakable US-UK alliance or the India-Russia partnership anytime soon? We are doubtful. Let us explain why.

First the good news: America is actively participating in modern India's nation-building exercise on an unprecedented scale. In socio-economic terms, nation-building is about "helping an emerging nation learn how to fish versus just giving it a fish" — i.e., helping India build new institutional systems from scratch (think education system, public agencies, legal frameworks) and spawn entire new industries (think infrastructure, energy, healthcare, retail) that will make the country's economy competitive and foster social harmony.

Take education. While India is expected to account for one-fourth of the global workforce by 2020, 70% of its 509 million-strong working population has not received a primary education and only 11% of those aged 17-23 receive a higher education. To produce a globally-competitive workforce, India needs more than just world-class educational institutions: it needs to fundamentally reform its education system. While institutions such as the Indian School of Business that provide world class education have been set up in partnership with Wharton, Kellogg and London Business School, this is only in the area of business and there is only one ISB.
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http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/11/can_the_us_and_india_really_work_together.html

We have a number of things India really needs: technology, systems, etc. They have a huge and growing market.

A good fit, indeed.

India is a big girl now; she can take care of herself. Meanwhile, we've lost countless jobs -- and countless lives have been destroyed -- because "American" corporations have sent our jobs to Bangalore. For shame, for shame.