India Gets NATO-ally Like Status By US Senate

The U.S. Senate in the last week of June 2019 has passed a legislative provision that brings India at par with America’s NATO allies.

Relevance of the News: The news highlights growing India-US relations and the trust enjoyed by both countries for each other.

The law brings India at par with America’s NATO allies and countries such as Israel and South Korea for increasing defence cooperation.
The law provides for increased U.S.-India defence cooperation in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf in the areas of humanitarian assistance, counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and maritime security.
The Bill has been passed by the US Senate and would be signed into law after both the chambers of the U.S. Congress — the House of Representatives and the Senate — pass it.

The Senate directed the Trump administration to scout more steps to implement the ‘major defence partner’ designation.
It asked the administration to “facilitate interoperability, information sharing, and appropriate technology transfers" and to undertake "strategic initiatives to help develop the defence capabilities of India.”
It urged for "increasing the frequency and scope of exchanges" between senior civilian officials and military officers to boost defence partnership.
The Senate called for enhancement of the quadrilateral dialogue among the US, India, Japan and Australia.