Washington
It was the year of the 'deal or no deal' as the landmark India-US civil nuclear accord took a roller coaster ride while business bloomed and Indians set out to 'conquer' corporate America.

Euphoria over President George W. Bush pushing that "wonderful deal" through a lame duck Congress in its dying moments gave way to despair as the dawn of the New Year will still see negotiators set out to write a 123 agreement to get the deal going.

If India wanted to get into the world nuclear club with its right to conduct a test intact besides uninterrupted fuel supplies and reprocessing rights, the enabling Henry Hyde Act passed by the US Congress would have none of it.

Hopes soared high again when negotiators accomplished "the mission impossible" exactly two years and two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bush struck the deal July 18, 2005, to resume their nuclear trade after 30 years.

The accord described as a clear recognition of "a real difference" between India and Pakistan was seen as the culmination of what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls 'de-hyphenation' of the two South Asian neighbours in Washington's worldview.

But it wasn't long before the deal took a nosedive again with the Indian government's Communist allies crying fowl over New Delhi allegedly entering into a "strategic partnership" with capitalist America in a junior role.

With the rightist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) - which had itself set the nuclear ball rolling when it was in power - refusing to bail the government out, corporate America eyeing $150 billion in business joined all the president's men to push the deal.

Optimism raised its head again as the Communists let New Delhi talk to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a scramble began to clear all the remaining hurdles before the US Congress, which has to approve the final deal, gets into presidential election mode early next year.

But even as the deal went through its ups and downs, Washington, recognising India's emergence as an increasingly important player on the world stage, vowed to keep expanding their relations regardless of the fate of what was touted as the "symbolic centrepiece" of a new alliance.

President Bush invited India to a US-sponsored 50-nation Middle East peace conference that resulted in Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreeing to negotiate a peace treaty by the end of 2008. India was also among the world's 17 major economies that came here in search of a new framework for energy security and climate change.

With India's international profile soaring, most candidates for the 2008 US presidential elections on either side of the political divide are making a concerted bid to woo Indian American voters and their top donors.

Almost all the candidates serving in Congress voted for a landmark law to begin civilian nuclear cooperation with India as well as a range of other economic deals. Unlike in 2004, outsourcing to India is yet to emerge as a major election issue.Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama courted controversy with a "Punjab jab" against rival contender Hillary Clinton. But he quickly made amends when his campaign faux pas in referring to her as 'Hillary Clinton, D-Punjab,' - journalistic shorthand for Democratic senator from Punjab - as the Indian-American community took umbrage.

Eyeing new opportunities for US businesses and workers in India's growth, Washington allowed American companies to sell high-tech dual-use products with potential military applications to pre-screened customers in India without an individual licence.

Reducing US exports to India requiring a commerce department licence to less than one percent from 24 percent in 1999, the US hoped to sell New Delhi high-tech electronics, avionics, aerospace, and life sciences worth millions of dollars.

The Indian Navy acquired an old warhorse, the USS Trenton, its first warship from the US and commissioned it as INS Jalashwa (Sea Hippopotamus) to make a quantum jump in integral sealift and airlift capabilities of Indian maritime forces.

As business bloomed India and the US hoped to double by 2009 their two-way trade volume now touching almost $30 billion.

Indian air carriers placed orders for 138 planes from Boeing, including 37 of its latest offering, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with an eye to recapture the market share they have been losing to foreign airlines.

Looking beyond outsourcing, a clutch of 34 global Indian companies invested a whopping $6 billion in the US through acquisitions and mergers and created 40,000 jobs with quite a few of them going to the Americans.

Tata Tea made a cool profit of $523 million with Coca-Cola buying its 30 percent stake in Vitaminwater maker Glaceau for 1.2 billion.

Indians abroad too set out to conquer corporate America, with Indra Nooyi taking over as chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. The troubled Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company, turned to Nagpur-born Vikram Pandit to set its house in order.

Pandit, Nooyi and Ramani Iyer, chairperson and CEO of the $27-billion Hartford Financial Group, made up the trio of Indian Americans in The New York Times list of 15 foreign born CEOs of Fortune 100 companies.

Nooyi also topped Fortune magazine's annual list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for the second year in a row and was placed fifth, a notch ahead of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi among the world's 100 most powerful women.

The number of legal immigrants from India swelled to about 1.7 million, with some 629,000 coming in 2007, making it one of the top three exporters of people to the US.

For the sixth year in a row, India sent the most number of students to the US in 2006-07 with a total of 83,833. India also dominated with one in seven of international students who together contributed $14.5 billion to the US economy.

In politics, Bobby Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana to become the first Indian-American chief executive of a US state. The US Congress honoured Dilip Singh Saund, the first person of Indian origin to make it to the House nearly 50 years before Jindal, with a portrait in the complex.

The US House of Representatives and the Senate adopted resolutions "recognising the religious and historical significance of the festival of Diwali".

India American astronaut Sunita Williams went on a 195-day record space odyssey for a woman surpassing US astronaut Shannon Lucid's 188-day mark. With four excursions spread over 29 hours and 17 minutes she also topped Kathy Thornton's 21-hour record to become the world's most experienced woman space walker.

In the world of entertainment, a record number of Indian films reached blockbuster status in the US with half of the 14 foreign language films that grossed over $2 million being in Hindi. No other language came close to contributing so many box office hits to the list.

Hollywood's first Bollywood film "Saawariya" made waves in the US. So did Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Om Shanti Om" while mainstream US media went gaga over Indian American director Mira Nair's latest venture "The Namesake," making it one of the best reviewed Indian films ever in the US market. 

India-US: Milestones 2007

Here is a timeline of major events in India-US relations in 2007:

Jan 24 - India and US sign letter of intent promote reciprocal trade and opportunities for strategic linkages between small and medium enterprises.

Feb 22 - India-US High Technology Cooperation Group sets targets on easing private sector trade in "dual-use" advanced technology products.

Feb 23 - Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon discusses nuclear deal with chief US negotiator Nick Burns, says 123 Agreement will be worked out "as soon as possible".

Feb 28 - Indo-US Joint Working Group on Counter terrorism agrees to find new ways to forge institutional linkages to foster closer interaction and cooperation.

March 20 - Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora discusses cooperation in hydrocarbon under the Indo-US Energy Dialogue.

April 2 - India, US, renew agreement on environmental cooperation.

April 10 - First India-US Defence Joint Working Group meets in New Delhi.

April 13 - Formation of US-India Private sector advisory group on trade policy announced.

April 23 - US-India aviation partnership summit to promote greater cooperation between their aviation sectors held in New Delhi.

April 26 - US agrees to grant market access for Indian mangoes.

May 1 - First consignment of Indian mangoes reaches the US.

May 7 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W. Bush review developments pertaining to negotiations on bilateral civil nuclear cooperation over phone.

May 9 - Indian Naval Sail Ship Tarangini visits the US.

May 30 - US Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, visits India to discuss nuclear deal; 123 Agreement eludes "positive and useful visit".

June 15 - Fifth US-India Agricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI) board meeting agrees on bio-security cooperation to reduce the threat to crops from alien invasive species.

June 21 - The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) becomes a member of Washington Accord.

June 22 - Indian Navy commissions old US warhorse, USS Trenton, its first warship acquired from the US, as INS Jalashwa (Sea Hippopotamus).

June 22 - India, US sign MoU to establish the India-US Aviation Cooperation Programme for developing and modernising India's civil aviation infrastructure.

June 27 - Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath attends 'Global India Summit' on 'the importance of a deeper trade relationship'.

July 11 - Manmohan Singh and Bush hold a telephonic conversation ahead of talks between their National Security Advisers.

July 20 - India-US finalise the 123 Agreement, exactly two years and two days after the bilateral July 18, 2005 agreement on a civil nuclear deal.

July 27 - External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issue joint statement on completion of civil nuclear negotiations.

Aug 3 - Text of '123' Agreement released.

Aug 13 - Manmohan Singh informs the Lok Sabha about '123' Agreement.

Aug 14 - In a telephonic conversation Manmohan Singh and Bush review the status of Indo-US relations in several areas, including in the area of civil nuclear energy cooperation.

Aug 16 - Pranab Mukherjee tells Parliament India has the sovereign right to test and would do so if it is necessary in national interest. Nowhere in the bilateral 123 Agreement is testing mentioned.

Sep 23 - Incredible India@60 festivities begin in New York. Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi addresses the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas.

Sep 24 - India-US Memorandum of Cooperation on public transportation signed.

Sep 26 - In an address at the Wharton School, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram says with India going from local to global "this is the best time to have a business in India and also find your way to do business in other countries of the world".

Sep 27 - Pranab Mukherjee represents India at a US sponsored meeting of major economies on energy security and climate change.

Oct 4 - India, US sign agreement in New Delhi for the development of low-cost diagnostics and therapeutic medical technologies.

Oct 15 - In a telephonic conversation Manmohan Singh explains to Bush "that certain difficulties have arisen with respect to the operationalisation of the India-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement".

Oct 29 - Pranab Mukherjee has a telephone conversation with Rice on "the India-US Agreement for Cooperation on Civil Nuclear Energy and regional issues".

Nov 27 - Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal represents India at the Annapolis Conference for Peace in the Middle East.

Nov 29 - India-US Joint Working Group on Counter terrorism meets in Washington to discuss bilateral cooperation in fighting the global menace of terrorism.

Dec 14 - Healthcare experts from India and the US meet in New Delhi.

December 20, 2007

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India's Key Market Index Closes 47 Percent Up by Arvind Padmanabhan
N-deal Slows Down, as Pakistan Turmoil Worries India by Manish Chand 
On Back of Robust Growth, India Inc Spreads Wings Overseas 
by Arvind Padmanabhan
Sri Lanka Gained Upper Hand Over LTTE in 2007 by M.R. Narayan Swamy
In 2007, India Let its Children Down by Priyanka Khanna
2007: Delhi Courts Move Against the High and Mighty by Kanu Sarda
Militancy in Tripura Falls Steeply in 2007 by Sujit Chakraborty 
Yearend Shocker: Highest Ever Polio Cases in Bihar  
India's Quest for Energy Security Sees Decisive Steps Forward
by Noor Mohd and Arvind Padmanabhan
Modi as the Hero/Villain of 2007 by Amulya Ganguli 
India-South Africa Business Records New High in 2007 by Fakir Hassen
Top 10 NRI Newsmakers of 2007 by Kul Bhushan 
Bells Ring Louder for Indian Telecom in 2007 Arvind Padmanabhan   
Cricket, Bollywood Made their Presence Felt in South Africa by Fakir Hassen   
2007 Proved the Earth Has Fever by Joydeep Gupta 
2007 – South Asia’s Year of Despair by Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle  
2007 Gave India Some Relief in Terror Attacks by Ajay Sahni 
2007: A Landmark Year in Pakistan By Alok Bansal 
The Rise and Rise of Indian Investment in Britain by Prasun Sonwalkar 
India-US: Year of the 'Deal or No Deal' by Arun Kumar 
2007: A Year of Wasted Opportunities for Nepal by Sudeshna Sarkar
Indian Motorsport is Moving in Fits and Starts by Anand Philar 
Positive Vibes From 2007 for Indian Football by Abhishek Roy
Talented Bench Strength Gives Indian Cricket Hope by Qaiser Mohammad Ali 
New Coach and Fresh Ideas Spur Indian Hockey by Anand Philar 
Bollywood 2007: SRK Double Whammy Saved the Day by Saibal Chatterjee 
India Awaits Early Elections by Amulya Ganguli 
The Men and Women who Dominated Events in 2007 

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