Annual Report 2011 - 2012

Indian students, numbering nearly 105,000, constitute the
second largest group of international students studying in
the United States. The United States announced the
'Passport to India' initiative to encourage an increase in the
number of American students studying and interning in
India. The number of US students studying in India witnessed
an increase of 44 per cent during the year.
Under the Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative,
the request for proposals from post-secondary educational
institutions by November 2011 received overwhelming
response. The proposals aim at exchange activities such as
curriculum design, research collaboration, team teaching,
exchanges and seminars. The initiative prioritises the fields
of agricultural sciences and food security; energy; sustainable
development; climate change; environment studies; education
and educational reform; public health and Community
development and Innovation. The Indian (UGC) and the
US (USIEF) sides have received over 40 and 108 joint
proposals, respectively, which are currently being reviewed
by a Joint Working group. The selected proposals will be
eligible for academic awards in support of university
partnerships.
The two governments have enhanced their contributions to
US$ 3.35 million to the Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship
Programme, which has witnessed a tripling of number of
scholars in last three years.
Science & Technology: India-US cooperation in the fields
of science and technology, implemented through existing and
new platforms, continued to remain a cornerstone of our
bilateral relationship. The India-US Science and Technology
Forum with a mandate to promote, catalyse and seed bilateral
collaboration in science, technology, engineering and
biomedical research has, over a decade of functioning,
convened activities that have led to the interaction of nearly
10,000 Indian and US scientists and technologists, established
24 virtual joint research centre and organised more than 30
training programmes and numerous bilateral conferences.
The India-US Science and Technology Endowment Board
awards nearly US$ 3 million annually to entrepreneurial
projects to commercialise technologies under the two priority
areas, namely 'Healthy Individual' and 'Empowering Citizens'.
The first call inviting Letter of Intent by September 2011
received 381 proposals, out of which three business plans
were shortlisted in November 2011 by the Endowment
Board. Final award decision is likely to be made by early
2012 followed by announcement of second cycle of call for
proposals.
Dr John P. Holdren, Assistant to the US President for Science
and Technology and Director of the White House Office of
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The Americas
Science and Technology met Minister of State for Science
and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Ashwani Kumar, in
New Delhi in July 2011. The two sides agreed to step up
cooperation in areas relating to energy, agriculture,
affordable healthcare, nutrition and monsoon forecasting.
Innovation: Mr Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer,
Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of
the US President, attended the Global Innovation
Roundtable in New Delhi in November 2011. The two
countries continued their consultations under the
framework of the India-US Dialogue on Open Government
to jointly develop an open source "Data.gov" platform by
the first quarter of 2012 to be taken to interested countries
globally. The 'open source' platform is intended to provide
citizens access to Government information via a user-friendly
website and a package of e-governance applications to enhance
public service delivery.
Civil Aviation: India and the United States signed a Bilateral
Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) on 18 July, 2011, to
advance aviation safety and by creating a framework for
cooperation between the US Federal Aviation
Administration AA and India's Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA).
Under the ongoing India-US Aviation Cooperation
Programme (ACP), the US Trade and Development Agency
(USTDA) and the Airports Authority of India announced
their commitment to a Ground Based Augmentation System
(GBAS) pilot satellite navigation project at Chennai
International Airport. The US Trade and Development
Agency (USTDA), the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the
US Federal Aviation Administration organized the 2011
Aviation Summit in New Delhi on 17-18 November, 2011.
Space: The removal of Indian Space Research Organisation
and subordinate agencies from the Entities List in February
2011 marked a significant step in eliminating remaining barriers
to greater cooperation in space exploration and research. The
bilateral Joint Space Working Group on Civil Space
Cooperation met on 13-14 July in Bangalore and reviewed
potential areas for future cooperation in earth observation,
space exploration, space sciences and satellite navigation. Joint
experiments at the International Space Station, human
spaceflight activities, and global navigation satellite systems were
identified as areas for cooperation. The two sides had
substantive discussion on Oceansat-II and Mega-Tropiques
missions, which will help refine scientific models and improve
understanding of global weather patterns.
Health: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have