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May 16, 2014 marked a new chapter in India’s democracy. For the first time since 1984, a single political party won an absolute majority in India’s lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha. Another milestone is that India’s 15th Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, is the first to have been born in independent India.

The verdict of 2014 parliamentary elections demonstrates that the Indian electorate voted for Mr. Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), because of its development-oriented manifesto. There is a lot of hype and hope from Mr. Modi and his administration. What remains to be seen is whether his government will be able to achieve all that they have promised to do in the next few months and years.

India’s ties with the United States have deepened in the last few years especially in the economic and defense-security arenas. With changes taking place in South Asia �� elections in India and Afghanistan, U.S. military drawdown in Afghanistan �� the way that India-U.S. ties develop will also have an impact on the region and beyond.

To discuss these and other crucial issues confronting Washington and New Delhi, ����� hosted a talk by Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, Distinguished Fellow, Society for Policy Studies. Hudson Director for the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, Aparna Pande, moderated the event.