PM Modi’s U.S. visit Day 2 updates | Lab-grown diamond, book on Upanishads - Modi’s gifts to the Bidens at the White House

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (local time) thanked US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for hosting him at the White House. PM Modi noted that they held “great conversation” on several subjects.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, PM Modi stated, “I thank @POTUS @JoeBiden and @FLOTUS @DrBiden for hosting me at the White House today. We had a great conversation on several subjects.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited American chip maker Micron Technology to boost semiconductor manufacturing in India as the country provides competitive advantages in various parts of the product’s supply chain.

He also invited Applied Materials to India for development of process technology and advanced packaging capabilities.

“an individual becomes ‘Drishta Sahasrachandro’ or the one who has seen one thousand full moons when he completes the age of eighty years and eight months.”

The life spanning one thousand full moons or ‘Sahasra Poorna Chandrodayam’ is considered to be an important milestone in the Hindu way of life. The gap between two full moons is about 29.53 days, so the time span covered by a thousand full moons would be approximately 29530 days or 80 years and 8 months.

U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden present PM Modi with a handmade, antique American book galley from the early 20th Century.

To maintain the momentum of growth, a “pipeline of talent” is needed for India and the U.S., Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an earlier event in Washington to highlight the two nations’ shared priorities around education and workforce.

He was participating in the ‘Skilling For Future Event’ organised by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on Wednesday and his visit to the organisation was hosted by First Lady Jill Biden.

“I am really happy to have got an opportunity to interact with young and creative minds here. India is working on several projects in collaboration with the NSF. I thank First Lady Jill Biden for planning and organising this event,” PM Modi said. - PTI

The Biden administration will make it easier for Indians to live and work in the United States, using this week’s state visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help some skilled workers enter or remain in the country, according to three people familiar with the matter.

U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Wednesday hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an intimate dinner at the White House. “When friends meet! PM @narendramodi arrives at the @WhiteHouse for a private engagement with @POTUS @JoeBiden, @FLOTUS @DrBiden and family. An occasion for two leaders who share close bonds of friendship to cherish special moments together,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

PM Modi was received by the President and the First Lady, and before entering the building, they posed for photos and were seen chatting.C

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a White House decorated with peacocks and lotus blooms on Thursday, hosting a vegetarian dinner but no specialties from PM Modi’s home state of Gujarat.

PM Modi, who follows a vegetarian diet, will be served a first course that includes a grilled corn kernel salad and tangy avocado sauce, the White House said.

The main course will include portobello mushrooms and creamy saffron-infused risotto, with rose and cardamom-infused strawberry shortcake featured for dessert. - Reuters

First Lady Jill Biden said after years of strengthening ties, the US-India partnership is deep and expansive as the two countries jointly tackle global challenges.

“With this official State Visit, we are bringing together the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracies,” Jill Biden said on Wednesday. - PTI

Plant-based courses of millet and stuffed mushrooms are on the menu for some 400 guests invited to Thursday’s fancy White House state dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PM Modi is a vegetarian and first lady Jill Biden enlisted California-based chef Nancy Curtis, whose specializes in plant-based cooking, to help in the kitchen. President Biden previewed the menu and decor for the news media on Wednesday after she returned from an outing with the prime minister. - AP

U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver remarks and take questions from journalists on Thursday during the Indian leader’s state visit, an event a senior White House official called a “big deal”.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the White House understands the press conference is a “big deal.” “We are just grateful that Prime Minister Modi is participating in a press event at the end of the visit,” Mr. Kirby said, adding “We think that’s important and we’re glad he thinks that’s important too.”

It is unusual for PM Modi to take questions from the media, beyond occasional interviews. He has not addressed a single press conference in India since becoming prime minister about nine years ago. In May 2019 he attended a press conference but never took questions. - Reuters

Rights advocates in Washington demanded that President Joe Biden publicly call out what they described as India’s deteriorating human rights record, saying the U.S. approach of raising the issue in private with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a failure.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, activists and academics also called for hearings in the U.S. Congress about human rights in India under the BJP government led by PM Modi, who is on a four-day visit to the United States.

“We can’t ignore the facts on the ground ... We can’t look away, and neither can the U.S. government,” said Nadine Maenza, a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center and president of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Secretariat. - Reuters

First Lady Jill Biden and Prime Minister Modi will visit the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia to highlight the U.S. and India’s shared priorities around education and workforce. The First Lady will highlight career-connected learning and workforce training programs and partnerships between high schools, community colleges, and universities with employers.

The main part of the state visit is scheduled for Thursday, when Mr. Modi will be formally welcomed to the White House and where he will hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Joe Biden.

The White House also announced a joint press appearance with the two leaders, and said they will “take questions from the press”. Mr. Modi does not normally engage in interactive press sessions on his foreign visits.

The Prime Minister’s presence in Washington and the U.S.-India relationship will be commemorated with a state dinner on Thursday evening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged American students to come to India during his first official stop in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, as he met with U.S. First Lady Jill Biden.

“Hundreds of United States teachers are already in India, participating in a tech partnership,” PM Modi said. - Reuters

The United States has experienced a subtle shift in India’s position on Ukraine and Russia, the Biden Administration said on Wednesday, on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-level talks with President Joe Biden at the White House.

“What you have seen in the last several months is a subtle shift in the Indian position on the war in Ukraine that started last summer, almost a year ago in August with Prime Minister Modi saying to President Putin to his face … that now is not the era for war,” a senior State Department official told reporters. - PTI

President Joe Biden is likely to raise concerns about human rights during his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but he will not “lecture” the Indian leader on the issue, a top American official said on Wednesday.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday indicated that President Biden would raise his concerns on human rights with PM Modi.

“We do so publicly. We do so privately. We do so in a way where we don’t seek to lecture or assert that we don’t have challenges ourselves....And that will be the nature of the conversations that take place here over the course of the next couple of days,” he was quoted as saying by the U.S. media. - PTI

U.S. President Joe Biden and visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver remarks and take questions from journalists on Thursday during the Indian leader’s state visit, the White House said.

The White House had been pushing for PM Modi to answer questions from journalists, a senior U.S. official said.

It is unusual for PM Modi to take questions from the media, beyond occasional interviews. He has not addressed a single press conference in India since becoming Prime Minister about nine years ago. In May 2019 he attended a news conference but never took questions. - Reuters

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on Wednesday on the second leg of his maiden state visit to the U.S. during which he will hold bilateral talks with President Joe Biden and address a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

PM Modi arrived here from New York where he led a historic event at the U.N. Headquarters earlier in the day to commemorate the 9th International Day of Yoga, attended by U.N. officials, diplomats and prominent personalities.

Every global and regional issue that is relevant to India and the U.S. is expected to feature in the bilateral dialogue that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold with American President Joe Biden. The discussion between the two leaders will also include India’s Presidency of the G20, which will meet here in India at the level of the leaders in September.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday described Yoga as “truly universal” and “free from copyrights and patents” as he led a historic event at the UN Headquarters here to commemorate the 9th International Day of Yoga, attended by top UN officials, diplomats and prominent personalities.

Click here to read the live updates of International Day of Yoga led by PM Modi