India, Jan. 12 -- "When relations bend under pressure, it is often the ambassador who steadies the arc, and the new US envoy to India is poised to help the partnership find its balance once more." The relationship between the United States of America and India has always been essential, not merely at the level of Governments, but equally, and perhaps more enduringly, at the level of people-to-people engagement.

Two great democracies, separated by geography yet united by shared values of liberty, pluralism, innovation, and the rule of law, have found in each other a natural partner across decades of global change. While official policies and strategic priorities may shift with changing administrations, the deeper civilisational and societ...