Harvard University emerges as a common link between Barack Obama and PM Modi's ministers

NEW DELHI: Harvard University has emerged as a common thread between President Barack Obama and two members of Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers. While the US president went there to study law in 1988, his minister-in-waiting Piyush Goyal's son — Dhruv Goyal — is studying business at the esteemed university.

Obama was the first African-American to become editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. Last November, Goyal Jr. became the first Indian to be elected vice-chairman of the Harvard University Students Council.

Another former Harvard alumni is minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, whom Obama recognized and acknowledged during President Pranab Mukherjee's banquet.

Goyal Sr. himself has ample exposure to the US way of life and thinking, which he imbibed as a participant of leadership programmes at Yale and Princeton universities. He would certainly not feel out of place while dealing with the US administration as Obama's minister-in-waiting.

Suave and articulate, Goyal's penchant for figures as a qualified CA and being a former investment banker only add to his qualification for the job. But there's more to PM Narendra Modi's choice of a minister-in-waiting for Obama this time.

Personal chemistry and equations are widely acknowledged as playing a vital role in progress of bilateral ties. A minister-in-waiting, though essentially remaining in the shadows, has ample opportunity to connect with officials and policymakers in the visiting team.

Clean coal technology occupies an important place in India-US ties, also as part of the overarching climate talks. Goyal has a role in both. As coal and power minister, he is responsible for improving the carbon footprint of India's electricity industry.

The Modi government is approaching these goals by modernizing power stations for reducing emissions, setting up an ambitious plan for solar power capacity and replacing incandescent/ CFL bulbs with LEDs.

As the minister-in waiting, Goyal would get ample opportunity to elaborate on the finer nuances of these issues and the Modi government's economic agenda to a wide audience in the US administration and business community accompanying Obama. With the nuclear deal and legal negotiations topping the agenda during Obama's 2010 visit, then foreign minister Salman Khurshid, a lawyer, was chosen by Manmohan Singh as the minister in waiting. Stay updated on the go with Times of India News App. Click here to download it for your device.