What is your opinion of the recent dramatic change in Indo-US relations?

My view for over 10 years has been that the United States should have better relations with India because of our need for an ally in Asia and because of our similarities. I think the most recent events with China have added a little fuel and heated things up with India a little bit more quickly than they might have, otherwise. 

As one of the people who voted in favour of Permanent Normal Trading Relations (PNTR) legislation with China, are you dismayed by the recent controversy following the spy plane incident - and the display of anti-American sentiment there?

I think you have to put it in perspective. This airplane incident is a fairly minor incident and both sides know that this is not something over which there should be any further escalation. I don't think that it is an indication of any deterioration. I think that the reason that the issue had to be resolved quickly by both sides was so as to not inflame either public in any irretrievable way. However, there is clearly a long way to go and relations don't change immediately. But if you don't work towards becoming friends and trading partners - if there is isolation from each other - then you will never iron out the differences. 

How optimistic are you that by adopting precautionary measures, such as changing behaviour patterns, the AIDS epidemic in Africa can be quickly and effectively contained? 

It cannot be done quickly. I'm sadder but wiser after having been involved with this issue since 1987, when I worked in Zaire. I think that until we have a vaccine, the only way to control the problem is through education that seeks to change behaviour. It is not easy to do this because you are trying to get people to change their most private behaviour. So it has to be done in ways that the ordinary person understands and accepts. 

For example, I have been talking to African leaders and asking them to use their traditional healers, school teachers and clinic nurses - individuals who are trusted by the ordinary person - to spread a clear and understandable message. Massive publicity will not have any significant effect unless it is done in the language that people actually talk about sex and communicate about this issue. In India, this means using vernacular languages. Failing this you will not get people to pay attention and it becomes ``somebody else's'' disease. 

Your first visit to India was on an AIDS study that took you to Mumbai's red light district where the infection rate is reportedly 50 per cent. Since then, how satisfied have you been with the Indian response to the AIDS problem? 

During that first trip the Indian government said that there were only 50 AIDS cases in India. However, after visiting Mumbai I said that there were probably at least half a million cases because all one needed to calculate was the infection rate and the level of activity. But India is not alone. Most countries in the developing world have been overrun with this problem because of the speed with which it has spread and the immediacy of other concerns such as droughts. Consequently, it has been hard for them to do long-term planning with any kind of intensity or perseverance. They've started out with lots of programmes only to be overwhelmed by other issues. I wish it were different in India but I think that India is going to pay a terrible price in the next 10 years. 

What is your reaction to Cipla's plans to offer the AIDS cocktail medication for under $1 per day in Africa, while western drug companies can only offer the drug at $40,000 per year?

Certainly, I'm not going to say, don't do that. I do have concerns because the cocktail of anti-viral drugs is not an easy course of treatment - it's not curative, it has side-effects and sometimes does not work. So it cannot be the panacea for all of Africa's problems. There is a certain public `grasping' for anything that might improve the situation and I can't say that it is necessarily bad for people who take the medication. For them, it is life-prolonging and I would not want to deny that to anyone. But if we only set our sights on the idea of getting the cocktail out to everyone we would not solve the problem because people are continually being infected. Also, being a physician myself I worry whether the incorrect use of the medication will result in more virulent strains as with drug-resistant tuberculosis.

You voted in favour of implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. How disappointed are you by President Bush's statements against complying with the Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol might be imperfect but the US has to be the leader in cleaning up the environment. For us to stand back and expect the rest of the world to do it and not put some pressure on ourselves is not worthy of a great nation like ours. Also it won't work because we put lots of pollutants up in the sky. It reminds me of this Biblical story about `don't tell me about the speck in my eye when you have a plank in your own eye'. The US really needs to have a look at itself and make changes. What's been particularly disturbing is the president talking about lifting the CO2 standards which would result in power plants that are not as clean as they should be. So I'm disappointed that the president has not taken this as something that the US should be doing. 

You have highlighted the need to establish programmes that raise the profile of the Indian viewpoint in America. Has this happened adequately?

Indians are largely unknown to Americans and the only way you can get around that problem is to endow chairs so that programmes start looking at Indian studies. At present there are some very good programmes but nothing that will move them forward like four or five endowed chairs would. I have been trying to work with the private sector and with Indian-Americans on this issue.