RAS question
The India-US Major Defence Partnership framework, signed in October 2025, was first signed in which year?
Correct answer: (B) 2005.
The India-US major defence partnership framework renewed in October 2025 traces back to the New Framework for the U.S.-India Defense Relationship signed in 2005.
Explanation
India and the United States signed the New Framework for the U.S.-India Defense Relationship in 2005. The framework identified common interests and set an ambitious 10-year programme of shared objectives, making it the starting point for this structured defence framework. The later timeline then runs in order: the framework was last renewed in 2015, and the October 2025 renewal is the most ambitious version, again covering 10 years. The origin year is 2005, while 2015 and 2025 are later renewal years.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 2000 is too early; The White House Archives identifies 2005, not 2000, as the year of the New Framework.
- (C) 2010 falls after the 2005 framework and before the 2015 renewal, so it is neither the origin year nor the last renewal year.
- (D) 2015 was the last renewal year, not the year when the framework was first signed.
Concept
Bilateral defence cooperation in India-US relations is a recurring RAS current affairs theme because renewals of old frameworks often appear in news. The origin year must be separated from later renewal years.