Narendra Modi in US: PM receives rousing welcome, to meet Barack Obama

PM Narendra Modi will hold talks with President Barack Obama on Tuesday to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.

PM Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama are scheduled to meet at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.

PM Narendra Modi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial

In homage to heroism and indomitable courage. PM @narendramodi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial pic.twitter.com/HXJwgPFs8f

— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016

PM Modi paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery.

PM Modi also had a brief interaction with the husband and family members of Chawla, senior officials from NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.

In the presence of astronaut Sunita Williams and Kalpana Chawla's family pic.twitter.com/sPJbrQxdPU

— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016

PM Narendra Modi offered tributes at the Arlington National Cemetery

PM Narendra Modi at an interaction with think tanks in Washington

Probing the minds of those who shape foreign policy.PM @narendramodi at an interaction with thinktanks in Washington pic.twitter.com/sukRbwaaaL

— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016

India-US to issue a joint statement after Barack Obama-Narendra Modi talks

National Security Adviser (NSA) and Foreign Secretary to be present in the working lunch hosted by President Obama for PM Modi

Kalpana Chawla's husband Jean-Pierre Harrison gifted two biographies on Kalpana Chawla to PM Modi

PM Narendra Modi got warm welcome in USA's Andrews Air Force Base.

US' Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal were among the top officials present at the base to receive Prime Minister Modi.

PM Narendra Modi thanks the US government for the return of precious cultural artefacts to India.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the heads of US think tanks in Washington.

"Probing the minds of those who shape foreign policy. PM @narendramodi at an interaction with think tanks in Washington," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted on Tuesday along with a picture of the meeting. 

PM Modi thanked US President Barack Obama for returning the Indian idols. 

"I am grateful to President Obama for returning to us these treasures which join us to our past," the prime minister said. 

"For some, these artefacts may be measured in monetary terms but for us this is beyond that. It's a part of our culture and heritage," Modi said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a function in Washington during which Indian idols lying in the US have been returned to India.

"Restoring India's cultural heritage: PM @narendramodi attends ceremony for return of idols with US Attorney General," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted on Tuesday, as Modi attended the event. 

"Today, we begin the process of returning more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India," US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, according to a tweet by Swarup.

PM Modi is the third Indian Prime Minister to visit the Arlington memorial after then prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru in 1949 and Indira Gandhi in 1966.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid a wreath at the Arlington memorial in Washington, where the bodies of American soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country have been laid down to rest.

Arlington National Cemetery, as it is officially known, is the final resting place of many of the US' greatest heroes, including more than 300,000 veterans of every American conflict, from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and Afghanistan, the US National Park Services website states.

The highlight of Modi's visit will be his address to a joint sitting of the US Congress on Wednesday.

PM Modi is visiting the US at the invitation of President Barack Obama, who in the last year of his presidency is inviting a few world leaders with whom he shared a "close and productive working relationship".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the US from Switzerland on the fourth leg of his five-nation tour.

Air India One touched down at Joint Base Andrews a little before 3 p.m. here on Monday.

This is Modi's second bilateral visit to the US after his trip in September, 2014.