International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohammad ElBaradei has said that he does not expect India to sign the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, but feels the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty could be more "acceptable".
He also complimented the United States for making it possible. The civil nuclear initiative was good for India and good for the world, he said in a statement.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday advised the United States to leave the issue of Iran's nuclear programme to the International Atomic Energy Agency and not take up the responsibility of deciding Iran's position."Iran should convince the IAEA that their nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. We are advising Iran that being a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, you should satisfy the IAEA."
India has agreed to separate its nuclear and military facilities, which would take time and the US has to change domestic laws to resume nuclear supplies to Indian reactors.
India will next Monday sign a key safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency to allow supply of atomic fuel and technology to the country moving a step closer to operationalising its international civil nuclear cooperation after the 34-year-old nuke trade embargo was lifted.
'Those who worked with him or came to know him rated him as one of our best, with a sharp intellect, unfailing courtesy and ready wit.' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan fondly remembers Ambassador B S Prakash, wonderful human being, unusual diplomat and long-time Rediff.com columnist, who passed away into the ages on Monday, October 4, 2021.
Agreements may provide rights but this does not mean asserting them or implementing them will be easy. India may consider itself to be on firm legal ground in invoking Paragraph 29, for example, in order to deal with the consequences of a fuel supply disruption, but the political opposition it will encounter internationally could be formidable. Some of this political opposition could even be couched in legal terms.
India has cancelled its briefing on the safeguards agreement for the members of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was scheduled to be held in Vienna on July 18.The IAEA safeguards agreement is an essential step India has to take to integrate with international nuclear commerce before it secures a one-time waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.
China continues to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a US think-tank has said, expressing concern over export of nuclear materials in violation of international norms and established procedures.
The Summit for Democracy seems to have done more harm than good, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The bilateral and Quad summits, in which Prime Minister Modi played a significant role, has sent the right message to China, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
However, putting a rider, Brown said this offer must be made only in return for firm commitments to the highest non-proliferation standards.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's mood is "upbeat" after the Left parties gave the green signal to the government to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency for safeguard talks in connection with the Indo-US nuclear deal, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan said on Friday night.
The government's clarification came following reports that Iran has conveyed that the $21-billion deal to supply LNG was off following India voting in favour of the IAEA resolution.
The Blinken visit indicated that the Biden administration is still somewhat tentative about the specifics of its relations with India, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who has served multiple stints at India's embassy in Washington, DC.
'We have been bold and innovative on recognition in the past and we do not need to rush,' advises Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Dr Kakodkar's strategic stubbornness ultimately got India what it wanted though the negotiations with the US went to the wire, notes Shivanand Kanavi.
India has said it is committed to implementing the highest safety standards at its nuclear power plants as it seeks to harness the benefits of atomic energy to meet its growing energy requirements.
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, for the second successive day at a Washington, DC, news conference said that if she returns to power she would make available Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to the IAEA.
Kamala succeeded as she identified herself with the larger minority groups rather than narrow ethnicity, prodded by her mother who did not want to return to India, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who has done multiple stints in India's embassy in Washington, DC.
The trust some people in India had that the Biden-Harris administration would be friendly to India has been eroded already, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
As President Biden moves ahead with a new 'strategic concept' for China and Russia, the going is bound to get rough for the US and its G7 partners, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Dr Singh, visibly relieved, said, 'Yesterday night I couldn't sleep. I stayed awake, praying throughout. You have saved the country'.' A fascinating excerpt from former atomic energy chief Dr Anil Kakodkar's memoir Fire And Fury: Transforming India's Strategic Identity.
'No prime minister of India is averse to normalise relations with Pakistan, if it is possible to do so without altering our fundamental position on Jammu and Kashmir,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The race for the UN secretary-general for 2022-2027 is already over and another term for Antonio Guterres is a foregone conclusion, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday asked Iran to build "international confidence" in its nuclear programme by fully complying with the global obligations under NPT and cooperating with IAEA, shortly after Tehran slammed the UNSC for being "unjust and completely undemocratic".
Like the other platforms, the Clubhouse will have more users in India than anywhere else because of the interest we have in knowing what others are doing and in letting others know about our activities, predicts T P Sreenivasan.
With the International Atomic Energy Agency weighing options to deal with Iran's nuclear programme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the issue should be dealt with diplomatically as he discussed it with US President Barack Obama.
Search giant Google has released satellite images of facilities at two Iranian cities that the United Nations claims may be used to develop nuclear weapons.
The final decision will depend on the confidence of the Israeli military and intelligence leadership that it can destroy Iran's retaliatory capability through a pre-emptive strike, says B Raman
An agreement between India and Pakistan, however tenuous, has its own meaning and impact. We have not heard the last word about the ceasefire agreement, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The reduction of tension on the Chinese border may have reduced the urgency of a Biden-Modi meeting, but the sooner Modi starts a bromance with Biden the better as he had done with Obama and Trump, suggests Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Nobel Peace laureate and ex-IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei returned home on Friday to join the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades giving a boost to Egypt's mass protest movement, as authorities braced for a new wave of protests, which has left seven persons dead.
"China's cooperation with Pakistan in nuclear power is for peaceful means and is supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA). The US always questions Pakistan's nuclear activities, but how about its latest nuclear deal with India," Chinese newspaper Global Times quoted He Maochun, director of the Research Centre for Economic Diplomacy Studies of Tsinghua University, as probing.
"Nuclear material supplied to India will be fully safeguarded in terms of agreement signed with IAEA. We have foolproof system of export controls. We have complete civilian control and there is no scope for any nuclear material or equipment whatsoever being supplied going for any unintended purpose," Dr Singh told a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper after the two countries signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.
BWith a distracted president brooding in the White House, Pompeo seems to think his day has come. He seems to be pushing a personal agenda before a target audience in America, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China is acutely conscious of the need for the next Dalai Lama to be under its control. It was for this reason that China recently stressed their claim on Arunachal Pradesh. There were rumours that the next Dalai Lama may be found in Tawang. If that happens, India-China relations will become tense and there may be demands for the child to be handed over to the Chinese, points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
As the United States gathers support to impose fresh sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, India on Saturday made clear its opposition to such a step, saying it would not solve the problem.
An additional protocol to the nuclear safeguards agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US, giving the agency better access to nuclear sites has entered into force, making America the last of the five atomic-weapon states party to the global non-proliferation pact.
Addressing the Congress working committee meeting in New Delhi, Gandhi said it was "imperative for us to debunk the false propaganda being spread by the BJP, the Left parties and other political opponents."
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