Kakodakar, who returned to India after talks with the IAEA, said that the initial talks were purely technical and that the next round of talks would be held soon.
Clean energy cess to hike cost for power sector.
France on Thursday said it wanted to increase civil nuclear cooperation with India, but only after New Delhi implemented the legal framework. ''We want to move further, but first we need India to sign an agreement with the nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency, and also to negotiate the exemption agreement with the Nuclear Suppliers' Group,'' visiting French Minister for Higher Education and Research Valerie Pecresse told a press conference in New Delhi.
Uncertainty over the Indo-US nuclear deal cast a shadow over the first Indo-French nuclear business meet in Mumbai, which was aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in the atomic field.
According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre, the earthquake with an epicentre in Jajarkot district was recorded at 11.47 pm.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei on Tuesday inaugurated Bhabhatron-II, an indigenously developed advanced computerised telecobalt machine for the treatment of cancer. ElBaradei, who is on a three-day trip to India, visited the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai where he inaugurated Bhabhatron-II at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer here.
US Congress fires first salvo on the eve of ElBaradei's visit to India and even before the 123 Agreement is presented to NSG, presents laundry list of concerns in legislation.
Earlier in the day, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei had endorsed the India-specific safeguards agreement, asserting that it conformed to "all legal requirements" of his agency and that talks had begun on a system of extended inspections.
Former Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar on why India must not go ahead with the 123 Agreement with the US
The United Progressive Alliance government on Thursday expressed hope that India will get the support of all member countries during its negotiations on the nuclear deal but noted that it would be difficult to fix an exact timeframe for making the agreement a reality.External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency is likely to meet on August 1 to discuss the India-specific safeguards agreement.
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.
The Left too, assuming it finds it possible to lay aside its fundamental objections (subservience to the US, infringement of India's sovereignty) to the main nuclear deal, would find little in the contents of the agreement to which it can take serious exception.
The Left parties on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the government for approaching the International Atomic Energy Agency for the safeguards agreement in the nuclear deal before a trust vote in Parliament, terming the move as a "shocking betrayal of a moral commitment" made to the country.
Stepping up the ante, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declared that India will approach the IAEA on the Indo-US nuclear deal very soon and the process will move very fast. Talking tough, he said he would discuss the nuke deal with US President George W Bush and other leaders and seek their support. He also said he was ready to face Parliament for a trial of strength.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Communist Party of India - Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat on Tuesday to discuss the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement. Mukherjee asked the Left Front to allow the United Progressive Alliance government to go ahead with the safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Bombay high court granted interim bail to Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot on Friday, nearly a month after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the ICICI Bank-Videocon loan fraud case. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and P K Chavan granted bail to Dhoot on a surety of Rs one lakh. The court permitted him to furnish cash bail and then deposit the surety amount two weeks thereafter.
The decision has been taken in view of the threat of nuclear material being stolen by the terrorist outfits operating in various parts of the country.
Biden's remarks could be seen as a setback to the Shehbaz Sharif government's bid to improve ties with the US.
It is paradoxical that even those members who are most crucial in the decision-making process, leave alone the public, are denied access to scrutinise the full text of the IAEA agreement while many in the international community, particularly those from the NSG countries, must be scanning it with a microscope!
The UPA-Left Committee on the Indo-US nuclear deal would meet in New Delhi on Tuesday with the Left parties sticking to their guns and the government saying it would seek the sense of Parliament on the matter. The Government has said it would seek 'sense of the House' on the stalled deal before it goes to the US Congress for ratification.
'When human beings develop these dangerous toys and leave their control in the hands of aggressive megalomaniac politicians, the threat of a nuclear holocaust is always lurking on the horizon.'
National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, who was part of the Indian delegation that held talks with the US side, on Thursday confirmed that the deal was clinched.
The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline and an early ratification of the LNG deal already signed between the two countries.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet United States President George W Bush on Monday and brief him on the progress in the negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the India-US nuclear agreement.Mukherjee will also be holding discussions with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials of the Bush administration. The visit takes place within days of Mukherjee stating that India can neither mend nor end the deal.
The government will seek the "broadest possible consensus" within the country to enable the next steps to be taken on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. "We are presently engaged in negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency for an India-specific safeguards agreement," the prime minister said. ". I believe that such co-operation is good for us, for our energy security and for the world," he said.
Indian negotiators and International Atomic Energy Agency officials will meet shortly in Vienna to iron out the differences in readying the 'agreed text' on India-specific safeguards, which is crucial to operationalise the India-United States nuclear deal.
The IAEA is developing a concept whereby countries that establish nuclear power plants with an assurance that they will not proliferate will get an 'assurance of fuel supply' for their reactors from the agency.
Playing down the fresh ultimatum from Communist Party of India-Marxist to end negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the Indo-US nuclear deal by this month-end or risk early polls, Congress on Monday noted that the talks could even be over by the year-end.
India is planning a 15-fold increase in its civilian nuclear power programme in the next two decades, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Thursday. In its latest report titled 'Year in Review 2008', the International Atomic Energy Agency said while no new reactors came online anywhere last year.
The NFUP smacks of an extremist version of masochism. It's tantamount to: You, there, c'mon clobber me, but if you leave me alive I'll disembowel you!
Pakistan's Islamic alliance condemned the decision by the referral of Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council.