What does the prime minister's position on the nuclear deal mean? What does the Congress want from the issue? What does the Left stand to gain? Sheela Bhatt explains.
The United States on Monday indicated that it is favourably inclined to the civilian nuclear deal between China and Pakistan, but it should be in compliance with the rules of Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Officials are stressing that the civilian nuclear deal is only one part of the US-India cooperation and the success of a Presidential visit ought not to be pegged on this one aspect.
Queried whether opposition from some sections in America to the deal stemmed from concerns that India could be a proliferator, Neureiter said, "I have not sensed anything like that."
The Left's plan is clear. It will allow the government to go to Vienna to ink the agreement only after ensuring that the deal with the US is not possible.
A range of regional and international issues were discussed during the 30-minute meeting Senators Russel D Feingold and Robert P Casey Jr held with Mukherjee. Asked whether the nuclear agreement came up during the deliberations, Feingold said the two sides discussed a wide range of issues including the deal.
The two deliberated on how to go about in implementing the agreement, with the US Ambassador emphasising the need for taking the next steps as early as possible as delay could endanger the agreement
It would be an epic waste if India lets go off the opportunities, including the end to nuclear isolation, thrown open by the civil nuclear deal with the US, feels Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
He hoped that relations between the two countries will not be adversely affected if the Indo-US civil nuclear deal does not go through the American Congressional processes.
With the government emerging victorious in the confidence motion, the country would be signing the civilian nuclear deal with the US which has the potential to significantly boost India's nuclear energy production, says a report by Moody's economy.com.
Describing the deal as a "symbol" of what India and the US could do in the future, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, however, said a lot of "hard work" was left to be done.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The NPT expert also said the US was speaking on both sides of its mouth on nuclear non-proliferation.
'As one might expect, he believed the Indians were preparing their nuclear weapons for deployment. It took us a few hours - and remarkably good work by our teams on the ground in New Delhi and Islamabad - to convince each side that the other was not preparing for nuclear war'
Manufacturers view the agreement - when it is signed - as a defence against the slowdown in the car market.
'The deal on offer creates a Tarapur-style trap of gigantic dimensions. In fact, the latest Act specifically empowers the US to do what it did in 1978 -- retroactively rewrite the rules of cooperation with India by enacting a new domestic law.'
Pakistan has reportedly entered into a civil nuclear deal with China for setting up two nuclear power stations of 640 megawatts in Chashma.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should meet United States President George W Bush in Washington next week but he should not sign the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, according to Lalit Mansingh, former ambassador to the US and a staunch supporter of the nuclear deal.
The PM is making a long-awaited statement in the Rajya Sabha.
"Prudence and caution" needs to be exercised, warns China.
Notwithstanding the resolution of G-8 countries on curbing transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology, India on Thursday asserted that it was proceeding with bilateral civil nuclear deals with various countries on the basis of 'clean waiver' granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
"They (Iranians) are the number one terrorist state. They're sending money all over the place -- and weapons. And can't do that," Trump told Fox News in an interview telecast during the Super Bowl tournament.
'Now it's for India to also make certain decisions. The sky's the limit. You've got to be strategic.'
India has received the first consignment of 60 tonnes of uranium from France for use as fuel to power its nuclear reactors following clearance by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday thanked US lawmakers for their enormous support to the historic civilian nuclear deal, which was signed between India and the United States last year, thus ending decades of nuclear apartheid against New Delhi.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has expressed confidence about concluding a civil nuclear deal with India within weeks, asserting that prejudices of the past would not be allowed to come in the way. "We were anxious to conclude the agreement. But there is still some amount of work to be done," Harper, who held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, told television channel NDTV.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has demanded from the US a nuclear deal similar to the one Washington has made with India, assuring that the nuclear proliferation network of its scientist A Q Khan was broken and will not be repeated.
As uncertainty over the fate of the civil nuclear deal continues, the United States has said the pact is likely to clear the hurdles at International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, but the 'main stumbling block' is the internal political process in India. "If the Indian government approves it, I do think that then what remains is to get an agreement with the IAEA and with the NSG. But I think those things are definitely feasible." John Negroponte said.
'If we could break through this symbolic barrier of sanctions and a dysfunctional relationship, we could do anything.'
Retired Brig Naeem Salik, a Pakistani nuclear expert working at Washington's Brookings Institution, said while the deal was a bilateral agreement, it does seek to cap Pakistan's nuclear capabilities besides that of China.
The lawmakers will meet PM Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
India and the United States have reached the first commercial agreement on civilian nuclear power, five years after a landmark deal between the two countries was clinched.
India has received a positive response from the Non-Aligned Movement countries, which are members of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group on the Indo-US nuclear deal after it briefed them on the safeguards agreement, which the global nuclear watchdog will consider on Friday.
The two sides also signed six agreements, including in the field of defence and civil aviation.
Lavin argued that with India looking for the best frontline combat aircraft in the world, it would force the US to look for ways to move the relationship forward.
China has apparently decided to adopt a flexible stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal by expressing willingness to do some "creative thinking" along with the international community in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
In an open letter to President Barack Obama, the former ambassadors warned that if the US "continues to adopt a punitive posture towards Pakistan in the matter of civilian nuclear cooperation and to follow double standards in an area vital for Pakistan's security and economic development", the partnership between the two countries will remain fragile.
This would make India the world's second-biggest nuclear energy market after China
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances