Indian Parliament would need to ratify New Delhi's commitment to the agreement by June in order for Congress to have the time to pass the nuclear pact into US law before President George W Bush leaves office, The Wall Street Journal noted, citing State Department officials. "But a lack of action in India in recent months is leading many in Washington to believe the Bush administration has run out of time," the paper said.
The stalled India-United States civilian nuclear agreement could well end up with the next administration both in the US and in India, a former US government official said, adding that a new American President is not likely to scuttle the atomic initiative. The official also said that the nuclear deal should not become hostage to India's ties with Iran."Sooner or later, the Congress government will force a showdown with the Communists," he said.
The UPA and Left allies are expected to meet on Thursday to concretise the mechanism, which the Left insists, should comprise leaders from both sides
The CPM will review its decision to support the UPA only if the govt operationalised the N-deal, leader Nilotpal Basu said. The CPI(M) also downplayed the apparent differences between the party's Bengal leaders and General Secretary Prakash Karat.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned for 30 minutes on Thursday following uproar over Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Rajya Sabha was also adjourned till 1200 hours over the nuclear deal.
Delivering a public lecture on 'Evolving Indian nuclear programme: Rationale and perspectives' organised by Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore on Friday, he said the currently-known uranium resources in the country were enough for setting up nearly 10,000 MWe installed capacity pressurised heavy water reactors and the country will need to import nuclear reactors and the fuel to achieve energy security.
To a question about stability of the government, he said, "Our agenda is the nuclear deal and the implications of the Hyde act on national sovereignty and interest."
The top scientist said India's ambition should be to do something which no other nation has attempted so far.
He denied that his demand marked a departure from his party's original stand that the deal was unacceptable because of Washington's Hyde Act.
While a clear-cut answer is not available, the 46-year-old Illonis Senator who overcame an intense electoral battle against his rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential nomination race had reluctantly backed the legislation on the deal worked out by the Republican administration of President George W Bush.
A Republican Congressman has mooted a proposal to amend the US Atomic Energy Act, 1954, so that it could formalise the civilian nuclear deal reached between India and the United States early in March.
Retired Commodore Uday Bhaskar, leading strategic analyst, has predicted that the Indo-US relationship 10 years into the future will still remain on track even if the bilateral civilian nuclear deal is not consummated because it is now driven largely by non-government actors.
'The sceptical observer is left with the inescapable conclusion that something stinks about the nuke deal. It is a bad deal for India, period.'
President Barack Obama has sent the report on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal to the US Congress, the White House said on Friday.
A major priority on the agenda of United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William J Burns --- who will be the first senior US official to visit India after the Lok Sabha polls -- will be to begin discussions with senior Indian officials about operationalising the India-US civilian nuclear deal.US business and industry, which lobbied feverishly to push through the deal, have been urging the administration to move quickly on this front.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met United States President George W Bush at the White House in Washington on Monday and discussed the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including the civil nuclear deal.Bush and Mukherjee are said to have exchanged not only pleasantries but also discussed the width and depth of the United States-India relations that included the civilian nuclear initiative.Specific details of the meeting have not been made available to the media.
Here is the Brahma Mantra for mankind. So long as the world has leaders with judgement -- humane, compassionate, and no-nonsense in their thinking -- natural intelligence will prevail, notes R Gopalakrishnan.
Japan said it also understood India's need for using nuclear power to meet its energy deficit.
New Delhi has made it clear that the issue of reprocessing of spent fuel is 'non-negotiable' and it is committed to retaining the right to do so.
Negotiating the 123 agreement may be tough but well within reach, says nuclear expert Dinshaw Mistry.
The United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) has categorically said that it was opposed to the nuclear deal and felt that the UPA government should proceed no further in that direction.
The discussion has come at a time when the government has approached the International Atomic Energy Agency for discussing India-specific safeguards after securing the nod from the Left allies.
'Why should we disclose classified information to satisfy those who doubt our Hydrogen Bomb capability?'
The Obama Administration is awaiting the advent of the new government in India to engage New Delhi on the final implementation details of the US-India civilian nuclear deal, the Acting point person for South Asia at the US Department of State has said.
Kakodkar met the prime minister on Wednesday and briefed him about concerns on the nation's security as well as the country's three-stage nuclear power programme following the passage of US Congress bill on December 8.
The Left Front on Friday welcomed the statements of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progress Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi about the nuclear deal, saying the government was committed to considering the findings of the joint mechanism set up to allay their concerns on the issue. Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said that the deal has never been the 'end-all' of the government, as propagated all these days.
The centres will have well-trained scientific manpower, advanced radiation measuring and monitoring instruments, software and other emergency material.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, who was the centre of media attention after the PM's comments daring the Left, said, "I am not saying we are satisfied. We will go by our own counsel".
'Pakistan is a nuclear country.' 'With the kind of situation that is there in Pakistan today, America will help Pakistan stay afloat.'
The lawmaker, who was among the authors of the enabling legislation -- called the Hyde Act -- to facilitate the nuclear agreement, said: "The ball is back in your (India's) court. To those who would try to bully from a minority position, to tell the majority of people what is in their national interests and that if they do not do as that group says, that they are being bullied, are themselves the bullies."
According to the Wall Street Journal, Pakistan will again raise their demand for a deal -- similar to one the US has with India -- during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's meeting in Washington on October 22.
An Indian-American Republican leader has questioned the characterisation of Senator Edward Kennedy, who died last week, as an "unsung hero" of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
"I don't rule out the possibility of finding a consensus. It depends upon what steps the government takes. After all, it is not a one-issue or a one-party government but a coalition," said CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan. Bardhan accused the United States of rushing its high officials and diplomats to India to "pressurise the government and the BJP" to go ahead with the deal. "Some times there are allurements, sometime threats and sometime blackmail," Bardhan said
Ambassador Sen will meet with the PM and other senior ministers, as well as scientists.
Amid the diplomatic and political storm generated by the disclosures on the India-United States nuclear deal, US Ambassador to India David Mulford met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday and sought to clarify Washington's stand.Although officials were tight-lipped about what was discussed at the meeting, sources said Mulford told the Prime Minister that no new conditions had been introduced.A senior US embassy official sought to play down the meeting.
A Congressional recess is coming up, meaning the deal will be delayed.
The United States on Friday dismissed concerns that its nuclear deal with India may open up an opportunity for Pakistan and others to seek a similar agreement.
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