Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Biman Bose on Monday rubbished Somnath Chatterjee's scathing comments on party general secretary Prakash Karat and criticised the former Lok Sabha Speaker for dragging Jyoti Basu's name into the controversy. "I feel that these are rubbish. If somebody wants to malign the party, that is in bad taste and is sad," said Bose, the state party secretary.
Addressing a joint press conference in Washington along with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that over the next few days the strategic talks will focus on Pakistan's energy and water needs.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is leading an official delegation on a three-day visit to India during which the two countries are expected to finalise a civilian nuclear deal and ink a major economic treaty. Harper arrived in Mumbai late Sunday night after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore.
The government indicated on Wednesday that it would hold discussions with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties, which had opposed the Nuclear Liability Bill, and did not rule out the possibility of raising the compensation cap of Rs 500 crore as envisaged.
With a decelerating economy that weakens India's hands on geopolitical issues, it will be interesting to know which way this trip will go.
Amid speculations that the United States might offer Pakistan a civil nuclear deal similar to India during the upcoming strategic dialogue on March 24, the US embassy in Islamabad has rejected such reports, saying there are no negotiations on between the two countries on the issue.
A nonproliferation hawk, who vehemently opposed the US-India civilian nuclear deal, former Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher will take over as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon will be leaving on a four-day trip to China on Saturday.
The Obama Administration has reiterated its strong commitment to the US-India civilian nuclear deal consummated during the tenure of the previous George W Bush Administration and said it's "embedded" in a broader strategic dialogue between Washington and New Delhi, but contended it's certainly not a template for negotiations with the likes of Iran.
The US has categorically told Pakistan that it would not get any atomic power plant or civilian nuclear deal on the lines of the one signed with India.
The United States and Pakistan would hold their third ministerial-level Strategic Dialogue in Washington, DC, next week, against the backdrop of America pushing Islamabad to act firmly against terrorist safe havens and step up relief efforts in the wake of the devastating floods in the country
With explosive flashpoints around India and an unstable internal security environment, the new government has its work cut out. Right on the top of its defence and security agenda should be the formulation of a comprehensive National Security Strategy, including internal security.
The US said on Wednesday that the Indian Parliament needed to act upon the "critical" nuclear liability bill to take forward the Indo-American nuclear deal, which had reached "almost the finishing line".
He had come in search of jobs in America to rescue his presidency and India failed him in more ways than one, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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.
Trump telephoned Modi to congratulate him on the historic electoral victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the White House said.
Expressing concern over the nuclear arms race in South Asia, a senior Democratic lawmaker, who opposed the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, has asked the Obama administration to "encourage" India and Pakistan to sign Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban and halt production of nuclear-weapon fissile material.
Canada and India are negotiating a comprehensive nuclear deal that will allow the country to develop civilian nuclear power plants, a spokesperson of the Canadian foreign office said.
Hoping for a reconciliation with the Left, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said his party had committed a mistake by supporting the UPA-I after the Communists withdrew support on the nuclear deal issue.
Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran will headline a major conference this week on the expectations and consequences of the US-India Nuclear Agreement, hosted by The Brookings Institution,
The chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission makes a case for nuclear energy saying all other forms of power gerenration will not be able to meet the country's staggering demand.
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.
India and the US are expected to finalise a crucial agreement on reprocessing under the landmark civil nuclear deal in 10-12 days, with all but one issue being resolved and negotiations centering on finalising a mutually acceptable legal text.
The United States has said that India is committed to the Nuclear Liabilities Bill and it was up to the United Progressive Alliance government to figure out how to move forward in the wake of the Opposition's objections to some aspects of the controversial legislation.The stalled bill, whose passage in Parliament is a must, is a crucial step for the full implementation of the historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Noting that the Indo-US nuclear deal was a major step forward in strengthening relationship between the two countries, United States Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday termed 'meteoric' the rise of India as a global leader.
"As far as arrangements for reprocessing talks are concerned these are ongoing. We are not looking at finalising them on Wednesday in any case," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told media-persons, hours ahead of Singh-Obama talks at the White House.
Senior BJP leader Arun Shourie on Monday accused the United Progressive Alliance government of "outsourcing" the country's foreign policy to the United States in the wake of industrialised nations (G-8) putting curbs on full nuclear cooperation with countries like India.
India will seek a "liberal" regime of technology transfer from the US and an early operationalisation of the civil nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said ahead of his visit here next week.
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.
Notwithstanding India's reservations, the US said on Tuesday that it would "consider" Pakistan's request for a civil nuclear deal as it wanted to help the country meet its immediate and long-term energy needs. Ahead of the crucial bilateral strategic dialogue between the US and Pakistan on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that the issue of energy would be one of the subjects of discussion but refused to pre-judge the outcome of the talks.
The Washington Post said the deliberate act of proliferation was part of a secret nuclear deal struck in 1976 between Chinese leader Mao Zedong and Pakistan's then Prime Minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties have already indicated opposition to the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill that is key to operationalise the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal. The Bill pegs the maximum amount of liability in case of each nuclear accident at Rs 300 crore to be paid by the operator of the nuclear plant.
The much-debated Nuclear Liability Bill, crucial for operationalising the India-US civil nuclear deal, would be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on March 15, Minister of State for Atomic Energy Prithviraj Chavan has said.
The Communist Partyof India-Marxist perhaps for the first time admitted to differences in the party over withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance government on the Indo-US nuclear deal, though the central committee said it was "correct".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday held talks with US President Barack Obama, the first bilateral summit meeting after nearly three years.
The nonproliferation lobby in the United States, which is vehemently opposed to the India-US nuclear deal, has objected strongly to the new draft proposal submitted by the Bush administration to the Nuclear Suppliers Group in Vienna, before it convenes on August 21 to consider the India-specific exemption from NSG rules. The group has termed the proposal 'an abomination that should be flatly rejected by the NSG'.
India and the United Kingdom have agreed on the text of a landmark civil nuclear agreement and a formal pact may be signed within a week, Britain's Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson announced on Thursday. "The civil nuclear deal text has been agreed to and it will be signed soon, may be within a week after ministerial approvals," Lord Mandelson told a joint press conference with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.
United States President Barack Obama has assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the United Nations Security Council resolution asking non-Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty states to sign the proliferation treaty is not directed against India and that his country would fulfill all obligations with regard to the nuclear deal.
With the situation in Ladakh tense and no resolution in sight the trigger to take the India-US relationship to a transformational one is already there, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday termed as 'biggest mistake' the decision to save United Progressive Alliance-I government last year over the Indo-US nuclear deal and said had the ruling dispensation collapsed, it would have brought a big change in the Indian polity.
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