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.
India's enhanced non- proliferation commitments under the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal constitute a "net gain" for the global non-proliferation regime, the Bush administration said on Thursday, adding there were "powerful" strategic, political, economic and environmental reasons" to support the initiative.
The report submitted by Obama on Monday -- which is the first one given to the US Congress by a President as required by the legislation signed into law last October by then President George W Bush, is one in a series of determinations required to be provided to lawmakers on the implementation of the Act, which details India's actions from IAEA safeguards to other non-proliferation commitments.
Describing the nuclear deal as a "landmark" in Indo-US relations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the two countries are finalising details to make the pact fully operational, a step that will remove restriction on the flow of nuclear technology and open a large area of commercial opportunity for American businesses.
More than a year after Indo-US civilian nuclear deal was signed, a Congressional report has said that several steps, including submission of required certifications by President Barack Obama, remain to be taken by both the countries before American companies can begin nuclear trade with New Delhi.
UnitThe ed States concluded the landmark civil nuclear deal with India on the premise that a strong and enduring partnership with New Delhi would enhance America's national security and economy, a top Senator said on Monday.
"We have been very clear with the Indians, should India test, as it has agreed not to do, or should India in any way violate the IAEA safeguards agreements to which it would be adhering, the deal, from our point of view, would, at that point, be off," Burns pointed out.
Leaders of the Left front, Bahujan Samaj Party, Telugu Desam Party and other parties on Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil to demand immediate convening of the monsoon session of Parliament, accusing the government of 'concealing' information regarding the Indo-United States nuclear deal.They charged the ruling coalition with subverting the Constitution by deciding to do away with the monsoon session and convening a combined session.
The two sides also signed six agreements, including in the field of defence and civil aviation.
The 77-year-old former US vice president on Friday night took his tally of pledged delegates over the halfway mark of 1,991 from a total of 3,979, thus becoming eligible to earn the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
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.
The country is planning to increase its nuclear power generation by about 60,000 mega watts (Mw) within the next 25 years. This planned capacity addition is being executed by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). Its head, Chairman and Managing Director SK Jain, tells P B Jayakumar about his plans and expectations.
President Barack Obama has sent the report on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal to the US Congress, the White House said on Friday.
President Barack Obama has sent the report on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal to the US Congress, the White House said today.
Ahead of the meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group on the India-United States nuclear agreement, US Under Secretary of State William Burns is expected to undertake a visit here as part of efforts to coordinate strategy with India for the August 21 session.During the possible visit, he will hold talks with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, mainly discussing the remaining steps in implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Describing India as an "emerging democratic superpower", Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday kicked off his two-day India visit during which the two countries are likely to clinch an elusive civil nuclear deal.
The reversal of Trump's policy with regard to Iran, like the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, may not be a matter of just turning the clock back, but one of patient negotiations, with uncertain consequences in the post-COVID-19 world, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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.
"We saw this when they to tried scuttle at the last minute, the civil nuclear deal at the Nuclear Supplier Group meeting last year and so that was sort of an indication that China is not completely comfortable with India's rise on the world stage," said Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation.
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.
It is believed that the Left will go ahead with its threat to withdraw support to the alliance following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that he would meet the Nuclear Suppliers Group on Tuesday and seek their support for the civil nuclear cooperation with the US.
Juster played a key role in the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
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.
Despite the historic victory of Barack Obama in the Presidential elections and 'the change' he has promised, Unites State's foreign policy would continue to be guided by its national interest as it has been since World War II, feels former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra.Chairing a discussion on 'Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Impact on Asian Security Framework' at Observer Research Foundation, Mishra said the Bush administration had been working on two key US strategies.
Among those attending the meeting from the government side were Defence Minister AK Anthony, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal. The Left parties were represented by the Communist Party of India's A B Bardhan and D Raja, and the CPI-M by Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri
Two nonproliferation hawks, who vehemently opposed the US-India civilian nuclear deal, will soon man the White House and State Department and lead the charge to push President Obama's non-proliferation agenda to seek a worldwide ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and a strengthening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that is bound to bring pressure to bear on India that has been loath to sign the CTBT and has maintained the NPT is discriminatory.
Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, who was the original Indian interlocutor of the US-India civilian nuclear deal negotiations with erstwhile US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, is unapologetic about his recent remarks at the India Habitat Centre lecture series in New Delhi which left many foreign policy experts both in India and the US puzzled.
I was not ready to spend money and they demanded money. I don't want to use money in politics. Unfortunately in the BSP, money has become everything. There is a mafia working in the party that controls everything.
Such a partnership between the two countries, after the civilian nuclear deal, is essential to jointly meet the challenges of climate change, prime minister's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran told a meeting of US corporate leaders organised by the US India Business Council. USIBC had played a significant role in the passage of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, despite tough hurdles.
T P Sreenivasan, India's former Governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency and ex-Indian Ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, has predicted that the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal will be honoured regardless of whatever dispensation comes to power following the general election in May. Sreenivasan noted that "two of the three coalitions vying for power in India are committed to amend it, though not to abandon it."
"Therefore, we have given our full support to the consolidation of a multi-party democracy in Afghanistan. We feel that it can and should be a multi-ethnic society, a plural society backed by the United States and India," Saran said.
There is growing concern in the American business and industry circles that despite their feverish lobbying to see the US-India civilian nuclear deal through, they may lose out to the French and the Russians -- who have already been provided sites by India -- while Americans firms wait for India to sign on to the International Convention on Civil Nuclear Liability, which these companies say is vital for them to protect their investments.
While there were no surprises on policy issues from either side, there were far less interruptions and tense moments between Pence, 61, who comes from Indiana and his Democrat challenger Harris, 55, who is from California.
Instead of blaming politicians and parties, Indians must empower their elected representatives and bureaucracies to meet national challenges by making critical investments in leadership. One of the chief aims of Indian foreign policy is to establish the country as a great global power. It is no secret, though, that much of this battle must be won at home.
In a step closer to the operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, US President George W Bush has formally certified to the Congress that the 123 agreement is consistent with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has said that with the signing of the historic and landmark US-India civilian nuclear deal it is now imperative that India move quickly to enact nuclear liability protection to envisage the private sector of both countries to engage in business.
Had the PM wanted a dialogue with Pakistan only on terrorism this could have been held at the official level without the drama of a long PM-level meeting and an elaborate joint statement. Obviously, US pressure is at work here and the conclusion of the joint statement on the eve of Hillary Clinton's visit gives the game away, says Satish Chandra
Outgoing Ambassador Ronen Sen said on Sunday that the biggest legacy of the US-India civilian nuclear deal was not just civil nuclear cooperation that it would entail, but the restoration of trust between the two countries that was terribly eroded after Washington cut off nuclear fuel to India's Tarapur reactor following India first nuclear explosion in 1974.
"Stronger economic, scientific, diplomatic, and military cooperation between the US and India is in the national interest of both countries and reflects our increasingly close relationship with this important democratic ally," Ranking member on the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said.
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