The safeguards issue is unlikely to come up at Thursday's meeting of IAEA's Board of Governors and will come up for approval at a special Board meeting later. IAEA Director General Mohamed El-Baradei and Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar initiated the talks.
In an apparent bid to counter the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Pakistan plans to seek fuel technology from China for 10 new atomic power plants it intends to set up over the next two decades.
In a statement a couple of days ago, the business chamber said, 'The Indo-US civilian nuclear initiative will bring India into the international nuclear non-proliferation mainstream and enhance the safety of India's civil program. The initiative will also help to revitalize the US nuclear industry and create thousands of high-tech American jobs.'
Talking to media persons on his arrival in Frankfurt en route to the United States, Dr Singh said, "India hopes that the integrity of the 123 Agreement currently with the US Congress is not compromised in any manner."
With only five legislative days left before the US Congress is scheduled to adjourn, the Indo-US nuclear deal is literally down to the wires, with the first real opportunity to push the initiative to Senate floor expected to arise on Tuesday. The big question doing the rounds is whether the Bush Administration will be able to persuade the lawmakers to complete the process on time.
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.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could undertake a foreign visit during the Parliament session, but other ministers should not go abroad without his permission.
"There is already a group of eight political parties, which have come together on the issue of nuclear deal and planned a joint programme on September 25 in Parliament as part of their nation-wide campaign against the Indo-US nuclear deal," CPI-M Uttar Pradesh secretary S P Kashyap said in Lucknow.
As the United States Senate prepared for a crucial hearing on the Indo-US nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the midst of another round of hectic lobbying with key lawmakers to secure Congress' approval of the pact before its session ends on September 26. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee' hearing later on Tuesday is seen as a positive sign in getting the endorsement of the Senate for the nuke deal.
In its bid to offset the impact of Indo-US nuclear deal, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will take up the acquisition of nuclear fuel technology from China during his forthcoming visit.
Even as the United States Senate has scheduled a quick hearing on the India-US nuclear deal, all eyes are on the House of Representatives whose Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, a vocal critic of the pact, is yet to take a call on having a similar process."Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been lobbying furiously for the India deal, which appears to hinge on whether the White House can persuade Republican Howard Berman," said a local paper.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the failure to consummate the Indo-US nuke deal would not jeopardise overall US-India relations. "It's very, very important to emphasise that India-US relations are multi-dimensional, multi-layered, multi-faceted. The Indo-US nuclear deal was neither the beginning and nor is it going to be the end of that," he said.
More than nuclear power, India stands to gain access to a wide range of dual-use goods and technologies, from which it was barred, as a result of the waiver by the 45-country Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
'India has had seven years after the 1998 tests, what has it done on the weapons front?'
After a day-long meeting on Thursday, delegates to the 45-member nuclear cartel expressed optimism over a consensus to end the country's three-decade long nuclear isolation by Friday. "We are close to a consensus. There may be a statement for the Press on Friday," a western diplomat, who refused to be identified either by name or country, said after the delegates considered a revised US draft waiver at the conclusion of 2nd session of the opening day of the two-day meeeting.
People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party of China, on Monday described Indo-US nuclear deal a "major blow" to non-proliferation, apparently reflecting the Chinese government's thinking on the issue.
Referring to Iran's nuclear programme, Israel said it would lead to destabilisation in the Middle East and set off a nuclear arms race in the region.
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.
Kimball had strongly opposed the deal in the past.
Swadesh Chatterjee, coordinator of the US-India Friendship Council--the umbrella organization of community groups--that was formed exclusively to lobby on behalf of the deal in Congress, said, "Disappointment is an understatement."
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."
Despite intense lobbying, it is unlikely that the Nuclear Suppliers Group will approve an India-specific draft waiver to conduct nuclear trade with its members during a two-day meet scheduled to begin on Wednesday, a prominent arms-control think-tank opposed to the India-United States nuclear deal has said."The US and India are certainly using strong-arms tactics,"said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.
India on Thursday said it will scale up nuclear energy production to 60,000 megawatts by 2030 after signing the pending N-deals with more countries.
It was the NDA government that had first mooted the idea of additional nuclear installations being subjected to International Atomic Energy Agency inspection in return for civilian nuclear co-operation. On the basis of this, it was logical for Talbott to assume that the NDA government would have accepted the present deal or even something less. He had read the minds of his interlocutors correctly
The fourth meeting of the United Progressive Alliance and Left Front's joint committee to resolve concerns about the Indo-US nuclear deal ended on a lukewarm note on Tuesday. The committee is scheduled to meet again on October 22. "The fourth meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on the India-United States civil nuclear cooperation was held today. All members of the committee took part in the meeting, which was held in a cordial atmosphere," Pranab Mukherjee said.
A day after All India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi strongly defended the nuclear deal with the United States, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal said that there was no going back on the 123 Agreement. He added that if necessary, the Congress was ready to sacrifice the United Progressive Allaince government. He defended the UPA government's decision to enter into an agreement with Washington.
Ahead of the United Progressive Alliance-Left coordination committee meeting on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the government on Saturday expressed hope that the differences with the supporting allies on the issue will be resolved. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in Chandigarh that he was engaged in talks with the Left on the deal to sort out the matter.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Arms Control Association believes India's expectation of a 'clean exemption' at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting scheduled for August 21 is "a fantasy".
The influential Indian-American community has swung back to action to push the N-deal ahead.
CP!-M general secretary Prakash Karat has written to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, government's key interlocutor with the allies on the deal, asking for immediate convening of a meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal by mid-March.
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.
The US wants India to be converted into a military base to facilitate refuelling for its planes and recreation for the soldiers engaged in the Iraq war, Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat said.
"Having tried all other parties the Muslims of India now want to try the BJP and give LK Advani a chance," Hussain claimed.
After the break over the nuclear deal, the CPI (M) has ruled out supporting the Congress in forming the government at the Centre.
Ahead of the crucial Itentaional Atomic Energy Agency meeting on Friday, a group of arms control experts has urged both the atomic watchdog and Nuclear Suppliers Group to look at the Indo-US nuclear deal 'very carefully and remove all ambiguities'.
'The UPA must stick to the common understanding arrived at with Left parties that the Committee's findings will be taken into account before the government proceeds to operationalise this deal,' he said.
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.
US think tank Lisa Curtis talks about the Pakistan polls and its aftermath.
Now that the United Progressive Alliance coalition has nine months in office, it must be transparent and accountable to those who pay and elect it to serve the people of India. A single mis-step on the 123 could irreparably damage rather than advance India's national interest
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