By KUNA,
New Delhi : Aiming to achieve double digit GDP growth in near future, India is making concerted efforts to ensure energy security and confident that the civilian nuclear deal with the United States will go a long way in boosting the countrys economy and international stature. “The deal is imperative for Indias economy.
Despite withdrawal of support to the countrys government by the Left Parties, the government is confident of surviving the trust vote on the floor of Parliament, with assistance of other parties, and going ahead with the deal,” an official source told KUNA here Wednesday. The Indian Left Parties, who are ideologically opposed to the United States, yesterday withdrew support over the nuclear deal issue. “Today Indian economy is on a growth trajectory. The landmark agreement would mark the end of nuclear apartheid against India. This will enable us to access technology and materials that have so far been denied. It will also make it possible for Indian nuclear scientists to collaborate with counterparts elsewhere in the world. With rising global oil prices, we are in need for alternative sources of energy and nuclear energy is one of the answers,” the source pointed out. Indias nuclear generation capacity has been primarily affected due to the shortage of uranium supply. The civilian nuclear deal will ensure global nuclear cooperation. The Indian government is striving to meet the three vital requirements before the pact can be implemented. Besides signing a India-specific safeguards accord with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Indo-US deal has to secure a waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) before it returns to the US Congress for ratification. New Delhi will soon approach IAEA aiming to seal the accord. Several members of the NSG, besides US, including UK, France, Russia, China, Romania, Portugal, and Brazil have already extended their support to India on the deal. India has also discussed the possibilities of cooperation in civilian nuclear power utilisation with South Africa which is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Nuclear commerce may lend greater cohesion to IBSA (the India-Brazil-South Africa grouping), which will be another interesting development in South-South cooperation.
“We are hopeful of concluding the deal with the US before their Presidential polls,” the source stressed. “The deal is unprecedented in many ways, and will have far-reaching geostrategic implications. The agreement is indeed historic, because the US administration is cooperating with India for the first time on nuclear issues. India has been fighting the nuclear denial regime for the past many decades,” a source in the Indian External Affairs Ministry told KUNA today. “The nuclear deal will be seen as one of those decisive moments in international politics when two powers who have been close each other decide finally to cross the point of no return. Indo-US ties have come of age, and the world will never be the same again,” the source noted. The pact is the high point of the emerging strategic partnership between New Delhi and Washington. The Indo-US Summit of July 18, 2005, between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, at which the deal was first suggested, was the result of diligent efforts spanning two different political dispensations in both countries. Through the deal, the United States will publicly commit itself to assisting India in acquiring the status of a global power.
The deal is unprecedented in many ways, and will have far-reaching geostrategic implications. For the United States, the deal represents a sea change in policy. It also obligates the US to garner support of the NSG to adjust agreed Guidelines prohibiting the supply of nuclear equipment, material and technology to any state that is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that does not accept comprehensive IAEA safeguards on all of its nuclear facilities.
India, it may be mentioned, has separated its civilian and military programmes, and has accepted safeguards only on its civilian programme. India is a not a signatory to NPT as it considers it discriminatory. “Our non-proliferation record is impeccable unlike other countries in the neighbourhood. India believes in world peace and brotherhood and does not encourage nuclear weaponisation. We are maintaning a credible minimum detterence,” the source pointed out. New Delhi has maintained that its nuclear programme is unique and therefore any yardstick followed by Washington with respect to any other country is not applicable to India.
Countering the domestic criticism, the government has said that the deal in no way is a cap on India’s strategic programme.
The deal does not place any embargo on India’s right to carry out a nuclear test if it thinks this is necessary in the country’s supreme national interest. The agreement contains specific mention that it would not affect activities involving India’s strategic programme which were not under safeguards.
“The deal will free India from the confines in which it has been put by the nuclear haves. Since the 1970s embargoes have affected Indias nuclear power programme. The deal will enable India to power its burgeoning economy in a cleaner and more efficient manner,” the source said. India is likely to be the third largest economy in the world in the coming decades. Civilian nuclear cooperation could also lead to other achievements, like collaboration in areas like nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology, the source said, adding, “The nuclear deal will go a long way in serving the economic, political and our strategic interests. At the same time, it will imply that the US is steadfast in its support for the rising power.”