By KUNA,
New Delhi : India stated that it wanted a clean and unconditional waiver on Tuesday from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) as part of the process to operationalise the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and resume global civil nuclear commerce.
India has already harmonized its export control requirements with that of NSG, country’s Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Anil Kakodkar told news agency Press Trust of India in the Western Indian city of Mumbai today.
All India wanted was a clean and unconditional waiver from the NSG, Kakodkar said.
The NSG’s special meeting is scheduled for August 21, the news agency said.
“NSG guidelines require comprehensive safeguards applicable only to NPT countries and since India has both civil and military programmes, we have a unique position.
Therefore, such comprehensive safeguards are not relevant to India. Therefore clean exemption is what we are seeking,” Kakodkar said, adding, “NSG should exempt India from the requirement of comprehensive safeguards and add no other conditions.”
Conditions would undermine what India achieved from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the AEC Chief said.
On August 1 history was created when IAEA Board of Governors at its meeting at Geneva approved by consensus India-specific safeguards agreement.
The safeguards agreement is key to operationalisation of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
Following the IAEA approval, India is now seeking the NSG waiver.
Among the 35 members of the IAEA Board of Governors, 26 are NSG members.
Many NSG members have already voiced their support for India.
The US wants the NSG process to conclude by August so that the 123 agreement can be endorsed by the US Congress in September before India and the US can seal the nuclear agreement.
India received a shot in arm, when Japan, a NSG member, Monday indicated that Tokyo understood New Delhi’s energy needs and would adopt an approach that strengthened the non-proliferation regime.
This is significant as the US, Russia, Britain, France have stated that giving a waiver to India would strengthen the non-proliferation regime.
India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Japanese counterpart Masshiko Koumura is understood to have discussed the issue, when they held wide-ranging discussions here today.
Koumura is on a three-day visit to India to strengthen the strategic relationship with India.
If global civil nuclear co-operation is achieved, nuclear energy can generate about 40,000 MW by 2020, which is about 10 to 12 per cent of India ‘s energy requirement.
By 2050, India can achieve 600 GW of electricity, which would be half the total projected energy requirement of the country.
India has said that adequate energy is imperative to fuel country’s growing economy.