Indo US Nuclear Deal Deserves A Safe Passage
Nuclear agreement between India and the United States will be seen as one of those decisive moments in international politics when two powers who have been courting each other for some time decide finally to cross the point of no return. The U.S. and India have `come out’, so to speak, and the world will never be the same again.
Every world order needs rules in order to sustain itself but sometimes the rules can become a hindrance to the hegemonic strength of the power that underpins the order. The U.S. has chosen to harnessing India’s evident strategic weight; the joint statement released by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 18 2005; is the most dramatic textual manifestation.
New Delhi: “Welcomed the successful completion of discussions on Indo US Nuclear Deal and looked forward to the full implementation of the commitments “and this also ended the over four decades of sanctions slapped on india which was imposed after india first tested its nukes in 1974. The withdrawal of sanctions against Delhi will help India in many ways. It will open the gates for Indo-US cooperation in lucrative space research and scientific cooperation in many fields which are currently barred to Indians. The US has refused to offer a similar deal to Pakistan. India, Washington says, has demonstrated that it is a responsible nuclear power.
US had strong and pressing reasons. India for most of the time since independence in 1947 has been at loggerheads with Washington. India was considered a Soviet ally. All this suddenly changed after 9-11. America started to look at New Delhi as an important potential ally. The idea was warmly welcomed in Delhi which wanted to use the US clout to stop Pakistan from supporting militancy in Kashmir. The relationship quickly flourished and by late 2002 we heard both Indian and American officials talk of “strategic partnership”. A recent Pentagon report describes India as a “key strategic partner”.
After this deal, India is no longer a non-aligned power. It will no longer champion for Third World countries. The Indian elite has clearly decided to throw its lot with the Americans. New India wants to emerge as a global power and enjoy the fruits that go with that status. It is no longer concerned with ethics and morality in matters of policy.
Nuclear Deal agreement is a win-win situation from the Indian point of view. India will be able to build more nuclear power plants. At present it has 15 functional plants with an additional 7 under construction. India stuck to it guns during the course of tough negotiations during the finalization of the nuclear deal. It did not agree to open all its nuclear facilities to international inspection. Instead, it ingeniously divided its facilities into “civilian” and “military” ones and agreed to open only the civilian to international inspection.
Indo-US Nuclear Deal Deserves Safe Passage
nuclear power has enormous benefits in harnessing it as seen in countries which have used nuclear power successfully, e.g. France.(70% nuclear power)
Indian domestic uranium, is almost four times costlier than imported uranium because of the mining and production costs. If the Indo-US deal is materialised; the NSG’s uranium reserves are freed for export to India, India would be getting ready-to-use uranium at very cheap rates.
7 % contribution that nuclear energy would be making towards India’s energy mix by 2031-32 is a significant contribution.
To stop the deal would be derailing India’s nuclear energy goals.
The legislation amendments in Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 of U.S allows it to make a one-time exception for India to keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Under the amendment, India must separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities, and submit civilian facilities to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This, is the real value of the deal in American and the Indian eyes and we should be aware of it.
For full information on the same and not one sided view refer to “Scrawlerz Blog“
