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An agreement argued upon

The Indo-US nuclear agreement was always been a hot point of debate ever since it was proposed. All greeted the civil nuclear seperation plan that followed. Still there were doubts about the real intentions of the US. Now it seems that the doubts were not entirely baseless. The US is pressing hard for watering down the agreement in the bill that is now under consideration of the senate.

Hopes…

The Indian authorities always maintained that the bill envisages full nuclear cooperation with the US. That is India will now be treated as a Nuclear Weapons State (NWS). It was also claimed that there would be no international safeguards unless and until all restrictions on trade and technology transfer are lifted.

…in vain

The new bill before the senate categorically makes it clear that there will be no full nuclear cooperation.

• Transfer of enrichment, reprocess and heavy water production technology will be impossible but under tight control.
• India will now have to provide full clear cut separation plan.
• The promised India specific safeguards are now almost impossible with the new bill insisting for a perpetual protocol that confirms IAEA’s standards and principles. The additional protocol agreed in the July 2005 agreement will be replaced by INFCIRC/540, which is the model protocol for Non-Nuclear Weapon States.
• The provisions for US lead inspections and the annual certification clause are sure to make much ado.
  
  The agreement, which is turning out to be a Historic, one is now a seemingly unilateral arrangement if India buckles under the US pressure.
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