Don’t act, be happy

: At last the joint conference bill seeking to amend US laws to facilitate Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation is ready and we have arrived at the moment of truth. Strictly speaking, the bill is a US law and there is no need for India either to accept it or reject it. What is of relevance is the forthcoming Indo-US Agreement for Civil Nuclear Cooperation, also commonly referred to as the 123 Agreement.

Nevertheless the joint conference bill amending US laws is of great importance, since its passage was a requirement for NSG members to decide on the amendments to the NSG guidelines allowing for civil nuclear commerce between India and NSG members. To that extent India’s reaction to the changes in US laws would have an impact on members’ actions at the forthcoming NSG plenary.

The earlier House and Senate versions of this bill had been criticised heavily by certain sections of the political, strategic and scientific establishments in India. As a consequence of these criticisms, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made a statement in August in Parliament outlining the government’s position and giving certain assurances. Both the critics and supporters of the Indo-US deal welcomed this. The PM categorically assured the House at that time that “we will not accept any conditions that go beyond the parameters of the July 18, 2005 joint statement and the March 2, 2006 separation plan, agreed to between India and the United States. If in their final form the US legislation or the adapted NSG Guidelines impose extraneous conditions on India, the Government will draw the necessary conclusions, consistent with the commitments I have made to Parliament.”

The point is the final form of US legislation does not impose any additional conditions on India beyond those agreed to by India in the July 18, 2005 joint statement and the March 2, 2006 separation plan.

In addition to this categorical assurance, the PM had elaborated on certain criticisms of the earlier bills. Even at that time five of the nine points referred to by the PM had no real significance as they were not the subject matter of any of the bills at that time and the criticisms were a result of misreading — deliberate or otherwise — of the bills by the critics. Another was in reference to the India-US bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, which is yet to be finalised. The remaining three elements — full...

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