On the current status of the Bill, Burns said the final text was awaited indicating that the reconciliation process was over and that only a formality of procedures remains. He added that the legislation will be cleared from the Congress in the next 36 hours. It’s learnt that the only signature that remained was that of Republican Majority leader in the House John Boehner who wanted to tag on another unrelated piece of legislation to this Bill. This, however, would be sorted out today as Boehner is in favour of the deal. Following this, an up-and-down vote will take place in both chambers of the Congress.

For India, this will be the first legal acceptance of its “unique position” as a country with advanced nuclear technology and nuclear weapons. “We have been telling other (NSG) countries that the time has come for India to be given its rights... we look at this (Bill) as the Liberation Act 2006 for India,” said Burns.

As for Indian concerns on the legislation as stated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 17 in Parliament, it’s learnt that the Senate’s insistence for “annual certification” by the US Administration that India is complying to all the conditions may be refined to a general reporting requirement that the US government does in the case of several other laws.

While the final version of the Bill was still to be put out officially, the understanding is that the ban on enrichment and reprocessing technology could also be further qualified. The language may be more positive now to include circumstances or conditions under which the law may not apply on the US Administration.

... contd.