The long isolation of the atomic energy establishment and the knee-jerk anti-Americanism on the left have blinded India to the extraordinary opportunities offered by the recent nuclear proposals from Washington and Moscow. For Bush and Putin, civilian nuclear cooperation with India is part of a larger framework they have outlined for non-proliferation. Bush called it the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Putin termed it Global Nuclear Power Infrastructure (GNPI). These similar initiatives had four broad elements.

One, the necessity for increased worldwide use of civilian nuclear energy to cope with the challenge of climate change. Two, the need to revive their own domestic nuclear industries. Three, the emphasis on providing reliable access to atomic reactors and fuel to all countries through international nuclear centres while preventing the spread of bomb-making technologies. Four, global cooperation in the development of safe and proliferation-resistant nuclear technologies. The GNEP and GNPI aim to establish a new firewall between the imperative of expanded civilian nuclear energy use and the growing dangers of proliferation. Both offered answers to the challenges that have emerged in the Iranian nuclear crisis.

As it fought the old demons in its own mind, India turned its back on Bush’s GNEP and paid no attention to Putin’s GNPI. But, as Putin renews his call for establishing a network of international nuclear centres, India must look beyond its narrow obsessions. As a potential recipient of atomic fuel as well as a supplier of nuclear fuel cycle services, India is uniquely positioned to bridge the current gap in the global debate on nuclear supply assurances. India’s atomic energy programme was founded on international cooperation. The nuclear ideas of Bush and Putin offer a second wind to India’s nuclear power programme through renewed international cooperation, address India’s concerns on fuel supplies, allow New Delhi to host international nuclear centres, and open the door for India to take its rightful place at the heart of a globalising nuclear industry. A pragmatic India would grab this rare opportunity with both hands.