After a week of back and forth on the text of the NSG draft exemption, India and the US have agreed to a final draft that Washington has now handed over to Germany which currently chairs the 45-member group. Sources said it is now up to Berlin when it circulates the draft.

India is said to have given its consent to the draft exemption note after the US agreed to drop the reference made on committing member countries to work towards India adopting comprehensive full-scope safeguards at the earliest. This essentially means that NSG countries will hope that India will make efforts towards bringing all its reactors under safeguards in the future.

Though prescriptive and open-ended, India is unwilling to accept any remote reference to curbing its strategic programme. More so, sources said, this was not part of the July 18 joint statement. India was clear that just like the Separation Plan, 123 agreement and IAEA Safeguards agreement, the NSG exemption has to be in line with what was agreed on July 18, 2005.

It’s also learnt that Washington is making hectic efforts to get India invited as an observer to the NSG meet at Vienna on August 21-22. Sources said the NSG has very complex rules on inviting an observer, hence the extra effort. Until now, the invitation has still not been extended.

While the language of the draft exemption note is now acceptable to India, the diplomatic challenge is to ensure that other countries do not insist on making changes in a group that takes decision only by consensus. The US has already conveyed to other NSG members that nothing should be done to make India “walk away” from the arrangement envisaged under nuclear deal.

... contd.