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.

Countries like New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Austria and Switzerland have serious non-proliferation concerns. The issue is internally very sensitive in these countries. It may be recalled that Austria had made a strong statement in the IAEA board on August 1 while Ireland had gone to the extent of saying that it would have abstained had there been a vote on the India-specific safeguards agreement.

India went on a diplomatic overdrive since the UPA Government won the vote of confidence on July 22 with 10 envoys travelling all NSG countries to lobby for their support. Moreover, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to China to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is also an overture to Beijing which has still not opened its cards on the stand it would take in the NSG.

Given that China was pressing very hard on India to get Sonia Gandhi and her family to visit Beijing, sources said, New Delhi hopes that the trip may help create a favourable atmosphere in China before the NSG meet. While Beijing was never expected to stand in the way of a consensus, an outright support from the Chinese political leadership will “undercut” any possible plan to scuttle Indian and US efforts.