After assuring the Rajya Sabha that no law that seeks to bind our foreign policy would be accepted; after spelling out in detail that “full” must mean “full”, the prime minister referred to the requirement in the Senate Bill that the president report every year to the Congress and certify that India is in full compliance with its non-proliferation and other commitments. He then declared, “We have made it clear to the United States our opposition to these provisions, even if they are projected as non-binding on India, as being contrary to the letter and spirit of the July Statement.” He said that the dilution and uncertainty that such annual certification would entail are “not acceptable to us.” Categorical. One may even say, bold.

But the bill retains the provision — Section 108 — requiring the same, very comprehensive and equally detailed, annual report. The report must certify every year, among other things, that India is in compliance with its non-proliferation commitments; it must inform the US Congress about any new construction by India of nuclear facilities; about any significant changes in the production by India of nuclear weapons or in the types and amounts of fissile material; about changes in the purpose or operational status of any military nuclear fuel cycle activity; about any significant nuclear commerce between India and any other country. Furthermore, the US president must report the result of “United States efforts to promote national or regional progress by India and Pakistan in disclosing, securing, capping, and reducing their fissile material stockpiles, pending creation of a world-wide fissile material cut-off regime, including the institution of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.”

... contd.