From dilution of certain provisions to asking Congress to drop some elements, Rice has been very specific in her five-page letter. She made it clear to the Senate that the insistence on “annual certification” of India’s compliance to its various committments will create “annual tensions” with India as it signals “a lack of permanence in the deal”.

The initial discussions of the Conference are already underway — the Senate chose its six nominees today — and this letter comes days ahead of the formal conference on Wednesday. The reconciled version will be put to vote on December 7 and 8.

Clearly, the US Administration has taken on board not only the most important, but almost all of India’s concerns through this letter:

• Senate Bill, Section 106: Bans transfer of technologies related to enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water production.

Rice: “It is not appropriate to single out India, which has been a responsible steward of its nuclear technology. We request that the Senate defer to the House Bill, which does not include such a limitation”. Or else, she suggests the Senate can ask for prior intimation ahead of any such transfer.

• House Bill Section 4(d)(3): Triggers automatic sanction by cutting off all nuclear cooperation in case India violates guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group or the Missile Technology Control Regime.

Rice: “This would harm US-India relations and the cooperative NSG and MTCR regimes. The regimes set policy guidelines rather than legal prohibitions and operate by consensus, making it difficult to determine and agree on violations...we request the House to defer to the Senate, which does not include a similar provision”.

She gives an alternative that the provision could also be moved to the “Sense of Congress” section or turned into a reporting requirement as neither of these sections directly impact the implementation of the n-deal.

• House Bill Section 4(d) (2): Requires US to make political commitments in the NSG that it will not allow fuel supplies to India if it violates NSG guidelines.

Rice: “We would recommend that the House defer to the Senate, which does not contain a similar requirement.”

• Senate Bill Section 105 (8): India (should) back all efforts to dissuade, sanction and contain Iran for its nuclear programme in line with UNSC resolutions.

Rice: “Although we appreciate India’s past support and expect continued cooperation in this area, this certification would be viewed by India as adding additional conditions...and could reopen the terms of the initiative to renegotiation. Therefore, we recommend the conferees defer to the House Bill which contains similar language under ‘statement of policy’.

• Senate Bill Sections 105(3) and (4): Proposed law will apply only when the India-IAEA safeguards agreement has “entered into force” and substantial progress has been made towards “implementing” the Additional Protocol.

Rice: “We request that the language require that an India-IAEA Safeguards Agreement ‘has been fully negotiated and is awaiting submission to the IAEA Board of Governors for approval’. Alternatively, the language could revert to the House Bill which requires that India and IAEA ‘conclude’ a safeguards agreement and are making substantial progress toward “concluding” an Additional Protocol.”

• Senate Bill Section 115: Establishment of a Cooperative Threat Reduction Programme between the two countries.

Rice: The programme should be made “discretionary, not mandatory” and similarly, it should be “renamed US-India Scientific Non-proliferation Cooperation Programme...thus reflecting the programme’s focus on non-proliferation cooperation rather than confusing it with the existing Cooperative Threat Reduction Programme”.

• House Bill Section 4 (d)(4): Though non-binding, this provision urges the US President to lobby against fuel supply to India if the US terminates nuclear cooperation under the proposed law.

Rice: “India has taken the position that this is a deal-killer, arguing that this provision is directly at odds with the US pledge to facilitate nuclear supply to India. We request the House to adopt the language from the Senate”.

The Senate Bill only states that US will “not facilitate or encourage” continuation of supplies, clearly indicating that it won’t come in the way of a third country going ahead with supplies.

• Senate Bill Section 107: Mandates a specific end-use programme for India.

Rice: Given that the subject is currently under negotiations, she points out that the provision is “severely limiting our options...we would recommend making the provision non-binding”.

Meanwhile, the Senate has chosen its nominees for the Conference process today following consultations. These are: Senators Richard Lugar (head of Senate Foreign Relations Committee), Joseph Biden (incoming head of SFRC), Chuck Hagel, George Allen and Christopher Dodd. Outgoing Senate Majority leader Bill Frist has been named as the sixth person to intervene to help resolve any difficult issue. The House of Representatives will also be naming its five-member panel later today. This sets the ball rolling for the Conference, a clear indicator that the Bill will be finalised in this session.