Energy and the environment: India’s energy demand is expected to grow 4.6 per cent per year for the next two decades. The whole world has an interest helping India deal with this relentless expansion. Nuclear energy currently makes up only about 3 per cent of India’s overall power supply. But with an economy growing at 7-9 per cent per year, every potential source of power is crucial. India has ambitious plans to expand civil nuclear power. Every nuclear power plant it introduces will take some pressure off the financial and environmental costs of conventional generation. We need this agreement, for our sake and for the sake of the planet.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh bet his government on this agreement, and won a vote of confidence on July 22. The government’s communist allies opposed the implied strategic relationship with the US. Their view lost, and when they tried to bring down the government, they failed. On India’s political spectrum, everyone except the leftist parties, which represent about 12 per cent of the seats in parliament, supports a strong relationship with the United States. This does not mean that partnership with India will always work seamlessly. Like any two large countries with diverse interests, we have our disagreements, and India has a strong commitment to maintaining independence — and the appearance of independence — in its foreign policy. But India’s basic hopes for the future are in line with ours. It is this convergence of interests that will strengthen our future partnership.

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