These consultations have resulted in some forward movement with officials explaining that it is not necessary for negotiators to be face-to-face given that most differences that remain are largely over language and representation of certain requirements than over any substantial issues.

It is increasingly evident now that India would like to have an agreed text by the time External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee undertakes his planned visit to the US on March 23-25. Once the agreement is frozen, Washington would prefer to call for a special meeting of the IAEA Board to approve the draft though the option of approaching the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) directly with draft too is not being ruled out.

Broadly, India and US are working with the objective that the NSG exemption is taken up for final approval at the Group’s annual plenary on May 19. This would give just about enough window for the US Congress to carry forward its process.

The key, however, is for the UPA government to carry this through the domestic political process here. The UPA-Left committee will have to be shown the draft text before any final approval to proceed further and that is where the Manmohan Singh Government will be faced with some tough decisions given that the CPM is showing no signs of flexibility yet.