I came across a news item that the government of the friendly country Switzerland is opposed to India engaging in nuclear commerce not only with Switzerland, but with other countries too. I also came across a news item that a family-owned Swiss company has for years been one of the largest nuclear proliferators in the world. This Swiss company has apparently been very helpful with Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities although this was a violation of Swiss laws and NSG guidelines. I noticed that the Swiss government plans to go easy on dealing with these law-breaking proliferators. All this gave me ideas. I do not think we should put any pressure on the Swiss government (perish the thought). But our honourable finance minister should, I believe, invite the eminent CEOs of Swiss companies in the profitable banking, engineering, pharmaceuticals and foods business in India, for a friendly chat, and tell them that India, in order to prove its credentials in non-proliferation, is planning major inspections and audits of their companies. Who knows — a Swiss company, even in an unrelated field, may be misusing Indian hospitality and participating in the proliferation of nuclear items. We would expect these audits to cost tens of millions of dollars each. Unfortunately we would have to recover all these costs from the Swiss companies themselves. Further, unfortunately, we expect these audits to carry on for many many years. This will undoubtedly create problems for them in doing business in and with India. But this is a cost that surely they will bear cheerfully, ‘all in a good cause’. It is just possible that if their government were more sympathetic to India in the NSG, then there might be a “spontaneous” demand from Indian MPs that Swiss companies should not be subject to onerous audits. As a good democrat, the FM may actually listen to these demands. Needless to say, this is not an attempt to put pressure on the Swiss government (perish the thought).

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