Sept 18, 2008
The exciting news is round the corner. The bilateral nuclear deal popularly known as 123 agreement between the USA and India is likely to be okayed by the American Congress soon. The deal has passed through many hurdles.
The deal was conceived at Washington DC in a joint statement by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W. Bush on July 18, 2005. In it, the Indian Government agreed to consider putting its civilian nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange of the USA considering to extend full nuclear co-operation to India and by implication end the restrictive nuclear sanctions on India since 1974, when the first Indian atomic test took place.
As a follow-up, on July 26, 2006, the USA Congress amended the Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act, 1954 to allow one-time exception to India to keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That incidentally explains why the nuclear agreement is known as 123 Agreement. The amendment is known popularly as Hyde Act.
After prolonged discussions at various levels between the USA and India, a 123 agreement was reached between the two parties on July 27, 2007. The agreement laid down the parameters of civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the United States. The agreement needed final approval by the US Congress and the Government of India. In case of India parliamentary approval was not necessary as the treaties with foreign countries are the sole prerogative of the executive.
However, the agreement ran into stiff domestic opposition in India. The communist parties which were supporting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government decided to withdraw support from the government in the hope that the government would fall and the bilateral agreement would collapse. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) also opposed the deal in the fond hope that the government might fall on the issue and the mid-term elections would bring them to power. The focus of the communist parties was on destroying the deal by pulling down the Manmohan Singh government. NDA focused on pulling down the government on the ground (pretext?) of being opposed to the deal. They calculated that a midterm election would bring them to power.
There was also some opposition to the pact within the constituent parties of UPA. Many constituent parties of the coalition were not keen to have mid-term elections. Why to have a midterm election and risk losing their parliamentary seats? It was a commonsense view. Even Congress was on the horns of dilemma. Who wants to lose power? All sort of arguments were advanced against the nuclear deal.
Dr Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister took a very strong and principled stand. It was rumored that he even contemplated resignation in the case of the political bigwigs of the UPA decided to give a go-bye to the deal. He staked the survival of his government on the approval of the deal. However, he could manage to convince his colleagues that the nuclear deal was absolutely essential in the national interest. He moved a confidence motion in the parliament on July 22, 2008. The Manmohan Singh Government won by 275 to 256 votes. That is called outstanding leadership. Not many Indian prime ministers in history have displayed such sterling qualities of leadership.
Next stage was to conclude an India-specific agreement between International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was done on August 1, 2008. It laid down terms and conditions for regulating the inspection and safeguards of the Indian civil nuclear establishment.
After the IAEA approval, the next step was to get an India-specific waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for enabling India to trade in nuclear material and technology for its civilian reactors. NSG was a tough nut to crack. There was strong opposition from some countries who feared that such a waiver might help India to make nuclear weapons. Since all the decisions of the 45-members of the group are to be taken by consensus, it was an uphill task. It needed monumental effort by the US administration at its highest levels to maneuver the consensus. The NSG gave its final approval on Sept 6, 2008.
Now the ball is in the court of American Congress. There is strong bipartisan support to the Nuclear Deal. Not only the deal will bring huge commercial benefits to the American firms, it will also give tremendous uplift to the strategic bonding between the two countries. The 123 deal is bound to be ratified by the Congress. This Congress is going to be adjourned on 26 September this year. It is difficult to say at this point if they will be able to ratify the agreement before that date by waiving the mandatory one-month period needed for considering a bill.
The exciting news is round the corner. The bilateral nuclear deal popularly known as 123 agreement between the USA and India is likely to be okayed by the American Congress soon. The deal has passed through many hurdles.
The deal was conceived at Washington DC in a joint statement by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W. Bush on July 18, 2005. In it, the Indian Government agreed to consider putting its civilian nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange of the USA considering to extend full nuclear co-operation to India and by implication end the restrictive nuclear sanctions on India since 1974, when the first Indian atomic test took place.
As a follow-up, on July 26, 2006, the USA Congress amended the Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act, 1954 to allow one-time exception to India to keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That incidentally explains why the nuclear agreement is known as 123 Agreement. The amendment is known popularly as Hyde Act.
After prolonged discussions at various levels between the USA and India, a 123 agreement was reached between the two parties on July 27, 2007. The agreement laid down the parameters of civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the United States. The agreement needed final approval by the US Congress and the Government of India. In case of India parliamentary approval was not necessary as the treaties with foreign countries are the sole prerogative of the executive.
However, the agreement ran into stiff domestic opposition in India. The communist parties which were supporting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government decided to withdraw support from the government in the hope that the government would fall and the bilateral agreement would collapse. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) also opposed the deal in the fond hope that the government might fall on the issue and the mid-term elections would bring them to power. The focus of the communist parties was on destroying the deal by pulling down the Manmohan Singh government. NDA focused on pulling down the government on the ground (pretext?) of being opposed to the deal. They calculated that a midterm election would bring them to power.
There was also some opposition to the pact within the constituent parties of UPA. Many constituent parties of the coalition were not keen to have mid-term elections. Why to have a midterm election and risk losing their parliamentary seats? It was a commonsense view. Even Congress was on the horns of dilemma. Who wants to lose power? All sort of arguments were advanced against the nuclear deal.
Dr Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister took a very strong and principled stand. It was rumored that he even contemplated resignation in the case of the political bigwigs of the UPA decided to give a go-bye to the deal. He staked the survival of his government on the approval of the deal. However, he could manage to convince his colleagues that the nuclear deal was absolutely essential in the national interest. He moved a confidence motion in the parliament on July 22, 2008. The Manmohan Singh Government won by 275 to 256 votes. That is called outstanding leadership. Not many Indian prime ministers in history have displayed such sterling qualities of leadership.
Next stage was to conclude an India-specific agreement between International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was done on August 1, 2008. It laid down terms and conditions for regulating the inspection and safeguards of the Indian civil nuclear establishment.
After the IAEA approval, the next step was to get an India-specific waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for enabling India to trade in nuclear material and technology for its civilian reactors. NSG was a tough nut to crack. There was strong opposition from some countries who feared that such a waiver might help India to make nuclear weapons. Since all the decisions of the 45-members of the group are to be taken by consensus, it was an uphill task. It needed monumental effort by the US administration at its highest levels to maneuver the consensus. The NSG gave its final approval on Sept 6, 2008.
Now the ball is in the court of American Congress. There is strong bipartisan support to the Nuclear Deal. Not only the deal will bring huge commercial benefits to the American firms, it will also give tremendous uplift to the strategic bonding between the two countries. The 123 deal is bound to be ratified by the Congress. This Congress is going to be adjourned on 26 September this year. It is difficult to say at this point if they will be able to ratify the agreement before that date by waiving the mandatory one-month period needed for considering a bill.
1 comment:
This is the most comprehensive history of the Indo- US deal that I have run across.
Thanks
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