The Indo-Us Nuclear Deal - Tracing the Footsteps

The history of the Indo-Us nuclear deal has oscillated like a pendulum between the two countries. It was on July 18, 2005 that Prime priest Manmohan Singh and President George Bush first issued a Joint Statement to the succeed of ending India's four decade long nuclear isolation and giving it an official nuclear weapons state status. Right from this time the deal faced commentary and opposition within the country.

The Opposition parties as also the Left parties, then the exterior supporters of the Congress-led coalition, raised serious doubts about the nuclear deal. Because of the Left parties' ideological problems concerning strategic ties with the Us, they maintained a steady stream of commentary questioning the government's decision. In the meantime the Bush government also faced the heat by supporters of non-proliferation who said that the deal would make the Npt regime superfluous.

Nuclear Weapons

One of the crucial tenets of the deal was that India would cut off the civilian and soldiery atomic reactors. On November 16, 2006 the Us Congress passed the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic energy Cooperation Act of 2006. This act included a waiver for the Us management from Section 123 of the Atomic energy Act, allowing them to resume nuclear trade with India. But the political storm within the country refused to die down, with the Bjp pointing the finger at the government for "surrendering its right to show the way independent foreign course in order to clinch the deal" and "surrendering the right to show the way nuclear tests in the future".

Inspite of the storm and thunder, the Congress government prolonged to push for the deal and the next important step came when the 123 deal was clinched by the Us and Indian officials on July 27, 2007. Additional developments on the civilian nuclear deals issue the government on the verge of a collapse when in 2008 when the Left threatened them with "serious consequences" if the deal goes through. True to their word the Left parties withdrew support to the government on July 8th, 2008 and two days later the Prime priest called for a vote of confidence in the Parliament.

Winning the trust vote gave a new lease of life to the government as well as the civilian nuclear deal. The next crucial step was the Nsg meet on August 21st and 22nd which terminated inconclusively and by reservations by some countries. The Us government worked hard to lobby for the deal and in the next Nsg meet on September 4-6th Us came up with a revised draft and the Nsg granted waiver to India, agreeing to the deal!

Finally on October 2nd, history was created when the Us Senate cleared the Nuclear Pact with an astonishing margin of 86-13 votes. The final approval ends India's decades' long nuclear isolation and gives it nuclear weapons state status at par with the other five nuclear powers.

The Indo-Us Nuclear Deal - Tracing the Footsteps