New Delhi
8 September 2005
Pressure is mounting on India to begin delivering on its
commitment of separating civilian and military nuclear facilities as agreed to in the Indo-
US joint statement.
Washington has invoked the clause of reciprocity to suggest that it has delivered on two
items -- lobbying for India's participation in ITER project and completing the NSSP -- and
the onus has now shifted to India to keep its end of the bargain.
The US administration's urgency owes in part to the need to push through legislative
changes in the Congress and the desire for putting something tangible on the table
before George W Bush visits India next year.
India's minimalist response to separation of civil and military nuclear facilities by
keeping few facilities in the civilian category also has not gone down well in
Washington, which feels statements from the Indian nuclear establishment have not
helped matters either.
With the US President investing political capital and prestige into the civil nuclear
cooperation with India, Washington fears a minimalist response might prove fatal as the
Congress began debating the Indo-US nucleare cooperation.
The restlessness and impatience notwithstanding, an Executive decision will in all
likelihood prevail but it would not be entirely out of character for the US Congress to
come up with imaginative solutions like phased implementation of the amendments to
the Act if India were to continue to insist on phased separation of civil and nuclear
facilities.
In the July 18 Indo-US joint statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had conveyed
that India would reciprocally agree to identify and separate civilian and military nuclear
facilities and programs in a phased manner.
The completion of NSSP entailed, as the joint statement iterated, "building on the
strengthened nonproliferation commitments undertaken in the NSSP, to remove certain
Indian organisations from the Department of Commerce's Entity List."
That was done by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the US Department of
Commerce on August 30 when it removed three subordinate entities of the ISRO and
three entities of the Department of Atomic Energy.
Engaging the attention of Washington is that making an exception for India should not
weaken the visible and real commitment by the US to non-proliferation especially when it
was a personal decision of Mr George W Bush to go in for fullscale civil nuclear
cooperation with India.
That, and also the questions that would be raised and the precedence that might be set
for other countries when India will receive special treatement despite not being a
signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
TABLE
----------
India has agreed to ...
1. Identify and separate civilian and military nuclear facilities and programs in a phased
manner
2. File a declaration regarding its civilian facilities with the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA)
3. Take a decision to place voluntarily its civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA
safeguards
4. Sign and adhere to an Additional Protocol with respect to civilian nuclear facilities
Continue India's unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing
5. Work with the United States for the conclusion of a multilateral Fissile Material Cut Off
Treaty
6. Refrain from transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies to states that do
not have them and support international efforts to limit their spread
7. Ensure that the necessary steps have been taken to secure nuclear materials and
technology through comprehensive export control legislation and through harmonisation
and adherence to Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) guidelines
United States has agreed to ...
1. Seek agreement from Congress to adjust US laws and policies
2a. Work with friends and allies to adjust international regimes to enable full civil
nuclear energy cooperation and trade with India, including but not limited to expeditious
consideration of fuel supplies for safeguarded nuclear reactors at Tarapur
2b. Encourage its partners to also consider this request expeditiously
3. Consult with its partners about India's participation in ITER project
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