The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has approved a US plan to engage in nuclear trade with India, by arriving at a consensus to grant a waiver to India from signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. The NSG waiver was considered one of the toughest hurdles in actualizing the deal as several countries like China, New Zealand, Austria, Norway and Ireland had serious reservation about granting a waiver. Ending three decades of isolation, India has joined the elite nuclear club. The NSG waiver came through on the third day of the crucial talks in Vienna after push from the highest political level; the opposing countries gave their nod. Sources also confirmed that the draft of the waiver includes Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement reiterating voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing. The draft has no mention of automatic termination of the waiver in case India tests, considered a big victory for India.
NSG is a group of nuclear technology and material supplier countries founded in 1974 after the Indian nuclear test earlier that year and organized in 1977, which have agreed to guidelines for nuclear exports, currently including a “trigger list” of items that suppliers agree to export to non-nuclear weapon states only when the receiving state has brought into force an agreement with the IAEA that allows the Agency to safeguard all nuclear activities within the state. It is a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development and by improving safeguards and protection on existing materials.
In July 2006, the United States Congress allowed US laws to be amended to accommodate civilian nuclear trade with India. A meeting of NSG members on 21-22 August 2008 on an India-specific exemption to the Guidelines was inconclusive. Several member countries, including Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, and New Zealand, expressed reservations about the lack of conditions in the proposed exemption. In another meeting on September 6, 2008, the NSG members agreed to grant India a “clean waiver” from its existing rules, which forbid nuclear trade with a country which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NSG’s decision came after three days of intense U.S. diplomacy. The approval was based on a formal pledge by India stating that it would not share sensitive nuclear technology or material with others and will uphold its voluntary moratorium on testing nuclear weapons.
This waiver is a forward-looking and momentous decision. It marks the end of India’s decades long isolation from the nuclear mainstream and of the technology denial regime. It is recognition of India’s impeccable non-proliferation credentials and its status as a state with advanced nuclear technology.
So, what does this mean for India? Essentially, it’s a victory for Indian diplomacy and it brings India into international nuclear club.
What it means for India
- Access to nuclear technology without signing CTBT, NPT
- India can buy nuclear reactors from US, Russia, France
- India will get access to nuclear fuel from world market
- India will have access to civilian space technology
India will get access to nuclear technology without having signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or Non Proliferation Treaty. It opens up nuclear commerce for India and it can buy nuclear reactors from Russia, France and USA. India will get access to nuclear fuel from the international market and also civilian space technology.
Regardless of the side of the fence one finds oneself on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, one should not stint one’s admiration for the perseverance with which the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has steered the deal through various difficult stages these last three years and been victorious in securing the go-ahead from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). This is certainly a feather in his cap. There is not the least doubt about the 123 Agreement also being approved by the US Congress in all probability before the Presidential election itself. The coast is thus clear for India to begin shopping for the needed fuel, equipment and technology for nuclear power generation. There is no point any more in harping on the consequences of conducting a test or apprehensions about undisrupted fuel supplies. India has to take what comes. To test or not to test – that’s not the question after the explicit pledge of a voluntary moratorium given by the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.
There is also no force in the argument that India can bypass the US if it makes for trouble and separately cajole other major suppliers such as France, Russia or Japan. The India-specific waiver given by the NSG requires all member countries to keep exchanging details of contracts entered into by them and ask for consultations if there is any noticeable departure. Obviously, the idea is to ensure that all members fall in line with the letter and spirit of the NSG waiver and keep the playing field level without adopting underhand means to flout the guidelines. It is highly unlikely, therefore, that any one country will favour India to the detriment, or in defiance, of the US.
In other words, the NSG and the US are in this together and it will be a case of irrational exuberance to entertain hopes of driving a wedge between them. Well, all’s well that ends well…
