No impact on nuclear plans: PM

NUCLEAR DEAL DONE, POLITICIANS TAKE OVER

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today rebutted charges that India's sovereignty and strategic autonomy had been curtailed by the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement. Making his first statement on the 123 Agreement in Parliament, he said India and the US had agreed to cooperate in nuclear energy based on reciprocity and equality. India had not been required to compromise on its three-stage military programme, he said.

India, he said, had secured the right to reprocess fuel, which would allow it to utilise to the fullest the fuel used in Indian reactors. Dual-use transfer of enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water production facilities could follow, he said. This was not possible at present because of some US laws but the language in the agreement could address this, he said.

"Any special fissionable material that may be separated may be utilised in national facilities under the IAEA safeguards. Thus our three-stage nuclear programme has been protected," he said. "There is no provision that the US' cooperation with India will be subject to an annual certification process," he said.

Singh said there would be no scrutiny of India's military nuclear facilities. "Nothing in the agreement would impinge on our strategic programme, our three-stage nuclear power programme or our ability to conduct advanced R&D," he said. He said nuclear fuel supplies would be assured. There was US support for Indian efforts to develop a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supplies so that "there is no repeat of our unfortunate experience with Tarapur". He said there was little scope of "disruption or unilateral cessation of the agreement because of the multi-layered consultation process that had been built into the deal."

The US could seek cessation of cooperation only if it was prepared to take the extreme step of terminating the agreement, he said. India's right to take "corrective measures would be maintained even after the termination of the agreement," he said.

Singh said the deal did not affect India's right to conduct nuclear tests in national interest. He said the agreement, and the subsequent negotiations with the IAEA and the NSG, would signal the beginning of the end of technology-denial regimes.

Stating that the agreement would open new doors for India in capitals across the world, he said, "We have achieved an agreement that is good for India, and good for the world. I am neither given to exaggeration nor am I known to be self-congratulatory. I will let history judge."

Meanwhile, the debate on the deal, earlier expected on August 14 and August 16, is likely to be held on August 20-21. The CPI(M) Politburo's meeting on August 17-18 will discuss the pros and cons of the situation. Any discussion in Parliament will be held only after the meeting, sources say.