No compromise on N-deal: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a spirited and emotional defence of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, said India's sovereignty would never be compromised.

If there was anything in the Bill that was not consistent with the July 2005 agreement and the March 2006 separation plan, India would draw its"necessary conclusions".

"If the US Congress passes the Bill in its present form, it will be very difficult for India to accept it," Singh said, adding the ground rules for discussions could only be the July 2005 agreement.

Not only did he meet the objections of Left parties half way, he added his own concerns to theirs. The Left parties had flagged nine areas of concern, including further testing, the independence of India's foreign policy, intrusive safeguards regime, etc.

Singh said there were 12 areas of concern, and added four more that scientists had raised. But he clarified each one with conviction.

He denied that India had changed its foreign policy just because it had signed the nuclear deal.

He cited India's position on Iraq to illustrate how India had maintained its independence and said he had raised Iraq as recently as in the meeting at St Petersburg. "There is no question of India being bound by a law passed by any other country," he said.

He said IAEA safeguards will be implemented only after all nuclear restrictions are removed. "Reciprocity is the key to implementation of the deal," he said, adding that certification by the US president every year "is not acceptable to India".

"There will be no curbs on India's strategic nuclear programme," he said, responding to worries of scientists that further progress in developing India's strategic nuclear programme would be affected.

If supply of nuclear fuel is interrupted, India will take "corrective measures" to ensure supply is restored. "There will be no other verification regime, other than that of the IAEA and there is no question of allowing US inspectors to wander about in our nuclear installations" he said.

Stating that India was not willing to accept any moratorium on the production of fissile material, he said only a multilaterally negotiated and internationally verifiable Fissile Material Control Treaty would be acceptable.