USIBC hires firm to push India's case

Firm 'to ensure a constructive outcome of the nuclear debate'

Given mounting criticism of the Indo-US nuclear energy deal signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US in July, the US India Business Council (USIBC) has hired a top lobbying firm to supplement the efforts of Venable Law and Barbour Griffith and Roger, hired by the government of India.

Barbour Griffith and Roger is headed by former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill. Patton and Boggs, the lobbyists (described by USIBC as "professional advocacy support"), do not come cheap "" the firm charges an average of $495 an hour, the highest in the US, India Abroad weekly reported.

The USIBC says the firm has been hired to "to ensure a constructive outcome of the nuclear debate" and "promote the Civilian Nuclear Agreement on Capitol Hill".

Its website says, "As the outcome of the nuclear debate will affect Indo-US relations and thereby the collective interests of US companies doing business in India, USIBC's Board of Directors has decided to launch a campaign to support this legislation."

How much US business is riding on Congressional clearance of the deal should be judged by the way the advocacy proposal has been framed. It argues that India has a spotless record on non-proliferation and has worked with the US in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure Iran's compliance with its international obligations under the NPT.

The USIBC further argues that US transfer of civilian nuclear technology to India would actually fortify the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while advancing the United States' economic and strategic interests.

The organisation says the world would be a safer place now that the nuclear energy agreement has been signed "" because under the agreement, India has pledged to commit its civilian nuclear facilities to full IAEA safeguards and inspections, continue its moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, and agree to stricter export controls on nuclear technology.

"This agreement will place India inside, rather then outside, the NPT framework," the USIBC says. It warns that another nuclear power such as France, Russia, or Canada is likely to share nuclear technology with India if the US fails to assist India in achieving a secure energy supply.

Democrats like Tom Lantos have strongly opposed the deal. Among the reasons cited is India's friendship with Iran and the chance that India might collaborate with that country, passing on sensitive US technology.

"If we are turning ourselves into a pretzel to accommodate India, I want to be sure that India is mindful of US policies in critical areas such as US policy towards Iran,"' Lantos had observed at a Capitol Hill hearing on the nuclear energy accord earlier this year.

During his visit to the US last week, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran made it clear that India did not support proliferation of nuclear weapons. "India's commitment to non-proliferation is not fully appreciated in some quarters," Saran said in Washington. "Let me be clear. India does not favour the emergence of any more nuclear weapon states, least of all in our own neighbourhood".

Given the less than savoury background of nuclear states in south Asia, specifically Pakistan which has been charged with peddling nuclear technology to North Korea, US lawmakers, including Senator Richard Lugar, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, have said India must ensure that its military is not in control of civilian nuclear facilities in order to make the Congress approve the plan for American help.

The USIBC is chaired by Charles "Chip" Kaye, also the co-president of Warburg Pincus LLC. This is the first time the organisation has hired a firm like Patton Boggs and says pushing the nuclear deal through government approvals would be its top priority in 2006.