The Hindu Business Line : Nuclear deal: Benefits for India

The US-India deal will lead to more efficient import of nuclear technology and equipment, translating into higher nuclear power generation, which, in these pollution-conscious times, ought not to be written off hastily on grounds of higher costs. "It is not credible to compare the rogue regimes of North Korea and Iran to India" because, unlike them, "India has been a peaceful and vibrant democracy with a strong nuclear non-proliferation record" — White House.

MORE NUCLEAR power for India: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the US President, Mr George Bush.

The civilian nuclear deal between the US and India, finalised during the US President, Mr George Bush's recent visit to the country, has drawn flak as well as encomiums from a wide range of political and strategic opinion both within the country and outside it. To take the Left's position on the deal first, the point has been made unambiguously that the agreement "would mean falling in line with US interest in all strategic aspects and doing its bidding as a reliable ally," adding that the pressure was "already manifesting on India's reversal of its stand on Iran (and on the) Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline." The foreign media too have been critical with questions being raised about the status of the international non-proliferation effort, the point being made that the deal could render the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty defunct.

Focussing on the US policy on curbing the development of nuclear weapons, it has also been argued that Mr Bush has been "creating double standards by legitimising an Indian weapons programme that only eight years ago led Washington to impose huge sanctions while demanding, in the same week, that Iran and North Korea give up any capacity to make their own nuclear fuel."

The point has also been made that "now that India has built bombs (and) yet stands to get civilian help anyway, the risk is that other countries may demand the same deal."

ELEMENT OF TRUST

The surreptitious export of nuclear weapons-facilitating technology by a Pakistani scientist, among other instances of similar activity, has clearly made the element of trust a crucial input in the formation of Washington's policy on allowing other countries to develop a nuclear-weapons capability.

There is no doubt at all that such a policy is inequitous. As one Western commentator has written, the export of nuclear technology, in a world desperate to move away from carbon dependency, is a fact not just of life but possibly of global survival, adding, "Since the West is armed to the teeth with such weapons, it cannot plausibly gang together to deny Third World States the right to develop similar defences."

While this is an eminently sensible point of principle, the fact remains that Washington, by virtue of its military and economic might, today finds itself in a position where it can put pressure on other nuclear-developed countries to deny tactical nuclear-weapons from falling into the hands of people, some of whom thought nothing of destroying the World Trade Centre in New York.

As US officials have put it, India today falls into the `trusted' category of countries which can be allowed to handle nuclear weapons on a strategic scale, which means that the transfer of nuclear-weapons facilitating technology can be allowed with some degree of confidence and comfort. Among others, the US National Security Adviser, Mr Stephen Hadley, has been quoted as saying that India "has a good record, as a practical matter, in terms of proliferation to third countries. They have been a very responsible party."

CLEAN RECORD

In a lengthy statement issued after Mr Bush met with US lawmakers to discuss the deal, the White House said: "It is not credible to compare the rogue regimes of North Korea and Iran to India" because, unlike them, "India has been a peaceful and vibrant democracy with a strong nuclear non-proliferation record."

Such statements cannot but be seen as a feather in India's cap, especially the point of it being considered a trustworthy nation in the nuclear-technology sphere. In fact, this is a measure of the respectability that the nuclear deal with the US has conferred on New Delhi, which could go a long way in ultimately according the country full nuclear-weapons status. Admittedly, there are immediate problems such as the nature and status of the protocol to be drawn up by the International Atomic Energy Agency, an idea which New Delhi is not generally happy with for a number of reasons.

But these are small, manageable problems, the principal benefit being the gradual drawing of the country into the nuclear non-proliferation fold without actually signing the NPT, which is certain to lead to important nuclear-technology import spin-offs for the republic.

MORE NUCLEAR POWER

The deal will lead to the more efficient import of nuclear technology and equipment which will ultimately translate into higher nuclear power generation.

In fact, the Lok Sabha was informed recently by the Government that construction work was already in progress on eight reactors with plans being drawn up to build more such reactors under international safeguards. The eight reactors being built would, after completion, lead to an increase in nuclear power generation from the current 3360 MW to 7280 MW.

One is here not going into the pros and cons of nuclear power generation vis-à-vis thermal generation, which can turn out to be lengthy debate. The point sought to be emphasised here is that the civilian nuclear deal will lead to a much larger nuclear power generation potential which, in these pollution-conscious times, ought not to be written off hastily on grounds of higher costs, etc.

As far as the nation's strategic military nuclear programme is concerned, it has been suggested that somehow the "civilian deal" would interfere with its development, which in fact would be one way for Washington and its cohorts to keep the country's nuclear-weapons programme on a tight leash. The republic's atomic energy chief, Mr Anil Kakodkar, however, thinks otherwise. He made it abundantly clear at a news conference that the strategic nuclear programme would not be hampered because of the deal and that the agreement with the US and the separation plan "are steps towards achieving energy independence".

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