US proposes to exempt India
from nuclear ban

Reuters

Published on Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 18:36, Updated
at Thu, Aug 14, 2008
in Nation
section

Tags: Indo-US Nuclear
Deal, Nuclear
Suppliers Group , Vienna

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Vienna: The United States has proposed to waive restrictions
on critical nuclear trade with India
in a draft circulated among member nations of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
and published by an arms control advocacy group.

The draft, published on the web
site of the US-based Arms Control Association (www.armscontrol.org), would
effectively lift a 34-year embargo on nuclear trade with India without tying the waiver to
explicit conditions for the Asian nuclear power.

Several NSG nations had said they
expected the exemption to identify events that would trigger a review, such as
an Indian nuclear bomb test or failure to allow wide-ranging inspections of its
nuclear facilities.

The draft states the NSG members
"have taken note of steps that India has taken voluntarily,"
including its unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests and its commitment to
allow inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.

But it does not mention any
consequences or sanctions for the case that India does not adhere to those
measures.

The US draft was sent to NSG chair Germany on August 6 to forward it
to all of the 45 NSG members, according to ACA.

Serious
introspection is required by the defense authorities and the Indian government.
These are some issues that come to my mind:

The United
States proposal to waive restrictions on critical nuclear
trade with India
is a welcomed step forward, but at what cost? India has taken voluntarily
measures, including its unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests. I sincerely
hope our commitment to allow inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog does not
include our defense purpose nuclear plants.

Now, what happens if India has to
conduct a nuclear test for scientific purpose? Why doesn't the US draft say what will happen to this deal if India does not
adhere to those measures? Last but not the least, what will happen to our
Thorium based nuclear plants?