Skip to main content

Modi "agrees" to US demand to change Indian nuclear laws to allow American companies to supply uranium

President Barrack Obama has reportedly extracted a major concession from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reportedly agreed to bring about a major change in india’s nuclear policy, which America believes is the key to reluctance of American companies to supply uranium to Indian nuclear power plants. If the policy changes, Gujarat’s proposed nuclear plant may be among the first “gainers”. An agreement to set up 6,000 MW nuclear power plant between US’ Westinghouse Corporation and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) at near Mithi Virdi along the Saurashtra coast remains unimplemented because of inability to sort out “administrative” issues.
President Obama and his Indian counterpart may have pledged to cooperate on nuclear energy, but American specialists believe “Indian liability laws have made progress virtually impossible and have rendered moot a landmark 2008 agreement between the two countries”, says a report in The Washington Post. It adds, “During his first trip to the US since assuming power Modi … expressed openness to changing his nation’s liability laws, a prerequisite to US-Indian cooperation on nuclear power moving forward.” There is no confirmation yet about this from India.
The daily says that a 2010 law passed in Indian Parliament may have “opened the door for US nuclear suppliers to do business in India, there has been virtually no progress over the past six years”, and the main reason behind this is that India’s liability laws make “suppliers, rather than operators, accountable for damages resulting from accidents at nuclear facilities.” It adds, “The liability law had the impact of shutting US companies out of the Indian market. It’s been a major stumbling block.”
The daily quotes Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow in the Asian Studies Center at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to say that “there’s a lot of frustration in the US”. Another expert, Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, says, “We totally embarrassed ourselves with that deal, and we have to kind of act like it didn’t happen the way it seemed to have happened. We convinced ourselves that this was worth sort of bending the rules with regard to nuclear trade and nonproliferation”.
The daily says, “The two nations struck a historic nuclear energy deal in 2008, one that was heralded at the time as a breakthrough in US-Indian relations, but also criticized as a de facto endorsement of India’s nuclear weapons capability. It allowed American companies for the first time to build reactors in India, a potential boon for firms looking to expand to emerging markets. It also lifted a ban on uranium imports for India. In return, India agreed to allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities and vowed not to conduct future nuclear weapons tests.”
“Not only did the perceived benefits to American businesses not come to pass, but the agreement may have indirectly spurred Iranian and North Korean nuclear ambitions by signaling nations could refuse to sign international nuclear nonproliferation treaties and still receive the blessing of the US”, the daily says, quoting specialists, adding, “Even though the agreement was signed before either man came into office, Obama and Modi appear willing to continue trying to make the deal work.”

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

Unchecked urbanisation, waste dumping: Study warns of 'invited disaster' as khadi floods threaten half of Surat

An action research report, “Invited Disaster: Khadi Floods in Surat City”, published by two civil rights groups, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti and the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Surat, states that nearly half of Gujarat's top urban conglomerate—known for its concentration of textile and diamond polishing industries—is affected by the dumping of debris and solid waste, along with the release of treated and untreated sewage into the khadis (rivulets), thereby increasing the risk of flood disaster.

Two decades on, hunger still haunts Gujarat: Survey exposes stark gap behind poverty claims

A Niti Aayog report , released about two years ago, estimated that in Gujarat — which our powers-that-be have long considered a model state — 11.66% of people are "multidimensionally poor," a term referring to an index that seeks to estimate "multiple and simultaneous deprivations" at the household level across three macro categories: health, education, and living standards.