Manmohan Singh: Clearing the air

New Delhi, Aug. 17: In allaying the apprehensions of the critics of the India-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today made several fresh commitments to Parliament.

The assurances given by the Prime Minister have a special significance. They have been made in the specific context of criticism of the positions taken by the government up to now and shape of the proposed US legislation permitting civilian nuclear cooperation with India.

Taking on board the criticism of the nuclear cooperation deal, the Prime Minister dealt with two sets of issues: the charge that the US was attempting to change the orientation of Indian foreign policy; and that there had been deviations from the original parameters of the deal as agreed on July 18, 2005, and in March 2006.

The assurance on foreign policy orientation was declaratory in nature.

The commitments on the specificities of the nuclear cooperation deal were, however, much more specific. The Prime Minister clarified that by full nuclear cooperation, India meant cooperation on all aspects of the “complete nuclear fuel cycle” — from fuel, enrichment and nuclear reactors to the reprocessing of the spent fuel.

The US government’s position — not that of the US Congress — has been that there will be no cooperation with India on heavy water production, fuel reprocessing and uranium enrichment and that this was in India’s full knowledge. The Prime Minister is, therefore, making a fresh commitment here.

The Prime Minister said India would “only accept” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards (an inspections regime) on nuclear facilities and when all nuclear restrictions are lifted. This means that the US legislation must first permit nuclear cooperation before India signs an IAEA agreement. The US Congress wants the IAEA agreement to be presented to it before passing the legislation.

The Prime Minister has left some wiggle room here. He has not said that India “will not sign” — but that India “will not accept” — the IAEA safeguards agreement until the US lifts all sanctions. This leaves room for negotiating the agreement with the IAEA while leaving its implementation till the US passes the legislation.

Another important change in position has been on the annual certification about India’s compliance with non-proliferation. The Prime Minister said that even though not binding, the certification requirement dilutes the permanent waiver authority legislation and affects future cooperation. It was, therefore, “not acceptable” to India. This is a move forward from the government’s spin-doctors claiming earlier that such certification was meaningless and meant for the dustbin.

The Prime Minister also allayed fears about India being forced to sign an agreement with the US on inspections or safeguards in addition to the one with the IAEA. However, the Prime Minister has left the status of inspections under end-user verifications a bit unclear.

The Prime Minister’s assurance on not allowing any external scrutiny of India’s nuclear strategic programme, much less allowing it as a condition for civilian nuclear cooperation, is clear cut. But this does not specifically address the provisions in the proposed legislation on India’s fissile material production and its use.

Singh declared that India would not “accept any moratorium on fissile material production” and had only committed to negotiating a non-discriminatory Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. He did not specifically touch on the non-binding provisions of the US legislation on periodic reporting on production and uses of fissile material and whether the import of uranium allowed India to divert indigenous uranium for strategic purposes.

The Prime Minister’s protestations about not accepting any reference to India conducting a nuclear test in the bilateral agreement with the US does not mean much. The nuclear co-operation will stop in any case if India tests under already existent US laws.