By Oinam Anand
New Delhi is very hot these days specially inside the Parliament hall, in this Monsoon session. The left parties are applying brakes on the wheel of the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement and even threaten the UPA Govt of withdrawing support. The opposition BJP is making all effort to put the Govt in the dock by seeking a discussion in the Lok Sabha under a rule which entails voting.
Whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will stop short of operationa-lising the deal in fear of losing the UPA Govt is a matter which is keenly watched by all in these days. At the same time it is necessary to go down the pages of history about India’s nuclear policy and its relationship with the United States.
Since 1984, when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had envisaged a new vision in India’s foreign policy specially in military diplomacy, India opened its door for co-operation with all great powers. The old political geezers who always thought it better for India to side with a superpower for its political and economic survival in the era of cold war had come to know how much the world had changed. For that it is essential for India to have a closet relations with all the powerful nations like the US, Russia, China, Japan, France, UK and many other countries.
From the point of time, when the erstwhile USSR collapsed leaving the USA the only super power, India’s relation with the US has gone a change and has reached a different dimension. The relation with the US becomes better and better even though there is shift of guards in New Delhi. There has been better exchange of thoughts and materials in every area including peaceful research in nuclear energy.
Way back in 1998, exactly after Pokhram II, on May 11, 1998, India became a country having nuclear weapons. As a non-signatory to the NPT India’s feat to become a nuclear weapon country was much more impeccable than many of its 190-odd members of NPT. The international sanction led by US had no major impact on the country’s economy then and those who opposed the Pokhram-II at that time are now eager to co-operate in India’s Nuclear Programme.
A US writer-Diplomat Strobe Talbott believed that India had conducted Pokhram Nuclear Test of 1998 unmindful of the American castigation which was sure to follow any sequel to its maiden implosion in Pokhram. He further remarked in his book ‘Engaging India’ in which he rightly says: ‘By weathering the storm of the US disapproval- by out-lasting and out-taking the Americans in the marathon of diplomacy spurred by the test, in short by not compromising- the Indians would prove their resolve and resilience, thereby giving a boost to their national self-esteem and self-confidence’.
Nuclear weapons are in fact weapon’s of mass destruction (WMD). The entire civilization accumulated on this earth from ages and ages hence can be wiped out totally by a slight madness or mistake. The world is yet to recover from the shocks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki episode 61 years ago. If Japan had got nuclear bomb at that time, then the US would dare not drop the A-bomb. The point to be noted here is that the most important implication of having nuclear weapons is that they deter wars. A country which possesses N-Power weapon makes its potential enemies to think twice or many times before confrontation of any sort.
So possessing nuclear weapons is a promoter of peace in its new meaning in this new world. In this sense India becomes a Nuclear Weapon Power State. The best explanation for this could be found in the words of Jashwant Singh, External Affairs Minister in the NDA Govt when Pokhram II was conducted “In the aftermath of cold war, an Asian balance of power is emerging with new alignments and new vacuums. India, in exercise of its supreme national interest, has acted in a timely fashion to correct an imbalance and fill a potentially dangerous vacuum. It endeavours to contribute a stable balance of power in Asia which it holds will further the advance of democracy. A more powerful India will help balance and connect the oil-rich Gulf region and rapidly industrialised countries of SE Asia”.
The then External Affair Minister’s words become more relevant in to-day’s context and the decision of the then NDA Govt is irreversible. And, the UPA Govt of Shri Manmohan Singh is in the continuation of the works of the predecessors.
There is a firm commitment that even though India becomes a nuclear weapon country, it will pursue nuclear energy for peace and development. This has gained confidence in the think-tanks of the US administration. At the same time the US wanted India’s help in the war against terrorism in the sub-continent.
For the first time, it appeared that the US administration had accepted a relationship with India on merits, recognizing India’s economic and strategic interest, and the US interest in supporting the growth of India’s strength. This resulted in making a joint statement with the Prime Minister of India Shri Manmohan Singh and George W Bush the President of the US when the former visited the USA on July 18, 2005. The statement includes a move towards lifting the three decade old regime of technology denials and an implicit recognition of Nuclear Weapon programme.
In return India has to give a blue-print for separation of its Civilian and Non-Civilian Nuclear facilities. Then India will have to enter into negotiation with IAEA regarding placing civilian facilities under safeguards, for this there will be more intrusive and frequent inspection from IAEA. This is why the Left call the deal ‘unacceptable’ and demanding that the Govt should not proceed further on it by commencing negotiations with the IAEA for safeguards which would bind India permanently.
On the political front, there may be a time when the Left parties part with the UPA and there may be mid-term polls. But in an age of inevitable globalisation, can India again become inward looking?
The deal must go on inspite of change of Government in New Delhi.
The PM Shri Manmohan Singh is taking up one of the most difficult steps in the history of India in its way to super power status.
Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi is very hot these days specially inside the Parliament hall, in this Monsoon session. The left parties are applying brakes on the wheel of the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement and even threaten the UPA Govt of withdrawing support. The opposition BJP is making all effort to put the Govt in the dock by seeking a discussion in the Lok Sabha under a rule which entails voting.
Whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will stop short of operationa-lising the deal in fear of losing the UPA Govt is a matter which is keenly watched by all in these days. At the same time it is necessary to go down the pages of history about India’s nuclear policy and its relationship with the United States.
Since 1984, when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had envisaged a new vision in India’s foreign policy specially in military diplomacy, India opened its door for co-operation with all great powers. The old political geezers who always thought it better for India to side with a superpower for its political and economic survival in the era of cold war had come to know how much the world had changed. For that it is essential for India to have a closet relations with all the powerful nations like the US, Russia, China, Japan, France, UK and many other countries.
From the point of time, when the erstwhile USSR collapsed leaving the USA the only super power, India’s relation with the US has gone a change and has reached a different dimension. The relation with the US becomes better and better even though there is shift of guards in New Delhi. There has been better exchange of thoughts and materials in every area including peaceful research in nuclear energy.
Way back in 1998, exactly after Pokhram II, on May 11, 1998, India became a country having nuclear weapons. As a non-signatory to the NPT India’s feat to become a nuclear weapon country was much more impeccable than many of its 190-odd members of NPT. The international sanction led by US had no major impact on the country’s economy then and those who opposed the Pokhram-II at that time are now eager to co-operate in India’s Nuclear Programme.
A US writer-Diplomat Strobe Talbott believed that India had conducted Pokhram Nuclear Test of 1998 unmindful of the American castigation which was sure to follow any sequel to its maiden implosion in Pokhram. He further remarked in his book ‘Engaging India’ in which he rightly says: ‘By weathering the storm of the US disapproval- by out-lasting and out-taking the Americans in the marathon of diplomacy spurred by the test, in short by not compromising- the Indians would prove their resolve and resilience, thereby giving a boost to their national self-esteem and self-confidence’.
Nuclear weapons are in fact weapon’s of mass destruction (WMD). The entire civilization accumulated on this earth from ages and ages hence can be wiped out totally by a slight madness or mistake. The world is yet to recover from the shocks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki episode 61 years ago. If Japan had got nuclear bomb at that time, then the US would dare not drop the A-bomb. The point to be noted here is that the most important implication of having nuclear weapons is that they deter wars. A country which possesses N-Power weapon makes its potential enemies to think twice or many times before confrontation of any sort.
So possessing nuclear weapons is a promoter of peace in its new meaning in this new world. In this sense India becomes a Nuclear Weapon Power State. The best explanation for this could be found in the words of Jashwant Singh, External Affairs Minister in the NDA Govt when Pokhram II was conducted “In the aftermath of cold war, an Asian balance of power is emerging with new alignments and new vacuums. India, in exercise of its supreme national interest, has acted in a timely fashion to correct an imbalance and fill a potentially dangerous vacuum. It endeavours to contribute a stable balance of power in Asia which it holds will further the advance of democracy. A more powerful India will help balance and connect the oil-rich Gulf region and rapidly industrialised countries of SE Asia”.
The then External Affair Minister’s words become more relevant in to-day’s context and the decision of the then NDA Govt is irreversible. And, the UPA Govt of Shri Manmohan Singh is in the continuation of the works of the predecessors.
There is a firm commitment that even though India becomes a nuclear weapon country, it will pursue nuclear energy for peace and development. This has gained confidence in the think-tanks of the US administration. At the same time the US wanted India’s help in the war against terrorism in the sub-continent.
For the first time, it appeared that the US administration had accepted a relationship with India on merits, recognizing India’s economic and strategic interest, and the US interest in supporting the growth of India’s strength. This resulted in making a joint statement with the Prime Minister of India Shri Manmohan Singh and George W Bush the President of the US when the former visited the USA on July 18, 2005. The statement includes a move towards lifting the three decade old regime of technology denials and an implicit recognition of Nuclear Weapon programme.
In return India has to give a blue-print for separation of its Civilian and Non-Civilian Nuclear facilities. Then India will have to enter into negotiation with IAEA regarding placing civilian facilities under safeguards, for this there will be more intrusive and frequent inspection from IAEA. This is why the Left call the deal ‘unacceptable’ and demanding that the Govt should not proceed further on it by commencing negotiations with the IAEA for safeguards which would bind India permanently.
On the political front, there may be a time when the Left parties part with the UPA and there may be mid-term polls. But in an age of inevitable globalisation, can India again become inward looking?
The deal must go on inspite of change of Government in New Delhi.
The PM Shri Manmohan Singh is taking up one of the most difficult steps in the history of India in its way to super power status.
Source: The Sangai Express
