Nu-clear to me !

‘India does the impossible’, ‘India powers its way into Nuke Biz’ read a few headlines on Sunday. The NSG Waiver is big news for India. The benefits may not be really visible or significant over the short term, but all of us do agree that this is much needed. Iam not getting into whether opening up nuclear supplies commerce is good or bad for India, whether this agreement puts India sovereignty at risk or not, much has been said and debated about this…

Let’s try and see this from the viewpoint of say Australia or New Zealand and to some extent China as well. These are countries that have signed the NPT (maybe even the CTBT, not sure) and then are able to trade in Nuclear supplies (and that too with severe restrictions capping the usage).

India then comes up with the backing of US and tells the world – “Look, We want to access the nuclear supplies for civil purposes, its going to help in the development of the country, solve all infrastructure and power problems, accelerate industrialization . This is absolutely critical for us, so we need the nuclear deal. But we will not sign your NPT. We have a ‘No first use” policy, you can take our word on this, but we will not sign the NPT !!”

This to me seems strange. Why should there be a special case for India alone? How does India justify access to nuclear civil supplies without signing the NPT? They have made other signatories to NPT look like real clowns – compared to them we get all benefits that they get, but unlike them we are not obliged at all! There seems to be something missing here, isn’t it??

Australia by deciding not to sell Uranium to India has already expressed its views – It’s a strong statement of non co-operation with India. And Australia accounts for over 35% of Uranium to the world. If other countries follow suit, it could get very embarrassing for India. Apart from the license to trade, you also need a counterparty!!

There is no argument here as to whether this is right or wrong. Everyone wants the best at the least cost and India is no exception. We need to congratulate the government for clinching this deal despite all the opposition. Iam only wondering how can India demand and get a special treatment?

What happens when say tomorrow Australia demands a NSG Waiver and terminates its obligation on NPT? Given its own position, can India object to that? How does US react given its earlier stand on India? These are difficult questions India and US have put forward to the world…