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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has nodded the safeguards agreement with India on Friday making a way clear for the operation of the crucial Indo-US nuke deal. Passed by the 35-nation IAEA board unanimously, India will now proceed to the 45 member Nuclear Suppliers Group for a nod to allowing trade with a non-NPT country, followed by ratification from the US Congress, to finalize the deal.

Earlier in the day, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei had given a positive response by endorsing the India-specific safeguards agreement and asserted that it conformed to “all legal requirements” of his agency.

IAEA expects to start implementing the agreement by next year. The chief told that a total of 14 Indian nuclear reactors will come under Agency safeguards by 2014, six reactors being already under IAEA supervision.

The India-specific safeguards agreement could also be used for the conclusion of other 66-type safeguards agreements, said the chief.

Tags: Atomic Energy, IAEA, India, India USA, Indo US, NPT, Nuke Deal, US, US Congress

The UPA government today circulated the text of safeguard agreement accord to its 35-nation Board of Governors for approval and stepped on towards the controversial Indo-US nuke deal.

“At the request of the Government of India, the IAEA Secretariat today circulated to members of the IAEA board of governors for their consideration the draft of an ‘Agreement with the Government of India for the Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities’,” International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in a press statement issued at the Agency headquarters in Vienna.

The agreement was sent after the Left parties withdrew support from the UPA government and submitted their resignation letters to the President on Wednesday. Left parties are against the Indo-US nuke deal and demanded the government to prove a vote of confidence in a week before approaching towards the deal.

The move described by Fleming as a “turning point” in India’s effort to push the deal came under attack from the Left and the BJP which saw a contradiction in government’s stand but the Congress said there is no contradiction.

According to the agreement, India will place its civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards to facilitate full civil nuclear cooperation between India and members of IAEA.

“The chairman of the board is consulting with board members to agree on a date for a board meeting when the agreement would be considered,” she added.

For the complete text of India-IAEA safeguard agreement, visit: http://im.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/iaea.pdf

Tags: Congress, Government, IAEA, India, Safeguards Draft, UPA

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday stated that India will very soon go to the IAEA for a safeguards agreement for the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal. However, he did not specify any date as to when exactly India would go to the IAEA headquarters at Vienna.

While heading toward Japan for G8 summit he spoke to journalists on board the special aircraft, “We have been assured that once we take the decision to go to the IAEA, the process will move very fast.”

“As soon as we decide to go to the IAEA, the matter will be in the court of its Board of Governors and we would certainly hope that the Board can take a quick decision. We have an agreed text which has been agreed to by the secretariat of the IAEA, so I would expect that the process would not take too long,” he added.

Singh, who will meet US President George W Bush on the sidelines of the summit on July 9, said that he would also discuss this issue of nuclear deal with other world leaders and will seek their support for the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG).

Very confidently and relaxed PM said, “Living with tension is part of the prime minister’s job in all countries, including India, but I am not under any unusual tension,”

Having a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani’s who stated that government should seek a trust vote, Singh said: “We will cross that bridge when we come to it. We are not afraid of facing the Parliament. We will abide by all the Parliamentary norms that should apply to the great democracy that India is. Advani need not give any advice to us.”

Singh further added that the BJP leader “need not give any advice” on the issue. Exuding confidence at the strength of his government, he said “there would be no early Lok Sabha polls.”

Tags: Advani, IAEA, India, India US Nuke deal, LK Advani, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, US, USA

The much awaited Left-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coordination meeting over the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement ended on Wednesday evening without a decision. After a 90-minute meeting of the 15-member committee, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said that the committee will come to a conclusion on IAEA safeguards in its next meeting, for which they failed to mention a date.

Its ninth meeting of Left-UPA over the crucial Indo-US nuke deal which went undecidedly against the backdrop of the standoff between the two sides on the Indo-US nuclear deal. It was reported that all members except NCP leader Sharad Pawar attended the meeting where both the sides stuck to their respective positions even while maintaining that they did not favor early elections.

The two sides met at the residence of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, government’s chief negotiator, to discuss the latest situation arising out of government’s determination to approach the IAEA for finalizing an India-specific safeguards agreement.

The committee completed its discussions on all aspects of the agreement. Sources told that the next meeting of the committee is likely to be held in mid July.

Earlier, Pranab Mukherjee met Prime Minister at his residence (second time in a day) to give details of the situation before the crucial UPA-Left coordination committee meeting at 5 pm. Before this, Mukherjee had called on PM Manmohan Singh at the PMO to discuss the issue. The meeting came after the Left parties told Mukherjee earlier in the day that they would not accept a compromise formula that would have allowed the government to finalize the safeguards agreement required for the nuke deal, with the IAEA.

Left has dismissed the formula as “meaningless” hours before a crucial meet of the UPA-Left co-ordination committee to iron out differences on the civil nuclear deal. The Left parties maintained that they ‘understood’ the safeguards agreement would be on auto pilot mode for progress on the deal immediately after the IAEA Board of Governors approved it.  Later, Karat, Mukherjee and Antony had gone to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence to apprise her of the Left’s stand. Mukherjee also met UPA allies at 4:00 pm ahead of the UPA-Left committee meet.

Karat, meanwhile, also met Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, with the latter reiterating that his party would take a final decision on the nuke deal after next week’s UNPA meet.

Tags: , Congress, IAEA, India, India US, Left Parties, N-deal, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, UPA, USA

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that he was still hopeful for the Indo-US nuclear deal rejecting the view that the deal is failed.

I am hopeful so long as we are discussing it,” the Prime Minister said putting an end to the assumption that the deal was dead.

His remarks came in the midst of government’s renewed bid to enlist the support of Left parties, outside supporters of his government, for going ahead with securing the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

The Prime Minister told reporters on the sidelines of a military investiture at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, “I am negotiating in good faith.”

On Tuesday, the Left-UPA meeting on the nuclear deal failed to make much headway, the two sides decided to meet again on May 28. The Left parties would meet on May 23 to decide on whether or not to allow the IAEA safeguards agreement.

The Left parties questioned on guaranteed uninterrupted fuel supplies, full civil nuclear co-operation, the issue of reciprocity and implications of the American domestic Hyde Act on India’s foreign and security policies.

About the inflation issue Singh assured that “the current rate of 7.5 per cent will come down, hopefully in the next three months”.

Tags: IAEA, India, Manmohan Singh, Nuclear deal, PM, US

India will have an important discussion regarding next round of Nuclear Safeguard agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday. This is a necessary condition for India-America nuclear deal. Indian group reached Vienna on Sunday to talk about the matter under supervision of R.B. Grover, a senior member of Department of Atomic Energy. This conversation between India and IAEA is expected to continue till the end of this month.

Indian debaters and IAEA team will keep informing about the progress of their discussion to the board of Governors of IAEA which will ease the formal presentation of the issue to the board. But it is not known whether the issue will be presented in the foregoing meeting of the board on 3rd march.

There had been four conversations in Vienna between India and IAEA since November last year. Instead of this, there were many informal discussions between both the parties. The motive of this conversation was to draft the safeguard agreement for India. Recently America asked India to finish the debate with IAEA and Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) forcing to take action regarding the start nuclear deal. If unable to do so, India will not be able to get similar deal. Though India refused this statement of America saying that it is a crucial matter and will take time.

Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, said that we should complete it as soon as possible, but it will go through a long process because it should be completed in a proper way and it is necessary to fulfill all the needs. It includes many steps and we have to take action step by step. If the Safeguard agreement is not prepared in this week, than India will have to wait for next board meeting going to be held in June. This will mean that India will be unable to complete the deadline of May put by America.

According to M.R. Srinivasan, member of Atomic Energy Commission, Safeguard agreement is important for India. Once the draft for this agreement is ready, it will be inspected and will be presented to political committee of UPA-left for their permission.

Tags: America, Atomic Energy, IAEA, India, Nuclear deal