US Senate passes India-US civilian nuclear deal

Washington, Nov 17: The United States Senate last night approved by an overwhelming 85-12 vote the landmark India-US civilian nuclear deal after a marathon 10-hour debate.

The final vote came after a day-long discussion during which most of the members, both Democrats and Republicans, lent strong support to the deal which was announced during President George W Bush's visit to New Delhi in March this year.

Political observers here consider it as a personal victory for the President, who has made congressional passage of the measure as one of his top foreign policy objectives after his Republican Party's electoral defeat in which it lost control of both the Houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years.

The agreement, reached in principle between President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005, seeks to establish a New Delhi-specific exception to a US law that bans nuclear trade with countries like India that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Meanwhile, Mr Bush welcomed the Bill immediately after it was passed by the Senate. ''It will further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries,'' he said in a written statement issued by the White House.

''The measure would deliver energy, non-proliferation and trade benefits to the citizens of two great democracies,''the statement said.

With the Senate action, the US Congress has endorsed the deal, a pre-requisite for its enforcement, as the House of Representatives had given its approval July last year.

However, before President Bush signs it into a law, foreign relations panels of the two Houses will meet next month to reconcile the amendments that they had allowed to the Bill during their discussions. The final draft that would emerge will again be voted separately by the two Houses.

The agreement also requires the approval of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) of nations that controls global atomic trade.

In addition, India and the US will have to negotiate technical details of an overall cooperation agreement, which then will have to be approved by the US Congress.

Under the agreement, India would have an access to US nuclear fuel and technology and, in return, it would accept international inspections in its civilian nuclear facilities.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Richard Lugar (Republican), who piloted the Bill in the Senate, said, ''The US' national security is advanced by engaging India and by increasing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) oversight of the India nuclear programme.'' Ranking Democratic Senator Joe Biden, who lent powerful support to the Bill, however, fully shared his fellow party members' Non-Proliferation concerns arising out of the special provision that the US is making for India, a non-signatory to the NPT.

''I hope India will not use its peaceful nuclear commerce to free up domestic uranium for increased production for nuclear weapons,'' said Mr Biden, who will become Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next year.

Earlier, during the discussion, the opposition to the agreement came primarily from Democrats, most of whom though favoured development of cordial relations with ''democratic'' India, feared that the deal could undermine efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons, especially in the context the North Korea and Iran.

Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, called the agreement a ''horrible mistake, providing the green light to India to produce new nuclear weapons''.

He and his Democratic Party colleagues, including Mr Russ Feingold and Mr Barbra Boxer, sought to tag on conditions, through amendments, to the Bill but its supporters, an overwhelming majority of Republicans, argued that New Delhi would not accept them and the whole exercise would end up in futility or would weaken the measure.

The amendments, which were put to vote and rejected by a wide margin, included the one that would have required a US presidential certification that the civilian nuclear agreement would not contribute to India's nuclear weapons programme, and another that would have required India to stop producing fissile material, that go into the making of nuclear weapons.

An amendment was also moved favoring a cap on India's nuclear programme in view of the series of nuclear tests it had conducted in 1974 and 1998. But like other amendments, it also failed to find acceptance of the Senate.

The Senate accepted by a voice vote two amendments, both moved by the Democrats. One which stood in the name of Senator Tom Harkins, authorised President ''to determine that India is fully and actively participating in US and international efforts to dissuade, sanction and contain Iran's nuclear programme, consistent with the United Nations Security Council Resolution.'' The other amendment, moved by rising star in the Democratic Party Senator Barack Obama, said, ''Supplies of nuclear fuel to India must be commensurate with reasonable reactor operating requirements.'' Meanwhile, US-India Business Council hailed the India-US civilian nuclear deal and described it in every regard a win-win situation for the commercial and strategic partnerships between the two nations.

In a statement, Council President Ron Somers said, '' ''It lays the foundation for major trade and investment opportunities in India for US companies.'' Eds: Pick up suitably from related series.

UNI