'India gets best possible civil N-cooperation deal'

New Delhi, Aug 3: The Congress today hailed the Indo-US agreement on civil nuclear cooperation and said the details revealed that India had 'extracted' the best possible deal in the interests of the people of the country.

Talking to mediapersons at the AICC headquarters, Party Spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said though the Congress-led UPA government had succeeded in getting the best deal, it was done in consistently with the norms of international relations.

Dr Singhvi said he had gone through the full text of the 123 agreement, which was released by the government today, and had found that it did not compromise in any manner the sovereignty of the country.

"It is a historic moment whose benefit will be felt in the next several decades," he said, adding that "our energy generation is expected to rise to three to ten per cent in this decade and to 20 per cent in the next decade." The text of the agreement revealed that India got a unique status, the only country which was recognised as a nuclear power though it did not sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). "Our raw material starved nuclear reactors will function effectively." Replying to a question, he said India did not give any undertaking that it would not resort to a nuclear test.

In this context, Dr Singhvi pointed out that Indian negotiators did not accept the efforts of the US to put it as a legal binding in the text of the agreement, the unilateral mortatorium on future nuclear test declared by the Vajpayee government in the United Nations in 1998 and 1999.

Asked about the differences of the Left with the UPA on the 123 agreement, he said, "There will be differences on such issues. That is a part of a vibrant democracy."

UNI