Home & Away

Indrani Bagchi, TNN Jun 11, 2009, 09.14am IST NEW DELHI: Although a nuclear deal between US and India is a wrap, the wheels are moving at a grinding slow pace on implementing the deal, with the US dithering on starting negotiations for the reprocessing agreement. Government sources said civil nuclear issues occupied a large part of the discussions between William Burns and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on Wednesday. It's likely they will come up for talks again when Burns meets NSA M K Narayanan on Thursday. Negotiations for a reprocessing agreement is yet to start, because Washington, Indian officials said, was yet to set a date. India is insistent that a reprocessing deal is absolutely necessary for the nuclear deal to be meaningful. The deal said negotiations would start within six months of the signing of the agreement, but the US is yet to do so. The newly nominated US undersecretary of state for arms control, Ellen Tauscher, told the US Sena...

Indrani Bagchi, TNN Sep 2, 2008, 02.50am IST NEW DELHI: The odds are lengthening on the Indian nuclear deal as the opposition in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group refuses to die down and India sticks to its "red lines" on refusing the amendments. In a clear sign of the growing challenge, China has indicated to the NSG that it would make its "concerns" regarding the Indian nuclear deal clear at the next meeting. As a precursor, China's top government mouthpiece, People's Daily , trashed the deal on Monday, saying it was a "blow to the international non-proliferation regime".  There are indications that the NSG might defer decision on the India waiver yet again and new dates of September 11-12 are already doing the rounds. Of course, it would then not be possible to move the deal into the US Congress in time and might need some urgent fiddling with the Congressional rules and calendar. The difficulties that confronted ...

Indrani Bagchi, TNN Jun 22, 2010 NEW DELHI: The proposed China-Pakistan nuclear deal could spell trouble for India's own membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, severely upsetting the calculations of the government here. India had hoped that the New Zealand plenary meeting scheduled for later this week might move the process along for India to be eventually recognized as a formal member of the group. India had told the NSG that following the Indo-US nuclear deal, its laws and regulations had been harmonized with the global body, and that it was ready to be a member of the group. This was emphasized by the government in its last meeting with the NSG troika earlier this year. Instead, there is a growing anger, albeit impotent, within the 45-member group as they confront a virtual fait accompli by China "informing" them of its decision to build two new nuclear reactors for Pakistan, a proliferation rogue. But such is the growing clout ...

Chidanand Rajghatta & Indrani Bagchi  13 Apr, 2007 0027hrs IST WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: With the Indo-US nuclear deal floundering, accusations have begun to fly thick and fast. A key American official negotiating details of the deal has expressed frustration at New Delhi’s pace even as some US analysts have begun predicting the collapse of the agreement because of India’s "greedy" demands. In a review of talks which have been going on for more than 18 months since the deal was first announced on July 18, 2005, USA Today cited unnamed senior administration officials and some known nuclear non-proliferation hawks as saying India is making demands that would increase its military nuclear capabilities, and not lessen it, which it said was Washington’s objective in doing the deal. Among the "greedy" Indian demands mentioned is New Delhi’s insistence on fuel reprocessing rights and the right to undertake nuclear tests if required, both of which would e...

Indrani Bagchi Apr 29, 2011,  03.37am IST NEW DELHI: Hard on the heels of India tossing out US bids for the MMRCA fighter aircraft deal, US ambassador Timothy Roemer announced he was leaving his post. Although his decision was unrelated to the MMRCA decision and was apparently in the works for a while, his decision to announce it on Thursday drew an immediate link to the Indian decision. There will be a blowback from Washington over the Indian decision, and many believe Roemer's announcement is the beginning. In a statement, Roemer said the US was "deeply disappointed" at losing out on the contract. "I have been personally assured at the highest levels of the Indian government that the procurement process for this aircraft has been and will be transparent and fair. I am extremely confident that the Boeing F/A 18IN and Lockheed-Martin F-16IN would provide the Indian Air Force an unbeatable platform with proven technologies at a competitive ...

Indrani Bagchi, TNN Nov 12, 2007, 12.58am IST MOSCOW: Russia cannot use the 1989 agreement on Kudankulam nuclear power plants to "grandfather" an agreement for four additional plants for India, officials accompanying PM Manmohan Singh on his visit to Russia said. India was hoping to get the Russians to work out an intergovernmental agreement under cover of the original agreement but it will have to wait until it gets a clear exemption from the NSG before Russia moves on it. The bottomline is that until India completes the formalities with the IAEA and NSG, there is almost no nuclear agreement that it can sign. But even as India loses out yet again in its attempt to move forward in the nuclear field largely due to its own shortcomings, China has been galloping ahead. Last week, China and Russia signed an agreement where the latter agreed to supply uranium, enrichment capacity and two new power reactors to China. Russia will supply uranium enri...