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 ...