Nuclear Upsets

If it seems to be a season of "I told you so", I cant help it ! The PM's much touted success in the Indo US nuclear pact is now in tatters. To use the words of my favourite strategic affairs writer Brahma Chellaney,

the deal has come to symbolize the travails of the Singh government — scandals, broken promises, malfeasance, poor public accountability, and the resort to casuistry to camouflage reality. The cash-for-votes scandal in Parliament set the stage for the other scams that have followed.

Even writers who were earlier supporting the deal, have had to do an about face. Writing for the Hindu, Dr Anil Kakodkar, who had earlier been co-opted by the government in negotiating the "deal" with the NSG expresses

Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG)..additional restrictions for transfer of ENR (enrichment and reprocessing) technologies with adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) being a condition for transfer has caused huge unease in India

 Vardarajan, the Hindu's strategic affairs analyst, and a former supporter of the deal too, has had to admit that the deal is dead.

Meanwhile, China has gone ahead and "grandfathered" another two reactors for Pakistan. In other words, without committing anything, Pakistan has as much access to technology and fuel as India has after it has waived its sovereign rights to develop its own nuclear techology for its protection. Ofcourse, India is open to buying reactors from the rest of the world, when Germany and now Japan have taken legislative steps to shut down nuclear power, given its unviability when total cost of operations and accidents are accounted for.

It may serve our negotiators well to remember that NSG was set up as an Anti India cartel. Nothing has changed. The latest guidelines on technology transfer impact only one country - India.