Indo-US nuclear deal: the nucleus of Manmohan's governance

The nuclear deal with USA is at the core of all decisions taken by the current UPA government. For better or for worse. The story goes that the RTI and NREGA bills were passed by the UPA govt. on the insistence of the Left for the price of Left's support for the nuclear deal. The multi-industry commission responsible for creation of SEZs and further deals/subsidies with/for US corporations (like Dow Chemicals, for eg.) are also purported to be part of the nuclear deal negotiations. Irrespective of the motivations of the government, how useful is this deal to India and her people?

[1] The hoax of nuclear power
By Prof. Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri

Prof. Rai Chaudhuri writes that nuclear energy is not a long term feasible energy source for India and argues that the Indo-US Nuclear deal is perpetuating this hoax. Prof. Rai Chaudhuri (now retired) is the former head of physics department at Presidency College, Kolkatta and has been active in civil rights movements in West Bengal for over two decades.

[2] Wrong Ends, Means, and Needs: Behind the U.S. Nuclear Deal With India
By Zia Mian and M.V.Ramana

The deal also will create the potential for the rapid buildup of a much larger Indian nuclear arsenal. It will bail out a failing Indian nuclear energy program that has had little regard either for the economics or the environmental and health consequences of its activities. It is also likely to offer little real benefit to India’s poor. It is not often that so much harm may be done to so many by so few.

Zia Mian is a research scientist in the program on science and global security at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and M. V. Ramana is a faculty member at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development in Bangalore, India.

[3] Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain both FOR the US-India nuclear deal

This article about the state of the US-India nuclear deal from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. The U.S.-India nuclear deal has been delayed since last summer, when India and the International Atomic Energy Agency negotiated a safeguards agreement. The Bush administration continues to pressure the Indian government to act on the nuclear deal in an effort to salvage what was to be one of President Bush's foreign policy achievements. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE) warned in February that the deal must come before the U.S. Senate by June 2008 in order to win congressional approval this year. The question remains about the future of a civil nuclear agreement between the United States and India under the next U.S. administration.