Govt determined to go ahead: officials

The Centre is “determined” to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, official sources said here today...

The Centre is “determined” to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, official sources said here today, a day after the ninth meeting of the Left-UPA committee ended without arriving at a decision.

Officials privy to the negotiations on the nuclear deal said they have been told that the “Government is determined to go ahead with the deal”. They also denied the Left’s charge that the nuclear deal would be on “auto-pilot” mode once the Government goes to IAEA. Sources said that as per the July 18 statement, the US has assured that it will get India through the NSG process. But, they added, if India does not want to move forward after the IAEA, it reserves the right to not go ahead.

However, the officials pointed out, India “cannot” say that it will go to IAEA, but not move ahead on the nuclear deal. It “doesn’t make logical sense”, they said, adding, “if such a proposal is taken to the IAEA, they will laugh at us”.

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UPA allies like NCP’s Sharad Pawar have been touting a compromise proposal of “going to IAEA but not going ahead thereafter”. The officials also declined to set a time frame for concluding the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Each of the three bodies — the IAEA Board, NSG and the US Congress — have their own rules and procedures, they explained.

For example, the IAEA Board’s rules say they can take anywhere between 72 hours to 45 days. The US Congress, on the other hand, also has the Hyde Act and the Atomic Energy Act to deal with.

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