Nuclear non-issue

While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh answered every question he was asked at his meeting with editors this week, the only one he passed on to an official, the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, was a question about the latest stipulation by the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) that only countries that had signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty would be eligible for technology transfer. While the critics of the civil nuclear deal are making much of this development, the prime minister seemed to suggest that it is not such a big issue that he had to personally offer an explanation and an official’s clarification would do.