Power without conditions

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Not surprisingly, most newspapers across the country tracked the Indo-US nuclear deal closely, several had it as the day's lead when the Senate okayed it, as well as on various other days during the week. In the north, though the Hindi language papers played up the story and had detailed boxes/side stories explaining all facets of the deal, few had editorials commenting upon whether the deal was a good idea or a bad one. One the whole, unlike many English language newspapers whose initial news reports were so disparate "" they looked like two different deals were being talked of "" the Hindi language papers were more factual in their coverage.

Rajasthan Patrika had, as the day's second lead, a twin story, one from Washington on the actual details and a news analysis alongside this. A highlight box explained that if India conducted a test like the one in 1998, the US President would be obliged to stop fuel supplies to India. Another box gave the three top arguments being made in favour of the deal, from the closer Indo-US ties to the greater nuclear power.

Dainik Bhaskar had it as the day's lead story, three days in a row, right from the time the deal was okayed to the Left seeing red and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's assurance that the deal would not affect the country's nuclear preparedness. As with Jagran, Bhaskar too highlighted the pros and cons of the deal (one prominent one was that, without signing the NPT, India was now included in the ranks of nuclear weapons states), including the nuclear power angle.

All prominent Marathi newspapers carried the story of the US Congress giving its nod to the deal in their Sunday edition as the lead, followed by an edit on it in Monday's edition. Loksatta's edit, while welcoming the deal, focused on how the Left and BJP would now try to find loopholes in the deal and indulge in some rhetoric, which should be ignored. While Sakal's edit called it the end of a nuclear apartheid, Maharashtra Times' edit cautioned on being too euphoric about the Indo-US relationship. It said that the deal was nothing but pure business, adding that the US had realised India was a potential superpower and that it could be used as a counterweight against the rising might of China, and hence had offered this deal.

However, none of these prominent newspapers carried subsequent developments related to the deal or articles by defence or strategic affairs experts on their editorial pages, giving an insight into the deal and its ramification.

The nuclear deal received a lot of attention in the Kannada press with all the newspapers reporting the developments on the front page. Vijaya Karnataka, in its edit, cautioned the government against "falling into a trap" set by the US. "History has shown that the US is a master in arm-twisting nations. The Indian government should examine every aspect of the deal carefully. It is unfortunate that the finer aspects of the deal were never made public. No doubt, we require the US' support to meet our energy needs. But it should not happen at the cost of our other national interests," the newspaper said in its edit.

Praja Vani though, welcomed the deal, and said that the minor amendments were unnecessary. "Will these amendments hinder India's R&D in nuclear technology? It seems that the nuclear scientists and research experts have not been taken into confidence while ascertaining the implications of the amendments. It is time India engaged nuclear nations other than just the US," the newspaper said.