Is N-deal part of a larger agreement?

OPINION/ Prakash Karat

Without going into the complex and technical issues concerning civilian nuclear cooperation, it is necessary to take a wider look at the implications of the agreement. Is this only a nuclear cooperation deal or is it part of the wider agreement? If so, does it protect our capacity for an independent foreign policy and how will it affect our sovereignty? One can legitimately question if India should partner the US in the global democracy enterprise.

The nuclear cooperation deal is only one part of the wide ranging alliance that the UPA government has forged with the US. This alliance entails not just nuclear cooperation but talks of the two countries promoting global democracy, revamping the Indian economy to facilitate large-scale investment by the US and a strategic military collaboration. Prior to the joint statement of July 2005, the UPA government signed a ten-year Defence Framework Agreement with the US. It is evident that without the Defence agreement, the Americans would not have agreed for the nuclear cooperation, this seems to be part of the quid pro quo.

Repeated assertions that India's foreign policy will not be subject to external pressures, have not evoked confidence after the Iran episode. Even before the nuclear cooperation agreement was finalised, the government responded by voting against Iran not once but twice in the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA).

The first serious conflict with the Left arose when the UPA government did a volte face on the Iran Nuclear issue. The government voted along with the US and the western countries in September 2005 and was not even prepared to go along with the position adopted by the bloc of Non-aligned Movement countries.

The Left came out in strong opposition to the Defence Framework Agreement, according to which India is taking steps to interlock our armed forces with that of the US in the name of "inter-operability''. The Left has been vehemently opposed to the joint military exercises as the one that took place in Kalaikinda air base in West Bengal.

A major reason being put forth for the nuclear cooperation agreement is that it will help India meet its energy needs. This ignores the very limited contribution that nuclear power makes to our overall energy generation which is just 3 per cent and which cannot exceed 7 per cent even if the ambitious plans for expansion are implemented by 2020. To make India's foreign policy and strategic autonomy hostage to the potential benefits of nuclear energy does not make sense.

The Hyde Act runs contrary to most of the assurances given by the Prime Minister in August 2006. The Act includes provisions imposing restrictions on transfer of technology and barring access to dual use technologies, thus denying India a full nuclear fuel cycle.The Act enjoins on the US administration to prevent fuel supplies and equipment from other countries to India if the US terminates the bilateral agreement. To say that the Hyde act is not binding on India is irrelevant. The point is that it is binding on the US.

Outside the sphere of nuclear cooperation, the Hyde Act contains directions on India's foreign policy and other security related matters. There are nine references to India's role having to be one of the support and complicity with the US-designs on Iran.

The Left parties have demanded that the government not proceed further to operationalise the agreement. It is also clear that a majority in parliament is opposed to the agreement. Till all the doubts are clarified and the implications of the Hyde Act evaluated , the government should not take the next step with regard to the negotiating the IAEA safeguards and proceed to get the guidelines from the Nuclear Suppliers' Group.

The Left parties continue to accord priority to having a secular government and keeping the communal forces at bay. However, this cannot be taken as a license by the UPA government to go ahead with such a long-term agreement which has serious implication for India's independent foreign policy and sovereignty

(The above is an extract from a booklet released by the CPI(M) entitled "On Indo-US Nuclear Deal" )