Inching forward the Indo – US nuclear deal

US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns visited India early June 2007 for talks with the Indian Foreign Secretary and other officials. Photographs carried by several newspapers on 9 th June 2007 showed an obsequious Mr Manmohan Singh greeting US imperialist chieftain George Bush on the sidelines of the G 8 meeting in Germany. These meetings are part of the attempts by both sides to finalise the Indo–US nuclear deal, among other objectives.

Earlier this year, US President Bush signed the Hyde Act enabling his administration to pursue the civil nuclear energy cooperation deal with India. However, this Act explicitly includes provisions to determine what nuclear technology and fuel can be sold to India and under what conditions, clearly limits the usage of this technology and fuel, bars the use of the spent fuel, and calls for the US President to report annually to the US legislature on whether India is sticking to the provisions of the Act or not.

Talks on the nuclear deal have been going on for more than a year now, and have failed to yield any breakthrough due to differences on certain issues, particularly whether India should have the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. The Indian government had been insisting on getting this right and is also pressing the US to assure continued supplies of fuel and cooperation, even if it were to conduct a nuclear test. However, according to the latest proposals made by the Indian government, it will create a “fully safeguarded” facility (read – one which the US or its agencies could scrutinise at any time) for spent nuclear fuel. This had been widely described as a “step back” by the Indian government, which says it is now keen to finalise the deal as quickly as possible, perhaps even before the planned visit of US secretary of state Rice in mid 2007. The tug-of-war currently under way between India and the US over the bilateral nuclear cooperation — or `123' — agreement needs to be examined in the context of the aspirations of the Indian big bourgeoisie to be accepted in the league of the world’s most powerful nations on the one hand, and the need felt by the US and other imperialists to engage with them, on the other.

The US imperialists want to harness the resources of India, its vast market, manpower, sizeable military establishment, and technical – scientific potential, as well as its clout in the region and the world, and are therefore dangling the nuclear cooperation deal as a bait for the Indian ruling circles. However within the US ruling circles too, there are elements which want to have ‘sufficient’ checks on India. They definitely want to ensure that India does not “grow too big for its boots” because of its own aspirations, or disturb the sensitivities of its’ other allies, hence the unmistakably restrictive clauses being insisted upon by the US side. The US is obviously seeking to bind India ever more closely with its own strategic aims with the nuclear cooperation deal. It is also clear, especially after the G8 summit, that this deal has the backing of the other big imperialists as well, at least in principle. Nevertheless, they too are likely to specify their own terms on which India could be ‘admitted’ as a member of the nuclear ‘club’.

While sections of the ruling circles in the US and India would like the nuclear deal to be finalised immediately, it appears that the various forces at play, not only within the ruling circles of India and the US, but also among those of the other big imperialist powers, may prolong the process of finalisation.