Jyoti Basu holds the Firepower and defeats Prakash Karat to save the Agenda Brand Bengal Brahminical!
Puja Market is the latest Hype of Bengali Brahminical Hegemony sidelining Nandigram and Singur
Rizwanur Rehaman case does a wonder for Buddhadeb to have a cakewalk on the Highway of capitalist development
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Marxist Nonagenerian Patriarch Jyoti Basu holds the Firepower and defeats Party General Secretary Prakash Karat to save the Agenda Brand Bengal Brahminical!Basu was chief minister of the communist stronghold of West Bengal state in eastern India for nearly a quarter of a century and is regarded as a key party figure.Rizwanur Rehaman case does a wonder for Buddhadeb to have a cakewalk on the Highway of capitalist development.Priyanka, the wife of graphic designer, Rizwanur Rehman, whose body was found near a railway track last Saturday, told the CID on Saturday that she had wanted to stay with her husband. Sensex India may celbrate as The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex hiked smartly 726.87 points or 4.39 per cent to 17291.10 in the week ending on Friday, after hitting an all time high of 17361.47, on the back of strong capital inflows from foreign institutional investors ..."The 'equal evil' formulation suggests that the imperative to fight the BJP can no longer be justification for supporting a government which is in a strategic embrace with the 'imperial' US," said The Times of India.The Congress party, which is now more than three years into its five-year mandate, has said it is ready to make all efforts to address "legitimate concerns" over the agreement signed in 2005.
Congress has set up a 15-member all-party committee to review objections by its left-wing allies to the nuclear accord.
The row over the pact, seen as a cornerstone of deeper ties with Washington, has left Premier Manmohan Singh facing his biggest test since taking power in 2004 and has sparked the possibility of a general election more than a year ahead of schedule.The party, which props up the Congress coalition in parliament, told the government earlier this month it would face "serious consequences" if it chose to press ahead with the pact.
But it has so far not said it would topple the minority administration.
Basu and other figures in the communists' West Bengal powerbase had been arguing for a moderate approach, warning that in the event of the collapse of the government, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could stage a return to power.Now the West Bengal unit appeared to be signalling it believed the risk of aligning with the United States was as big a danger as a BJP comeback, Indian newspapers said on Saturday.
However, IBNlive reports with a different flavour which expresses well the success of marxist Misinformation game plan. See: In a repeat of May 2004 where the pragmatists had failed to convince the hardliners to join the government at the Centre, the West Bengal unit of the CPI(M) is finally coming around to Prakash Karat’s way of thinking. AFP reports: Veteran Indian communist leader Jyoti Basu ruled out "any compromise" with the government over a landmark nuclear deal with the US amid growing speculation about mid-term elections.
India's communists have been putting pressure on the minority Congress government, saying they will do "whatever necessary" to stop it from implementing the civilian technology deal with the "imperialist" United States.
"Pranab Mukherjee had called me up. I said we can talk, but there is no question of compromise. We are not going to endorse the Congress policy." This is how Jyoti Basu — CPI(M) politburo member and former West Bengal chief minister — explained his stand on the nuclear deal on Saturday.
This appeared to be a complete turnaround by Basu from his earlier stand when he had said that nuclear power was needed in India and that even he had tried to get a nuclear plant in West Bengal during his tenure as the CM of the state.
And CPI-M’s 15-member politburo too witnessed three clear lines emerging within the party top brass on what constituted the bigger threat — imperialism or communalism.
The party’s West Bengal unit leaders, Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar continued to toe the line that the domestic political agenda of keeping the BJP at bay should not become a casualty in the fight against imperialism.
On Friday, Kolkata witnessed a sizzling rock contest, Rockilution — war of the bands, where bands from the city and its neighbouring states vied for the top ..Puja Market is the latest Hype of Bengali Brahminical Hegemony sidelining Nandigram and Singur.The Marxist subversion game is in full swing as Mamata Bannerjee and Intelligentsia Bengali led by Mahashweta Devi are involved in the CPIM masterplan to divert the Peasntry dalit Muslim Insurrection! Ruling out a CBI inquiry, Shahi Imam Hazrat S M Noorur Rahman Barkati today said they have confidence in the judicial inquiry of the mysterious death of Rizwanur Rehaman case. All TV Cahnnels led by the CPIM mouth piece 24 and Ghanta and manusmriti Flagbearer Star Anand as well as the toilet Print led by Ananada bazar Patrika overplay the story unbound.Describing the three-day Kerala Trade and Technology Business Show (KTTBS), which concluded here today, as ''very successful'', State Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem said potential business worth almost Rs 91 crore was generated at it. Buddadeb and his party has ensured a cakewalk for FDI and Capitalist Development under MNC and promoter Builder Raj with Capital Investment amounting Ninety Thousand corores without any resistance!
What a successs!
Eminent Odissi danseuse Sanchita Bhattacharya has fashioned a special composition depicting the nine different forms of Goddess Durga. Amidst CPIM Polit Bureau and central committee meetings, Kolkata today witnessed bright sunshine after experiencing heavy rainfall for four days. The political heat over Indo-US nuclear deal shot up further today with CPI(M) ruling out a compromise on the issue and warning of "appropriate action" if the UPA government went ahead with the deal. Declaring that the CPI(M) would not compromise on the Indo-US nuclear deal, veteran leader Jyoti Basu today said the party would wait for the Congress to take a final stand on the issue at the joint committee meeting before taking appropriate measure.
Veteran Communist Jyoti Basu has in recent times opposed early elections and supported nuclear power, if not the nuclear deal. NDTV reports.But at the end of the first session of the Central Committee, he came to the point without beating about the bush. No compromise on the nuclear deal, he said.
''There is a Left-UPA nuclear panel meeting on the 5th and on another date in October. Let's see what happens there, what stand the Congress takes. Pranab Mukherjee had called me on Thursday. I told him he must be at the meetings. But we are not going to make any compromise. Prakash Karat has spoken. Now Congress will have to spell out its stand,'' said Jyoti Basu, CPI-M Politburo member.
The way the CPI-M now sees it, the onus of an untimely election now lies squarely on the Congress, which it feels, is already making poll preparations.
So the Central Committee too has initiated an electoral stocktaking of its own and is drawing up a three-pronged strategy of campaign.
Communalism has been identified as enemy number one
Those joining hands with imperialists - read America - are also enemies of the country
And Left and democratic forces must consolidate their strength
With a decision, almost, on the main point on the agenda, the Central Committee is now discussing how an early election might affect its party Congress, due in March, the Tripura Assembly polls also due in March and Bengal's panchayat elections in May.
So are the UPA's days numbered, are early polls inevitable or is there a slim chance of a slip between the cup and the lip? The CPI-M says there is.
All will depend on what the Congress says at the joint nuclear panel meet on October 5, next Friday.
Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams met Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence here Saturday, on the first day of her six-day visit to the Indian capital. Earlier,Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, who is among the star speakers at the international astronautical congress which concludes in Hyderabad today, was given a rousing welcome at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre on Friday morning.The Congress will organise a 'padyatra' on October 2 to mark Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary which is being observed as 'Ahimsa Diwas'. The Congress party said Saturday that there is no threat to the central government until the joint mechanism with the Left on the Indo-US nuclear deal is functional and there is no violation of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) agreed upon by the two sides. BJP General Secretary and former Union Minister Arun Jaitley today ridiculed elevation of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as Congress General Secretary and felt that it was unlikely to make any impact in politics.
The CPI (M) on Saturday reasserted its tough stance over the Indo-US nuclear stating that the party would not 'compromise' on it. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today said that his party is ready to face the mid-term polls and would help in pulling down the UPA government if the Left Front agrees to. Union Panchayati Raj Minister Manishankar Iyar today said his ministry had sought a Rs 4,000-crore World Bank (W
assistance for strengthening the Panchayati Raj institutions, and clearance from the Finance Ministry was awaited.
Gujarat has favourable environment to make a mark globally in shipbuilding, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said Saturday.
It is an exhibition that attempts to set the records straight and dispel popular but mistaken notions about the revolt of 1857. Titled ‘Revolt in the Periphery: Bengal in 1857-1858,’ the exhibition organised by the West Bengal State Archives, was inaugurated by the West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi here on Thursday.
“The display seeks to question the notion that the 1857 revolt was confined to the north Indian Gangetic heartland, affecting only a small geographical area without any other reverberations,” said Basudeb Chattopadhyay, Director, WBSA. The exhibition was part of an initiative taken in 2007 by the various State archives to document the effects of 1857 in the peripheral regions, namely, Punjab, Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Orissa and the Tamil and Andhra regions. The WBSA exhibits wanted to highlight the pan-Indian character of the revolt, while examining the stereotype that the role of Bengali was limited to playing the loyalist to perfection.
Red FM, the radio station whose radio jockey's alleged 'derogatory' comments on new Indian Idol Prashant Tamang has led to violence in West Bengal, today tendered its apology saying that the humour and the satire of the jockey was unintentional. Curfew, which was imposed in Siliguri after fans of Indian Idol Prashant Tamang and local residents clashed on Friday, was lifted from some areas as the situation returned to normalcy. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry Saturday issued a show cause notice to private radio channel Red FM for an alleged derogatory remark made by a radio jockey on "Indian Idol" winner Prashant Tamang that had sparked violence in northern West Bengal.
Ruling out a CBI inquiry, Shahi Imam Hazrat S M Noorur Rahman Barkati today said they have confidence in the judicial inquiry of the mysterious death of Rizwanur Rehaman case.
Police Saturday surrounded a mosque in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district where some guerrillas are hiding and were trying to persuade them to leave the complex peacefully.
Scam hits Sardar Sarovar project
NDTV Correspondent
Friday, September 28, 2007 (Bhopal)
The Sardar Sarovar project has come under the shadow of a scam that promises to be huge to the tune of hundreds of crores.
It has come to light that compensation money for people displaced by the project was used to purchase land but the land existed only on paper as brokers colluded with corrupt officers to dupe people.
More than a hunderd FIRs have been lodged and the number may increase but the FIRs are against the ousted rather than the corrupt officers.
A big scam to the tune of hundreds of crores has hit the Sardar Sarovar project.
Compensation money meant for purchase of land was used to purchase land only on paper in collusion with brokers and officers.
More than hunderd FIRs have been registered and the number may increase but what once again it seems the victims are the oustees rather than the corrupt officers.
It was a double blow for Sitaram a tribal from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh.He lost two acres of fertile land to the Sardar Sarovar dam project.
Now the district administration has lodged an FIR against him for fake registration of land. Land he never got.
Under the special relief package Sitaram got a cheque of Rs five lakh 65 thousand last year to buy land.
He didn't know how to go about things. The local land acquisition officer and a lawyer promised to help him.
They allegedly asked him to sign some documents and gave him Rs one lakh 50 thousand out of his money. The rest he was told would be spent on getting him the land.
''I asked them for the registration papers. They told me to come after eight days. Now one year has passed and all I got was this FIR that I have got a fake registration done,'' said Sitaram.
Officials have duped many like Sitaram, displaced by the dam project but there has been hardly any action.
Fake land registration
In Khargone and Dhar 266 cases of fake land registration have come to light.
''FIRs are being registered. Who ever will be guilty will be punished,'' said L N Dongre, DIG, Khargone Range.
So far nearly 3000 oustees in Dhar and Badhwani have claimed a special package. Over half of them have been taken for a ride claim activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
The organisation filed a complaint in 2005 even submitted evidence.But so far only two officers in Khargone have been suspended.
''This enquiry should be done by CBI as the gang operating is so huge and the issue is so complex,'' said Medha Patkar, NBA Activist.
The chief minister has ordered a high level enquiry in the matter.
Meanwhile the displaced people hardly got any compensation and now face criminal prosecution while the big fish, the officers, have yet to be caught.
Mittal plants ready for 2008 takeoff
SUBRAT DAS
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 27: ArcelorMittal is expected to go ahead with its greenfield steel projects both in Orissa and Jharkhand, with the Orissa project to begin from next year.
“We would start construction as soon as the detailed project report is ready,” said chief executive officer Sanak Mishra at an international steel conference today.
“Preparation of the report has been entrusted to the Dastur & Company and is at an advanced stage. It is expected to be ready by the middle of October,” said the India chief of the UK-based steel major. The project’s first phase would take an estimated 48 months from the time of the report submission, he said, adding that the first phase would be commissioned by 2011-12.
“The project’s progress is going according to schedule. We would be getting back to the Orissa government by October to apprise them about the progress,” said Mishra.
Parrying questions on the Chiria mines (Jharkhand) controversy, ArcelorMittal’s India CEO said: “We have identified three ore blocks out of which we are zeroing in on one.” Giving a status report of the Jharkhand project, he said: “The blueprint is ready.” The concept study and site identification has been prepared by HATCH, while Mecon undertook the site suitability study, he added.
ArcelorMittal had signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government in October, 2005 for setting up of 12MTPA greenfield plant along with a 1,500MW captive power plant.
A year later, it signed another MoU with Orissa for a green field steel plant of the same capacity and investment.
At the news meet today, the CEO said Mecon subsequently completed Orissa’s land selection study, initially undertaken by HATCH. Sparc did the land schedule documentation work.
The site for the proposed 12MTPA plant has been selected in Patna tehsil of mineral-rich Keonjhar and the preliminary process of land acquisition is on, he added.
Mishra clarified that the company had not asked for more land, as reported in some newspapers. “The actual requirement would be known once the project report is ready,” he said.
In the MoU, the state government has committed to provide 8,000 acre for the project in Patna tehsil of Keonjhar.
While 6,000 acre would be required for the plant, 1,000 acre each would be needed for the CPP and civil township. Ecosmart is preparing the rehabilitation and resettlement plan and its expected to be submitted by October end.
Mishra, who has been negotiating with the Orissa government, said the company had applied for the captive mine lease for the steel plant.
But, he did not specify any ore block.
“We will be talking to the government shortly. The government would recommend the lease for us,” he added.
Following heavy monsoon rains that led to floods in different parts of India during the months of June-July 2007, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat and Orissa were once again hit by very heavy rainfall over the weekend of 22-23 September 2007 (sources: United Nations Development Programme and All India Radio).
Orissa: One of the hardest hit areas was Orissa where, under the influence of the depression formed over the Bay of Bengal on 21st September, most of the coastal districts experienced heavy rain for three days. On 23rd September, the depression lay over Angur district in the interior of Orissa.
As on 23rd September, five people (three in Cuttack and two in Bhubaneshwar) were reported to have been killed in the state. Large areas in six blocks of Balasore district were waterlogged. Flash floods were reported in the Budhabalanga river. In Bhadrak district, the Baitarani river crossed the danger level on 23rd September, and a breach on the embankment of the river was closed down immediately. However, the river levels have now started receding. The district administration is keeping a close vigil on the situation and has initiated relief distribution in affected areas.
According to a report prepared on the basis of inter-agency coordination, some key details of the flood situation in Orissa are as follows:
- Continuous heavy rainfall due to low pressure in the southern and coastal parts of the state has resulted in a rise of water levels in all the major river systems, except the Mahanadi system. The heavy rain in the Chhattisgarh region may have an impact on the Mahanadi river system.
- Balasore district has been affected by floods for the third time this monsoon season. Approximately 500,000 people and 415 villages were affected. The road connection has been cut off between Baliapal and Basta. Eleven fishermen were rescued from Balaramgadi.
- Approximately 200,000 people having been severely affected in Mayurbhanj district.
- River Baitarani is expected to touch the danger level in Bhadrak and Jajpur districts. Large parts of Jajpur district have been affected due to floods in the Brahmani river.
- In southern Orissa, the water levels in the two major river systems, i.e. the Bansdhara and Rishikulya, are rising, with Bansdhara being expected to touch the danger level.
- In Cuttack district, 270 mm rainfall was recorded and seven breaches have occurred in the Sapua river. About 50 feet of road has been washed away between Cuttack and Narasinghpur.
- Tidal waves affected 611 families in Kendrapara district and washed away 50 metres of sea shore in Paradeep port.
- In Jagatsinghpur district, 1,000 thatched houses were damaged due to heavy rain and areas covered under 19 village administrative units were affected.
- In Nayagarh district, heavy rain over four days cut off 21 villages from the district headquarters.
- The Special Relief Commissioner for Orissa has deployed the Orissa Disaster Relief Action Force for search and rescue in Mayurbhanj district.
How poor is India, how unequal?
Sunil Jain in New Delhi
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/27poor.htm
Are 22 per cent of Indians poor, or is it 28 per cent? Do 77 per cent of Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day? Have inequality levels, as represented by the Gini coefficient, risen from 30.3 in 1983 to 34.3 in 2004-05?
While the Planning Commission itself released two poverty estimates earlier in the year, the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) released the 77 per cent figure last month, and a study by economists Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari came out with the increased inequality figures a few days ago.
Since the data differ dramatically, depending on what definitions of consumption are used, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Ahluwalia has written to National Statistical Commission Chairman Suresh Tendulkar seeking clarity on the matter.
Ahluwalia has pointed out that the difference between the consumption estimates as reported by the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the National Accounts Statistics (the NAS gives the GDP numbers) was around 5 per cent in the 1950s (the NSS numbers are lower), and this rose to 30 per cent in the 1980s and is around 52 per cent at the moment.
According to Ahluwalia, if one is to use the old Planning Commission method of adding back this difference in consumption, poverty levels would be in the low single digits, for instance.
The National Statistical Commission (NSC), which has been discussing the matter for over a year, will meet again next month to figure out a course of action, and may commission a report to suggest a way to reconcile the big difference in the consumption data got from the NSS and the NAS.
Another issue the NSC needs to give a recommendation on is which NSS estimate has to be used for calculating poverty levels. The old definition asks respondents to state what consumables and durables they bought in the last month - this gives poverty levels at 28 per cent.
The new definition, however, estimates poverty levels to be 22 per cent - the new definition, which is more sensible, asks respondents what consumables they bought in the last month (this is the same as in the old method), but in the case of durables, it asks respondents what they bought in the last one year.
So, if you bought a cycle two months ago, it shows up in the new definition but not in the old one.
The rising level of inequality, as measured by the Gini, however, is something that is easily dealt with. While Debroy-Bhandari report that the Gini fell from 30.3 in 1983 to 30.1 in 1993 and rose to 34.3 in 2004, economist Surjit Bhalla disagrees.
At a seminar in the capital where the findings were presented on Monday, Bhalla argued that Debroy-Bhandari needed to adjust consumption expenditures for price differences in various parts of the country (Rs 100 of consumption in Delhi will buy a lot less than Rs 100 in Bhopal).
Once this is done, according to Bhalla, the Gini fell from 31.9 in 1983 to 30.3 in 1993 and rose to 32.5 in 2004 - so, while Debroy-Bhandari report a 14 per cent worsening in inequality levels since the reforms began in 1991, Bhalla reports a figure which is around half that.
Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Immoral Basis and Doubtful Prospects
Cautionary Note to India from a Longstanding Friend
http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/26/stories/2007092656691300.htm
Down the garden path
Aaron Tovish
Good leadership looks as far down the road as possible to anticipate obstacles and detours. On the nuclear deal, a combination of U. S. and Indian hubris has led India down the garden path without any clear strategy for reaching the ultimate destination other than economic enticements and intimidation.
I write as a partner of India in several important nuclear disarmament initiatives in the 1980s and 1890s. Good friends warn you when you are making a mistake. It is in that spirit that I say the following difficult words.
Indian government leaders have made a major mistake thinking the United States could be their battering ram to break out of their nuclear isolation. Although many illusions have been carefully cultivated, the final result will be an embarrassing failure. It is time for the leaders to look for face-saving ways out of this debacle.
Until recently, India was as articulate as any country in the international arena in pointing out and condemning the pronounced unilateralist tendencies in U.S. foreign policy since the advent of the Bush administration. So how has it failed to see that, for the rest of the world, the U.S.-India deal falls squarely into this unilateralist pattern — and thus will be rejected by many countries just as surely as the other unilateralist policies of the U.S.? If the U.S.-India deal could be pursued unilaterally, then whether or not a good idea, it could at least be implemented. But the deal depends, at the very least, on a universal absence of opposition in the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and, as I will show below, the 192-member Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As anyone who has followed the lame 64-member Conference on Disarmament for the last decade can testify, consensus is a non-starter in the diplomatic world.
No one should be fooled by the fact that the deal appears to be progressing steadily to date — although even that might be a too-kind description. It is true that no NSG country has as yet openly declared an intention to stop the deal cold. It is clear that to do so would be to incur the united wrath of the U.S. and India, as well as a dozen other countries eager for nuclear reactor contracts. So for now the countries that oppose the deal are hoping that it will implode of its own accord. This way they would be spared the onerous task of stepping into the breach. But as soon as it becomes clear (if indeed it ever does) that the deal has reached the stage for action by the NSG, they will gird themselves and step forward.
Do not, however, expect direct resistance. The following logic could well lead to a more effective opposition than frontal opposition. Such is the nature of the trap India and the U.S. have set for themselves.
The fundamental issue that guarantees a veto is violation of Article I of the NPT. Countries that take their obligations under treaties seriously (unfortunately the U.S. is not one of them) will want strong assurances that peaceful nuclear commerce is not directly or indirectly benefiting a nuclear weapons programme. To many it is obvious that supplying foreign uranium for the peaceful programme frees up domestic supplies for the military programme. This goes against the spirit of Article I, which bans assistance that “in any way” assists in the acquisition of nuclear weapons by non-nuclear-weapon states. For some countries that will be reason enough to oppose the deal.
But many others will be taking a narrow interpretation of Article I — that is, direct assistance must be avoided. For them the key thing will be confidence that a true firewall has been erected between the peaceful and military programmes. As was learned in Iraq in the early 1990s, site-specific safeguard agreements are inadequate to that task. Thus, it will be essential to have several of the key elements of the so-called ‘Additional Protocol’ complementing the safeguard agreement. These countries will insist that there can be no action in the NSG until India and the IAEA have concluded all safeguard and Additional Protocol negotiations.
Contradiction
Already this sets up a contradiction with the U.S.-India deal. It would allow commerce to begin only after the site-specific safeguards are operational, but would leave the Additional Protocol out of the picture until it “enters into force.” This is one example of why the U.S. is precisely the wrong partner to help India overcome its isolation. The U.S. negotiators could not press India on this issue because the U.S. itself has yet to bring its Additional Protocol into force. This tempted the Indian government to score a point for sovereignty (and supposed equality with the U.S.) but the long-term effect is a collision course with the NSG.
The Additional Protocol comes in three flavours: one for nuclear-weapon states parties to the NPT; another for non-nuclear-weapon states parties to the NPT; and a third for neither of the above. NSG members will insist on seeing the Additional Protocol with India so that they can be sure that specialised equipment, specially trained personnel, and even specific designs and operating manuals are not transferred from the peaceful programme to the military programme. In short, a thorough Additional Protocol is a sine qua non for their confidence that the deal will not lead to violations of Article I.
This Additional Protocol cannot, therefore, look anything like the nuclear-weapon states’ Additional Protocols, which deal almost exclusively with export matters. India cannot expect to negotiate with the IAEA on an equal footing with the nuclear-weapon states where there is no pretence even of establishing a firewall between the peaceful and military programmes. If India forces this issue, it might succeed in getting its way with the IAEA, where a majority of the Board of Governors can help force the issue, but it will set itself up for a fall in the NSG, where any single member can veto it.
But it will not be necessary for any NSG member to use the veto, since it will have a much easier basis for opposition. If India wishes to be treated as a nuclear-weapon state, despite the fact that it does not qualify as such according to the definition given in the NPT (having tested a nuclear weapon before 1969), then the effect of the deal going through would be to create a de facto sixth nuclear weapon state. As such, this becomes a matter of direct concern to the non-nuclear-weapon states parties to the NPT, who have adhered to the treaty on the basis of there being only five recognised nuclear-weapon states. Thus, the NSG should not take any action until the NPT states parties have had a chance to consider these far-reaching implications of the U.S.-India deal.
The next opportunity for the NPT parties to take up this issue will be the 2010 NPT Review Conference. (Preparations are already under way for that conference, but those preparatory meetings have no power to take decisions on substantive matters.) The operative positions of the states parties are those adopted by consensus in 1995 and 2000, i.e., with the concurrence of the U.S. All of them flatly contradict the very premise of the U.S.-India deal. (So we see the ugly head of U.S. unilateralism rising again.) A nuclear-weapon-state-like Additional Protocol would require the NPT parties to agree that India should no longer be considered a non-nuclear-weapon state. And that would have to be done by consensus. Not very likely, to say the least.
The only alternative for action on the deal before 2010 would be to force the issue in the NSG. But that would certainly elicit several vetoes. This would wreck not only the NSG but also the NPT. It is unlikely that the U.S. would be willing to go down that road — even if the administration were willing, Congress would not let it. In short, India would be left standing alone at the altar.
If India wants to avoid this long-drawn-out, losing battle, it will need to agree to an Additional Protocol that is closer to a non-nuclear-weapon state’s Additional Protocol than a nuclear-weapon state’s. This would be a first indication of distancing itself from the U.S. unilateralist approach. It is a necessary condition for going forward multilaterally with the deal, but not a sufficient condition. To satisfy all NSG states, India would have to further distance itself from its erstwhile sponsor by signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
The U.S. signed the CTBT in 1996 but has since declared that it has no intention of ratifying it, thereby creating an obstacle to the treaty’s entry into force. The vast majority of NSG members have not merely signed but have also ratified the treaty. They will not accept a deal in which res
