Will G-8 Ban Derail Indias Nuclear Programme?
After a clean NSG Waiver to India, is it Back-Stabbing by the G-8? Is the sale of ENR critical? There are many question marks on India’s future nuclear programme following the G-8 decision to ban the sale of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology to all non-NPT countries including India. Ironically, the G-8 countries were members of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which gave India a clean waiver of sale of nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel for civil nuclear cooperation in Vienna last September. This led to the much debated and much hated Indo-US 123 Agreement. India thus achieved this rare diplomatic victory without signing the NPT. A study of the G-8 ban revealed that US and G8 attempts to restrict ENR sales go back to 2004 and were not India specific. As far as India was concerned last year’s NSG waiver was a unanimous decision to which G-8 countries were party and the Indo-US agreement was the culmination of that waiver and they would go by that agreement. Indian official source
