The Indo-US civilian nuclear treaty has been structured with the clear-cut target of total elimination of India's status of being a nuclear weapons State stage by stage, and to halt, rollback and ultimately eliminate India's nuclear capabilities.

India has surrendered the right of testing nuclear devices and has agreed to put under moratorium any further nuclear tests. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, clarifying the moratorium, has said that after the 1998 Pokharan-II test, the then Prime Minister had declared not to conduct any further tests. So there is nothing new in the moratorium. But, what Vajpayee said was diplomatic manoeuvring in the world scenario prevailing at that time. The argument then for the voluntary declaration of not conducting any further tests was meant to pacify the high tempers of powerful nations. It did not at all mean that if the need arises, India will not carry out any tests at all.

But what the UPA has done is that it has put it as an essential component of Indo-US nuclear treaty, the violation of which will invite sanctions. India has 22 atomic power reactors. Out of these, 14 have been put under the civilian category and eight under the weapons grade.

All nuclear States put together have 237 atomic reactors but only 11 reactors are under safeguards. On the contrary, India alone has put its 14 nuclear reactors of peaceful purposes under monitoring surveillance of international community. George Bush is under an obligation - give a yearly report to House Committees. He would be reporting on both, nuclear weapons as well civilian grade reactors.

As per the treaty, the weapons grade reactors would not be under surveillance. Then how would the President report on them? Of course, through their Intelligence agencies which are very much active even now to find out India's nuclear capabilities.

In a way this treaty has made India, a client state of the US. They want India to toe the US line. The treaty and its explanations put together desire India to follow US on Iran. One can recall that US wanted to bring India under NPT but India did not succumb to the pressure.

The US knows that India has the capability to conduct nuclear tests but no Government has dared to conduct these tests. Former PM, the late PV Narasimha Rao, wanted to carry it out in November 1995, before the General Election. But the US satellite successfully traced the movements and pressurised Rao who buckled in.

Vajpayee showed guts to conduct Pokharan-II in 1998. Every Indian proud of that. The Indian diaspora stood taller. Instead of any crippling effect on our economy, it accelerated India's growth rate to as high as 8.5 per cent in 2003-2004. The UPA Government could not maintain the growth momentum. The stature India achieved under the Vajp ayee regime is being gradually squandered away by the UPA, through sign-ups like the humiliating Indo-US nuclear treaty.

The nuclear scientists community is upset with the treaty. Former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commissions PK Iyenger has termed the treaty a "surrender of India's nuclear sovereignty".

When Mammohan Singh and George Bush entered into an agreement in July 2005, Singh had promised to arrive at consensus before India decides on the matter. Nothing of that kind has happened. The main Opposition party, the BJP opposed it vehemently. Even the Left Front is against it. They have called it a violation of Foreign Policy sovereignty. Condemning the agreement, BJP leader Arun Shourie has said:

"It was a strategic flaw that for high growth the country needed to import 35,000 mw of nuclear energy as uranium was costly. This is a myth that we do not have enough uranium. Rather, India has 78,000 tonnes of known preserves of uranium. Shortage of uranium was just a temporary aberration because of the problem of acquisition of tribal land.

"Suggesting that nuclear energy be avoided for generation of electricity, Shourie favoured intensification of nuclear mining, spurring the Department of Atomic Energy to be more focused and re-doubling research in breeder programmes rather than mortgage our security."

As per statistics given by the National Geographic Channel, US armed forces are stationed in 72 countries. Its 1.7 million soldiers are posted outside the American soil.

Wherever US armed forces once enter they do not return therefrom. They are holding back in Japan, The Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Somalia and Kenya for decades.

They are staying back in Europe under the NATO cover, in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to protect Kuwait from Iraq, in Pakistan and Afganistan in the name of war against terror. Now in the name of safeguards, over India's civilian nuclear energy reactors, their monitoring could become an ominous symptom for our country.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, December 24, 2006