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[1] From: "Sukla Sen" <sukla.sen@gmail.com Date: Sat Jul 5, 2008 8:58 am Subject: Gary Ackerman on Indo-US Nuclear Deal http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Time_over_says_Gary_Acke\ rman/articleshow/3194871. cms Time over, says Gary Ackerman 4 Jul, 2008, 0308 hrs IST, ET Bureau NEW DELHI: Even as the Bush administration continued to push for the nuclear deal, an influential US legislator said that the US Congress will not have enough time to take up the nuclear deal. Contrary to the reassuring noises on the deal from the administration, Congressman Gary Ackerman, who is chairman of the House of Representatives panel on west and south Asia, said that time has already run out for getting US Congressional approval for the 123 Agreement, the final step towards operationalising the nuclear deal. "They're not going to be able to do it in time for us to act in this calendar year and certainly not during President Bush's administration," he told a news agency from Pakistan. "The clock has run out on our side of the border, because the clock has run out on their side." Mr Ackerman, who starts his visit to India on Thursday, is the first US legislator to state in such clear terms that the deal would not be completed in the term of US president George W Bush, who demits office in January. But the administration, which has continued to remind the UPA government about the diminishing timeline, is clearly going to attempt to clear the deal in the available time and within Mr Bush's term. Early this week, state department spokesman Tom Casey reiterated the time is running out stand but said that the US understood the political difficulties facing the government. "We have our own political calendar too, and our own legislative calendar, and it's very difficult, at this point, to assume that we could be able to get an agreement through (Congress) but certainly we'll make every effort," he said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's plan is to ensure that the nuclear deal reaches the US Congress by September-end. However, this calculation is based on the assumption that the IAEA board of governors will approve India-specific safeguards agreement and Nuclear Suppliers Group, which has 45 members, will grant a waiver to India by September. With the deal already running late, any further delays would only make it impossible for the Bush administration to get the US Congress nod for the 123 Agreement. a ------------- [2] From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com Date: Sat Jul 5, 2008 1:20 pm Subject: Indo-US Nuclear Deal: PMO Press Release [The recent press release, on the 2nd instant, by the PMO on the subject issue, in lieu of a solemn declaration by the PM himself as asked for by the SP, is reproduced below to facilitate better appreciation of the issue on hand.] http://pmindia.nic.in/pressrel.htm Press Release NSA meets SP leaders July 2, 2008 New Delhi The National Security Adviser, Mr. M. K. Narayanan, had a meeting with leaders of the Samajwadi Party, Shri Ram Gopal Yadav and Shri Amar Singh, earlier to-day, during which the latter had sought certain clarifications with regard to the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement between India and the United States. Among the main issues raised by Shri Amar Singh were: (i) Whether by entering into this deal, the sovereignty of decision-making in regard to India? s foreign policy would be compromised. It was clarified to Shri Amar Singh that the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement did not and would not affect the autonomy of decision-making in regard to foreign affairs in any manner. India had always followed an independent foreign policy. Under no circumstances, would this position undergo a change, the least of all in the context of the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. India has always regarded its strategic autonomy in these matters as sacrosanct. Related to this was the question raised by Shri Amar Singh whether the nuclear deal would impinge on our relations with Iran. It was clarified that our relations with Iran were time-honoured and civilisational in nature and no outside influence or pressure could force India to deviate from this path. India and Iran have recently taken several initiatives, including one relating to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. The pipeline epitomizes the nature and importance of the relationship, something that was strongly re-inforced during the visit of President Ahmadinejad to Delhi in April. There have been other meetings between our Ministers and officials and their Iranian counterparts. The National Security Adviser has just returned after a very productive meeting with Iranian leadership, and also had a meeting with President Ahmedinejad, at which apart from economic issues like the IPI pipeline, certain other and related matters were discussed. India is not under any pressure, nor can it be pressurized to follow a course of action that is not dictated by our enlightened self-interest. (ii) Another important issue that was raised by the SP leaders was whether the nuclear deal would undermine our nuclear sovereignty, specially with regard to our strategic nuclear programme. It was clarified, and the Prime Minister has reiterated this on many previous occasions, that the deal would not in any way impinge on our strategic programme. This is an agreement for Civil Nuclear Cooperation. The purpose of the Agreement is to enable full civil nuclear energy cooperation between Parties and concerns nuclear reactors and all aspects of the associated nuclear fuel cycle. It caters for the development of a strategic reservoir of nuclear fuel to guard against disruption of supplies over the lifetime of India? s reactors, and for advanced R&D in Nuclear Sciences. The 123 Agreement with the United States contains a specific mention that the Agreement would not affect un-safeguarded nuclear activities, i. e. activities involving our strategic programme which are not under safeguards. It also underscores that the Agreement would be implemented in a manner that does not hinder or otherwise interfere with any activities involving the use of nuclear material, information or technology and military nuclear facilities produced, acquired or developed by them independent of the Agreement for their own purposes. (iii) A question was also raised about the Hyde Act passed by the US Congress and its impact on the 123 Agreement arrived at between India and the United States. A careful reading of the provisions of the 123 Agreement would make it clear that substantive rights and obligations under the Agreement are not affected by the national laws of the parties. It is the 123 Agreement and its provisions that indicate the obligations of both sides. The 123 Agreement clearly over-rides the Hyde Act and this position would be clear to anyone who goes through the provisions. (iv) Other clarifications were sought on the right to re-process and the right to test and the provisions under which the United States would determine its cooperation with India. Great care was taken while finalizing the 123 Agreement to arrive at provisions which are satisfactory from India? s point of view. The Agreement, hence, specifically grants consent to re-process or otherwise alter in form or content nuclear material transferred pursuant to the Agreement. India has agreed to establish a new national re-processing facility dedicated for re-processing nuclear material under IAEA Safeguards. There is nothing in the Agreement which places an embargo on India? s right to carry out a nuclear test if it thinks this is necessary in India? s supreme national interest. To meet the contingency (raised by the Hyde Act) that the United States might terminate its cooperation with India if it carried out a nuclear test, a very elaborate consultation process has been included in the 123 Agreement. The consultations would go into the relevant circumstances; take into account the specific requirements leading to a test; whether there had been a change in the security environment which required this; and/or whether this was a response to similar actions by other States which could impact on India? s national security. Furthermore, it is stated in the Agreement that the two parties recognized that exercising the right of return would have profound implications for their relations and that both parties should take into account the potential negative consequences of such termination of on-going contracts and projects. (v) A reference was again made to the Agreement between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear facilities. The salient features of the Draft Agreement (which are yet to be finalized), reflect the key understandings relating to fuel supply assurances, strategic fuel reserves and corrective measures. Provisions have been included that make it clear that India is offering its civilian nuclear facilities voluntarily for safeguards and keeping in view these assurances. Most importantly, the Agreement provides for the filing of a declaration, based on its sovereign decision, and only when India determines that all conditions conducive to the objectives of the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement and concomitant arrangements have been fulfilled. This ensures that India would retain the right till the very end before putting any of its reactors under safeguards. (vi) A major principle underlined in the Agreement with the IAEA is that the IAEA shall implement safeguards in a manner that do not hinder or otherwise interfere with any activity involving the use by India of nuclear material or technology developed by India independent of this Agreement for its own purposes. Peace is doable. ---------------- [3] From: Pradip Kumar Datta <pradip200@yahoo.com Date: Sat Jul 5, 2008 2:54 pm Subject: The Imminent Collapse of Congress : MV Kamath The Imminent Collapse of Congress : MV Kamath MV Kamath http://bigindians.blogspot.com/2008/07/imminent-collapse-of-congress-mv-kamath.h\ tml ? Where there is no vision, says the Bible, the people perish. So, one might add, do parties. Would that be true of the Indian National Congress, that hoary organization over 120 years old that had seen the best of times and is now seen to be in terminal decline? For a good three quarters of a century it represented the voice of India, its undying hopes and suppressed fears. It was led by giants among men, and their name is legion. They were the ones who fought for freedom, made unbelievable sacrifices, courted imprisonment and death, because they had a vision of a free and magnificent India, an India of their dreams. Today it is a dream which lies shattered. The old leaders are all gone, the old familiar faces. In their place we have a bunch of nonentities, safely ensconced in their stately homes, rarely meeting fellow citizens to understand their problems, power-mad and money-hungry. The concept of sacrifice is foreign to their thinking. What can one possibly expect from this bunch? The party depends not on one vision, but on one dynasty which had pastly done its work and should have been thereafter relegated to deserved oblivion a long while ago. Yet it subsists, but barely. Gandhi, the Mahatma, once the fountainhead of wisdom, had realized as independence was approaching, that the time had come to disband the Congress which he had laboriously led for a quarter of a century and let various conflicting forces realign themselves. His advice was not taken. Sardar Vallabbhai Patel passed away on December 14, 1950. JB Kripalani, for long general secretary of the party, drifted away. So did C Rajagopalachari, unable to subscribe to Nehru? s economic theories. In the end, the Congress became the baby of the Nehru family. In the early years of independence, the glow of yesteryears persisted and sustained the party. By the time Nehru was approaching his end, doubts were being raised as to who would succeed him. There were no great stalwarts to take on the job and none had been groomed. In the end, as a result of the untimely end of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the party decided that safety lay in dynasticism. And the country has been paying for its folly. If the party draws any sympathy today, it is not because it has anything to offer, but because it has become the opium of a minuscule lot of leaderless people. They vote for the Congress out of habit and not out of conviction. Everyone knows that secularism, so-called, which the party craftily offers has long lost its meaning and significance. In many parts of the country, Muslims, whose support was sought, are drifting away from the Congress. So are the Dalits who have found in the corrupt but wily Mayavati a new messiah. Upper caste Hindus, who have for years been feeling betrayed by the Congress, have thrown their support to the BJP which is at least true to its convictions and faithful to the nation? s glorious past. Congressmen, having lost their moorings, have begun to drift. That has been noticeable in several States and in recent elections, most notably in Gujarat and Karnataka. Where does one go from here? There is no danger of India breaking up, but in State after State, the ?? we versus they?? attitude is becoming painfully noticeable. The Congress along with the NCP (which is a one-man show) is in power but it has not been able to put the dangerously divisive Shiv Sena and its cousin Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in their place, which is the dustbin of history. It is almost as if the Congress is hand-in-glove with divisive elements in the State. In the last four years, the Congress has shamelessly been dependent at the Centre on a vagrant party, the CPI(M), which has been blackmailing its senior partner all down the line, to the utter confusion of the country. No one really knows where the UPA stands in the matter of the 123 Agreement and the Indo-US nuclear treaty. The Gujjar community in Rajasthan runs riot for over a fortnight, indulges in thoughtless violence, stops railways and road traffic leading to the cumulative loss in trade of crores of rupees, but Delhi prefers to see the BJP government in Jaipur embarrassed, when it should look at the entire tribal demand for inclusion in the ST category in a holistic way, and send in the Army to curb tribal arrogance. The party turns its face away from dangerous signs of meaningless regionalism. The DMK in Tamil Nadu has no one to question it when it pushes ahead with the Sethusamudram Project despite strong nationwide outrage. Chief Minister Karunanidhi insults Sri Ram by calling him a drunkard but no notice is taken of such lunacies. An editor of a very popular Marathi daily in Maharashtra has his house vandalized because he has the temerity to ask whether it was necessary for the Congress-led government to spend crores of rupees to set up a 309-feet statue of Chhatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj in the sea off Mumbai, when hundreds of Maharashtrian farmers are committing suicide because they cannot pay their debts. There is no word of condemnation from Sonia Gandhi. The DMK announces ministerial resignations from the UPA government and even names substitute appointments, without the Prime Minister being aware of what is going on within his cabinet. The PMK resorted to a hostile takeover of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences forcing the head to go to the Supreme Court for redress, which he gets. That is egg on the UPA government? s face, but it continues as if nothing has happened. Are we having a government in New Delhi? It is as if there is no government and the country is merely waiting passively for the next general elections to put a resurgent BJP back into power. The Congress accepts every slap on its face as if that is due and acceptable award for being senile. The blatant case of favouritism in which the Union Shipping and Surface Transport Minister T Baalu indulged in, goes unpunished. It is as if not crime, not blatant arrogance on the part of coalition partners, not even failures in the three Lok Sabha by-elections in Thane (Maharashtra), Tura (Meghalaya) and Hamirpur(Himachal Pradesh) matter any longer. The grave has been dug for the Congress. It is apparently only a matter of time before it is formally laid in it for eternity. That is a sad end for a political party which at one time gave us gems of purest rays serene. The only consolation is that a freshly revitalized Bharatiya Janata Party is around with a sense of mission and the right leaders to work towards its fulfilment. India that is Bharat will never die. But the Congress will. In its demise that so many are so determinedly predicting, there is perhaps hope that a new party such as the one Gandhi had in mind will rise from its ashes. What we are witnessing is darkness before dawn. Luckily the waiting period is not going to be too long. The general elections should be held in November; prolongation by even a month will damage the Congress more than it thinks, with inflation rising menacingly week after week. That is a sign of things to come. source: sentinel assam ? visit for details : http://bigindians.blogspot.com/2008/07/imminent-collapse-of-congress-mv-kamath.h\ tml ------------------ [4] From: kashif-ul-huda <kaaashif@gmail.com Date: Sat Jul 5, 2008 7:46 pm Subject: Muslim religious leaders: divided on N-deal, united against its communalization Muslim religious leaders: divided on N-deal, united against its communalization<http://www.twocircles.net/2008jul05/muslim_religious_leaders_div\ ided_n_deal_united_against_its_communalization. html *By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles. net* <http://www.twocircles.net/2008jul05/muslim_religious_leaders_divided_n_deal_uni\ ted_against_its_communalization. html Like ordinary Muslims and intellectuals, Muslim religious organizations and institutions are sharply divided over the Indo-US nuclear deal. However, they are united in condemning the efforts of some political parties to attach Muslim interest with the deal. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) neither supports the deal nor opposes. If the nuke deal is in India's interests, it will benefit all including Muslims and if not, everyone will be harmed, said Abdul Hameed Nomani, national spokesperson of JUH, talking to TwoCircles. net. He, however, strongly condemned the efforts of some political parties including CPI(M) and BSP to give a Muslim colour to the deal. "The issue should not be seen in the context of Muslims. It is not a Muslim issue. It is a national issue and should be seen keeping in view the national interests. It has nothing to do with religion and community," he said ------------- [5] From: Pradip Kumar Datta <pradip200@yahoo.com Date: Sun Jul 6, 2008 3:58 pm Subject: 1 lakh engineering seats in Haryana by 2010 1 lakh engineering seats in Haryana by 2010 NEW DELHI: The Haryana government on Friday said it would be doubling the number of "quality" engineering colleges in the state, considering the 1:3 ratio of engineering students to job availability. This would push the total number of seats to one lakh by 2010. The state government also spelt out a plan to... more visit: http://studyinindia100.blogspot.com/2008/07/1-lakh-engineering-seats-in-haryana-\ by. html ---------------- [6] From: "Sukla Sen" <sukla.sen@gmail.com Date: Sun Jul 6, 2008 11:13 pm Subject: NYT Edit on Indo-US Nuclear Deal http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/opinion/05sat3.html July 5, 2008 Editorial No Rush, Please Three years ago, President Bush offered India a far-too-generous nuclear deal. India's illicit pursuit of nuclear weapons would effectively be forgiven. And for the first time in 30 years, it would be allowed to buy nuclear fuel and equipment for its civilian energy program from the United States and other nations. |
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| << July04, 2008 - [India Thinkers Net]Iran death penalty for internet crimes ,G8 ,ecology etc |
July09, 2008 - [India Thinkers Net] Iran President on War ,Sing and Bush ,Sansad news >> |
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