Saturday, February 23, 2008

The Undead Deal

I am constantly surprised by seemingly intelligent people, who have major media platforms to vent their opinions, proclaiming two impossible things every now and then. The first is that the civilian nuclear deal between India and the U.S. is dead. The second is that the U.S. has imposed this or that deadline.

People, neither of these is going to happen - ever. No deadline is relevant because India is too big now for the U.S. to say that it is no longer open to discuss civilian nuclear co-operation. At the same time India's galloping energy needs will keep it perpetually looking at nuclear power to supplement hydro and fossil fuels. Solar energy and wind energy are not expected by any serious energy planner to play a significant role any time soon.

What can and should happen is that at some point of time in the future, how near or distant I have no way of estimating, a more confident and assertive India should negotiate with a more realistic and less belligerent America a deal which both can live with in perpetuity. The half life of such co-operation, as of the fuel it deals with, will have to be virtually infinite with no scope for either party to blackmail the other to do its bidding either commercially or geo-politically.

The Indian public and the American public already know this. The politicians will learn. The Hyde act can not be by-passed but it can and will have to be repealed.

Postscript: As we all know the deal is now fait accompli. 

Next  The Nuclear Murders
First  The Nuclear Mess