The Nuke Deal

Undoubtedly, UPA has won the trust vote. The irony is that one of India's best Prime Minister Dr ManMohan Singh had to face a trust vote for the nuke deal. The deal which solves India's Energy problems has been misinterpreted and tainted to look like a threat to India's sovergnity. The sources of energy for India are thermal, wind, solar and hydro power plants. With the growing need for energy, alternative sources are an immediate necessity. Currently, the nuclear reactors are mainly used for defence and lacks the technology for using nuclear power for civil services.

The American laws prevent USA to make any nuke deal with India. But Hyde Act provides an alternative method that breaks the barrier to enable USA make a deal with India. The Indo-US nuke deal provides India with 14 nuclear reactors out of which 8 of them will be used for power generation and 6 will be used for military operations. The deal assures India of fuel (uranium) for power plants and also does not restrict India from purchasing the fuel from other uranium rich countries. The deal also does not refrain India from carrying out any nuclear tests as a part of covert operations. Clearly, India is not dependent on US for fuel nor does it have to loose its sovergnity by signing the nuke deal.

The Left parties withdrew their support to the UPA government stating that India would loose its sovergnity. The Left front which encompasses majority of communist parties has always been against the US. They are too conservative and against any radical development. Left front is a culmination of many parties with different visions hence they lack a common vision and are unable to visualize the benefits of the nuke deal.

On the other hand, BJP is opposing the deal because it would bring credit to the Congress. With this year being an election year, BJP cannot afford another feather in Congress's success cap. From the beginning of the nuke deal, BJP demanded for revising the deal and when the deal was out on internet, it retracted its arguments and started opposing the speed in which the deal was sent to IAEA for the second round of discussions. Leaving all the politics apart, nuke deal is clearly beneficial for India and is also endorsed by India's top scientist and ex President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.