Date:10/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/10/stories/2008091055491000.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

NSG waiver

It was by pointing out to the highly discriminatory provisions in the NPT and the CTBT that India refused to sign them. The NSG waiver was the result of India’s adherence to the provisions of the two treaties without signing them. The UPA government should tell us whether the discriminatory provisions in the NPT and the CTBT no longer exist and whether the hegemony of the nuclear haves has made way for nuclear equity.

Reinhart Philip,

Kollam

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Whether the euphoria over the NSG waiver for India is justified or not is a moot question. The point is: at what cost did we get the waiver? What happens if, after a Pokhran-III, the U.S. claims back all its assets as stated in the January 2008 Bush administration letter? The economic loss we will have to bear will be enormous. India, while maintaining its declared stand on the NPT and the CTBT has, in effect, foregone its option to conduct nuclear tests, which is ironical.

Permesh Nair,

Ernakulam

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The euphoria in the official circles over the NSG waiver for India is typical of our bureaucratic culture. It is being trumpeted as a great diplomatic victory for India. The truth is, but for the intervention of the U.S. all our efforts would have gone waste.

S. Sundar Rajan,

Nagercoil

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Gaining access to nuclear fuel supplies without signing the NPT and the CTBT is what the NSG waiver is all about. Hopefully, the U.S. Congress nod will achieve that for India. It is a different matter that India has unilaterally decided to put a moratorium on nuclear tests, a non-issue over which the opposition is crying hoarse.

As is already happening the world over, wars will continue to be of low intensity, and along the lines being waged by various terrorist groups, against which even the strategic sub-kilo tonne variety nukes are ineffective. For India, access to nuclear fuel supplies is far more important.

R.C. Acharya,

New Delhi

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While the political and strategic significance of the NSG waiver is a matter of debate, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and the diplomatic team deserve praise for the perseverance with which they have steered the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal through various tough stages for over three years to end India’s nuclear isolation. We should trust the Prime Minister when he says our sovereignty will not be traded at any cost. The argument that India will stand to lose because it cannot conduct a nuclear test in future has no substance, as we have already placed a voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing.

K.V. Ravindran,

Payyanur

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The Bush administration was the first to recognise India’s new strategic importance and the need to waive stringent NPT and CTBT norms. The NSG waiver will change the way the world sees India.

V. Siva Anantha Krishnan,

Nanguneri

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I recall the lengthy interview The Hindu correspondents had with M.K. Narayanan on the nuclear deal. The correspondents covered the entire ground that was discussed in the last few days of hectic activity in Vienna.

The editorial “Post-Vienna scenario” (Sept. 9) is right in calling the NSG decision a significant achievement for Indian diplomacy. One hopes the authorities and their political bosses in Delhi will heed the wise warnings given in the editorial to safeguard our national interests.

K. Vedamurthy,

Chennai