“It's About Options, Not Co-option,”

Trading Markets
Mar 20, 2008

Whether the India-US civilian nuclear deal goes through or not, it is now simply a matter of politics. But what is difficult to understand is why nay-sayers want to foreclose India's nuclear options, even before the door opens. The most important aspect of the deal is that it widens the choices on offer for India -- for environment-friendly and sustainable sources of energy, for access to technologies that have been long denied, and for a chance to arrive at the international high table of the UN Security Council. There is no specific compulsion, but there is an additional, much-required choice if the government of the day wishes to exercise it. Not to mention that a plethora of companies and entities that have long been blocked out from international high technology commerce, will also get the option. There is nothing in the much discussed 123 Agreement that says that India has to enhance its energy basket by setting up atomic power reactors. It certainly does not say that India has to get its nuclear reactors or fuel or whatever only from the US. But what it does do, most importantly, is to open up another set of options to access power and technology required for India to sustain its economic growth story.