• UPA-Left committee meeting on nuclear deal inconclusive; Jaswant Singh: Vajpayee does not support Brajesh Mishra on nuclear deal; Abdul Kalam voices support for the nuclear deal; France ready to sign nuclear cooperation agreement with India
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    • The UPA-Left Coordination Committee meet for the eighth time on May 6 during which the UPA made a strong plea to the Left parties to allow it to confirm the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA. EAM Pranab Mukherjee noted that India did not have much time to confirm the safeguards agreement as a change in the composition of the IAEA Board next September-October could imperil the current draft safeguards agreement. The government also underlined that the safeguards agreement was unique as it recognized India’s strategic programme and restricted the application of safeguards only to the civilian side1. The next meeting of the UPA-Left committee is slated to be held on May 28.

    In other developments, Jaswant Singh of the BJP stated that the former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not support the favourable views on the Indo-US nuclear deal expressed by former NSA Brajesh Mishra2. Meanwhile, former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam voiced his support for the nuclear deal, stating that India would need the uranium supplies that the pact will facilitate to power its energy needs3. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hoped that the country would listen to the views expressed by the former President4.

    The French Ambassador to India, Jerome Bonnafont stated that France was looking forward to “large-scale nuclear co-operation” with India in the civilian arena once India reached a satisfactory agreement with the IAEA and the NSG. He revealed that the agreement for civil nuclear cooperation between India and France had already been technically finalised5.

    India also successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) Agni-III, which has a range of more than 3,000 kilometres from the Wheeler Island off Orissa’s coast in the Bay of Bengal on May 7. The Programme Director of the Agni missile system Avinash Chander stated that the missile was “ready for induction6.”

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