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Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Secretary, DAE stated that India was making large-scale investments in uranium exploration (Rs.600-700 crores) in order to reduce its dependence on foreign supplies, in the light of the imponderables surrounding the Indo-US nuclear deal. Commenting on the deal, Dr. Kakodkar noted that India had already discussed the issue with other countries as well as with the IAEA. He added that technical deliberations were over and that a decision was now before the political leadership1.
In a bid to gain the Left parties’ support over the nuclear deal, the UPA on its part told the Left parties that the deal needs to be finalied before July as the term of the current IAEA Director-General, Dr. Mohammed el-Baradei would end. With the likely possibility that the next head of the IAEA would be from Japan, reports noted that the Indian government saw a possible shift in the positive stance that the international atomic agency had been taking towards the deal2.
- 1. “India to undertake massive uranium exploration: Kakodkar,” Sify, May 12, 2008, at http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14671201
- 2. Saubhadra Chatterji, “N-deal: Govt plays El Baradei card with Left,” Business Standard, May 17, 2008, at http://www.business-