US:The US Congress has voted in favour of permitting the export of civilian nuclear fuel and related materials and technology to India, ending its atomic pariah status which has lasted more than 32 years.
The one-off legislation allows Washington to pursue nuclear commerce and related activity with India for its civilian atomic installations without requiring Delhi to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the NPT. India has twice conducted underground nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998 as a non-NPT signatary.
In return for US concessions, India has agreed to separate its military and civilian nuclear reactors, placing 14 of its 22 atomic plants under international safeguards.
The eight remaining nuclear plants that constitute the nucleus of its strategic deterrence would be off-limits to inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Approved by the House of Representatives on Friday evening and the Senate early on Saturday, the Bill will now be sent to President George W Bush to be signed into law some time this week.
The vote follows a nuclear agreement between Mr Bush and Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in Washington last July that was reaffirmed during the US leader's visit to New Delhi earlier this year.
The agreement has been hailed as "historic" by leaders in both countries, but its critics maintain it could not only boost India's nuclear arsenal, sparking an arms race with Pakistan, but also weaken the NPT regime at a time when North Korea has defied it and Iran is planning to do so.
India had pushed hard for the deal to help meet its rapidly growing energy needs, which are expected to double by 2010.
India currently sources about 2.3 per cent of its power from nuclear plants, but hopes to increase that to about 25 per cent by 2050, officials said.
In the run-up to the final vote, India was concerned that the eventual version of the US bill would stray from the original agreement, severely limiting its military nuclear programme.
But changes in the final version were made to allay India's fears, not only in content but also in language and sentiment.
There were reservations in Delhi about the version initially passed by the Senate that would have required the US president to determine whether India was co- operating with Washington-led efforts to confront Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
The reworked account merely calls on the president to report to Congress on whether India was actively backing international efforts to contain Iran's capability.
US undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns, the main negotiator in the nuclear deal, asserted in Delhi last week that with the new agreement Washington had "broken with the past".
The US decision was welcomed in Delhi as a "landmark legislation" between two new-found strategic allies.