शनिवार, 19 जुलाई 2008

India lobbies on nuclear safety

Indian officials have met members of the world nuclear regulatory body in Vienna to discuss plans to safeguard India's civilian nuclear facilities।
The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) approval of the plan is a key condition for enacting a nuclear deal between India and the US।
Left-wing parties in India withdrew support for the governing coalition in protest against the deal।
The government says it is needed to meet soaring energy demands।
After Friday's meeting diplomats refused to comment publicly on how it went।
Delhi is under pressure from Washington to sign the accord before the US presidential elections in November।
India has to sign a "safeguards agreement" with the IAEA before it can go ahead with the deal।
Under the terms of the accord, India would get access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel।
In return, Delhi would open its civilian nuclear facilities to inspection - but its nuclear weapons sites would remain off-limits।

SP Gen Secy Shahid Siddiqui quits, numbers game hops up

Desertions in Samajwadi Party on Saturday sent a jolt through a nervous UPA which struggled hard to cobble up 271 in Tuesday's trust vote but the likelihood of cross voting kept the government as well as the opposition on their toes।
The high profile SP general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Shahid Siddiqui, who came in support of the Indo-US nuclear deal ever since the UPA-SP tie up, quit the party and announced his decision to join rival BSP।
"For the last one month, I have been feeling uneasy over the nuclear deal। I am of the opinion that it is not in national interest. I have been opposing it for the last three years," he told reporters with UP Chief Minister Mayawati by his side after a meeting with her.
Siddiqui, also a journalist, said that he was taking this position heeding to the call of his conscience and would oppose the deal to the hilt।
SP, which has a strength of 39 Lok Sabha MPs, is already down to 35 with three rebel MPs -Munawar Hasan, Raj Narain Budholiya and Jai Prakash being joined by SP Baghel।
Though Siddiqui's resignation does not affect Samajwadi Party's numbers in Lok Sabha, it comes as a huge embarrassment to the party that is in the forefront in attempts to muster numbers for the UPA government in the trust vote on Tuesday।
Putting up a brave front, Congress on Saturday ruled out Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation ahead of the trust vote, claiming he will sail through smoothly.