Bangalore, July 08: Union Science & Technology
Minister Kapil Sibal has said the nuclear deal with the US was in fact about India collaborating with the international community in civil nuclear energy and should not be seen as an agreement between New Delhi and Washington only.
"When we talk about Indo-US deal, it's not about India and
US; it's about India and international community collaborating in civil nuclear energy. We are trying to see the deal in the context of India and United States; it's not that at all", Sibal said at a China-India-US science, technology and innovation workshop here yesterday.
"We are trying to get rid of the (technology) denial
regime which we suffered from and because of this (technology denial) we are where we are today in technology terms", he said.
Stressing the benefits of the nuclear deal for India,
Sibal said New Delhi would be able to export its own nuclear
reactors. "We produce reactors which produce 200 MW which no body else produces in the world", he said.
"If we don't have the deal, we will not be able to export.
It (the deal) helps us in our trade, helps us in our
earnings," he said.
"We don't have (sufficient) uranium. Our (nuclear) plants
are running at less than 50 per cent capacity. It (the deal)
helps us in generating electricity", he told reporters later
in response to questions. "Why people are against it (the
deal), I don't understand".
According to him, the deal (if it is clinched) would
offer an enormous opportunity for India in the field of
science and technology. "It opens up floodgates of
collaboration between universities and between private
enterprises", he said, adding hopefully it would also
eventually lead to lifting of the ban on the use of dual-use
technology.
The deal would also quicken the pace of collaboration in
the areas of technology and also in transfer of technology,
Sibal said.
"It's an enormous opportunity for India. If we lose this
opportunity today, it perhaps may not come back to us", the
minister cautioned.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, July 08, 2008, 00:00