rediff
 
New Delhi, Jul 27: In a guarded welcome to the passage of the bill on civil nuclear cooperation by US House of Representatives, India on Thursday said it will await the final legislation as there are "concerns" which have been conveyed to Washington.

New Delhi refused to comment on the contents of the bill till the Senate passes it and reconciliation of the two legislations -- one of the House of Representatives and another of the Senate -- is undertaken.

"The passage of the bill authorising the US administration to engage in full civil nuclear energy cooperation between India and the US by a large margin of bipartisan votes in the US House of Representatives demonstrates the broad political consensus in the US in promotion of Indo-US relations in all fields including in the field of civil nuclear energy cooperation," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in response to a question in New Delhi.

He was commenting on the passage by the 435-member House of the bill by a 359-68 vote.

"We must, nevertheless, await finalised text of the legislation, which will emerge after a Senate vote and the reconciliation of the two bills, before we are able to comment on its contents," he said.

"There are concerns that we have conveyed to the US to ensure that the final legislation must not deviate from the parameters of the Indo-US Joint Statement of July 18, 2005, and the Separation Plan," Sarna said.

The remarks about concerns came amid apprehensions expressed by certain sections in New Delhi that the parameters of the July 18 understanding between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush were being breached in Washington.

These particularly relate to efforts to cap India's strategic nuclear programme in view of clauses in the bill that the cooperation will be terminated if New Delhi were to detonate an atomic device.

A provision making it obligatory for the US president to report on India's nuclear activity is also seen with concern in New Delhi, as some political parties are saying that it amounted to infringement of India's sovereignty.

The government has made it clear repeatedly that it will not accept any new conditions or obligations.

Under the civil nuclear deal, India prepared a plan of separating its 22 atomic facilities, identifying 14 as civilian.

The civilian nuclear establishments would be subjected to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards for which an agreement is being worked out.