On IAEA Safeguards Agreement.

The Left parties have issued the following statement:





On The IAEA Safeguards Agreement
Why the Text was Hidden till Submission to the IAEA?

The Left Parties had opposed the operationalisation of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal after the passage of the Hyde Act. After the 123 agreement was finalised, it was pointed out that the agreement was in conformity with the Hyde Act. The Left Parties had then asked the UPA Government not to take further steps to operationalise the nuclear deal.

In the UPA-Left Committee, the UPA claimed that they should be allowed to proceed with the IAEA Safeguards Agreement, which would incorporate uninterrupted fuel supplies and various corrective measures, which the Government had failed to secure in the 123 agreement. The Left Parties were skeptical about these issues being resolved in the IAEA. The UPA refused to show the negotiated text for the last four months.

The text of the Safeguards Agreement has now become public. It is clear that the text was hidden from the Left Parties and the Indian people in order to suppress the fact that India is about to bind its entire civilian nuclear energy programme into IAEA safeguards in perpetuity without getting concrete assurances for uninterrupted fuel supply, right to build strategic reserves and right to take corrective steps in case fuel supplies are stopped.

IAEA Safeguards in Perpetuity without Concrete Fuel Supply Assurance
The text of the draft "Agreement Between the Government of India and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities"; the so-called 'India-specific Safeguards' agreement sent to the IAEA Board of Governors on July 9, 2008, makes it clear that the repeated assurances made by the UPA Government in Parliament and outside, on securing uninterrupted fuel supply assurances and strategic fuel reserves have not been fulfilled. There are no concrete corrective measures in the main enforceable body of the Agreement, only a vague mention of "corrective measures" in the preamble.

Under the Hyde Act, IAEA safeguards are to be imposed on India's civilian nuclear facilities in perpetuity. The UPA government had repeatedly claimed that India would put its civilian reactors under safeguards under the strictly reciprocal condition of assured fuel supply. If fuel supply was disrupted, as happened in Tarapur, India would have the right to take corrective measures, including taking reactors out of IAEA safeguards.

The key question therefore with respect to IAEA safeguards is: how to ensure that once India's civilian reactors go under safeguards in perpetuity, the country would not be blackmailed by the withholding of nuclear fuel supplies, as the United States did in Tarapur following Pokhran-I?

The preamble to the Safeguards Agreement notes that India is offering its civilian nuclear facilities for IAEA safeguards on the "essential basis" of "the conclusion of international cooperation arrangements creating the necessary conditions for India to obtain access to the international fuel market, including reliable, uninterrupted and continuous access to fuel supplies from companies in several nations, as well as support for an Indian effort to develop a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supply over the lifetime of India's reactors." The real point is that the preamble merely 'notes' India's intentions in these respects. IAEA has neither any obligation regarding fuel supplies or building strategic reserves nor does this noting India's basis for this offer give India any additional rights through this agreement. Therefore to read into this clause either a guarantee for fuel supplies or IAEA's support for building up a strategic reserve is misleading the people.

"Corrective Measures": Vague and Ineffective
The preamble of the IAEA Agreement notes: "India may take corrective measures to ensure uninterrupted operation of its civilian nuclear reactors in the event of disruption of foreign fuel supplies." Neither the "corrective measures" nor the precise relationship between these "corrective measures" and the in-perpetuity imposition is spelt out in any meaningful terms in the text. This means that should India for any reason decide to take the items subject to the Agreement out of IAEA safeguards on the contention that the "essential basis" no longer applies, it will open itself to the serious charge of violating an international agreement. In this connection, it is worth remembering that although India claims the right, under the provisions of the 1963 Indo-US agreement on Tarapur, to reprocess the considerable quantities of Tarapur spent fuel that have accumulated to India's great inconvenience and expense, it has not been able to enforce the claimed right to reprocess, which has long been disputed by the United States.

As against the vagueness of the "corrective measures" figuring in the preamble, what is spelt out clearly in the body of the agreement (Paragraph 32) is that India can withdraw its facilities from safeguards only if it is (a) jointly agreed between India and IAEA, and (b) if these facilities are no longer usable for any nuclear activity. What does this mean? It can only mean that India can withdraw any facility it wants out of IAEA safeguards only if it strips it of all capability of producing nuclear energy and that too only after the IAEA determines that "the facility is no longer usable for any nuclear activity relevant from the point of view of safeguards."

Even if the Agreement is terminated by mutual consent, the termination of safeguards on the items subject to the Agreement [these are material and facilities as defined in Paragraph 11(a)] would stay in place in accordance with GOV/1621 till all the conditions of GOV/1621 are met. The conditions of GOV/1621 are so stringent that the rights and obligations of the parties continue to apply on all nuclear materials till they have been returned or all fissionable materials supplied or produced goes out of the inventory - that is, until all the facilities and material, nuclear or non-nuclear, supplied to the country under these safeguards are either returned or consumed or no longer usable for any nuclear activity. Therefore, this provision will not allow a single reactor to be taken out of safeguards.

Preambular References Non-Enforceable

It is well established in international law that the preamble is a part of the treaty or international agreement and it can be used to give colour and tone to the interpretation of the operative part of the treaty/agreement. This does not however mean that it can be used to create additional rights or obligations that are not contained in the clauses of the Treaty/Agreement.

The text of the IAEA Draft Agreement makes clear there are no corrective measures identified in the operative of the clauses of the Agreement. The mention of corrective measures is only in the preamble and here too, no concrete corrective measures have been defined. Unless there are specific provisions in the operative clauses, a phrase such as "corrective measures" inserted in the preamble cannot create either omnibus rights or obligations outside the text of the treaty. A similar example is for instance the TRIPS Agreement in WTO. The preamble states that it recognizes "the underlying public policy objectives of national systems for the protection of intellectual property, including developmental and technological objectives". However, can any country use the "public policy objectives" to override, for instance, the need for providing product patents as contained the body of the TRIPS agreement?

The way a facility can be withdrawn from safeguards has been spelt out in the main body of the draft agreement. Therefore, if the UPA government is trying to argue that the preambular statement of "corrective measures" gives India some kind of overriding right over all clauses in the body of the Agreement, it is committing a deliberate fraud on the people.

The final arbiter with regards to any interpretation of the Agreement and dispute settlement is the Board of Governors of IAEA. The Board of Governors decision is final in this regard and if India is held to be non-compliant, even though it is not so by its own interpretation, India can be referred to the Security Council for action including sanctions. The Iran case is an example. Though many countries including India had publicly endorsed Iran's right to the fuel cycle, it was referred to the Security Council for violation of its Safeguards Agreement by the Board of Governors at US's instance.

Left Parties' Concerns Not Addressed
The Left Parties, on July 8, 2008, asked the UPA government to spell out the following:

v In case the US or other countries in the Nuclear Suppliers Group renege on fuel supply assurances for imported reactors, will India have the ability to withdraw these reactors from IAEA safeguards?

v If the US/NSG countries renege on fuel supply assurances, can we withdraw our indigenous civilian reactors from IAEA safeguards?

v If we have to bring nuclear fuel from the non-safeguarded part of our nuclear programme for these reactors in case of fuel supply assurances not being fulfilled, will we have the ability to take it back again?

v What are the corrective steps India can take if fuel supplies are interrupted by the US/NSG countries?

v What are the conditions that India must fulfill if the corrective steps are to be put into operation?

What is clear now is that every one of these concerns remains, and that the unspecified "corrective measures" inserted in the preamble of the Safeguards Agreement will not address any of them.

India to be treated as a Non-Nuclear Weapons State for Safeguarded Facilities
Except for the preamble, which explains the context in which India is entering this Safeguards Agreement and outlines the basis of India's concurrence, the main body of the Text is a true copy of INFCIRC-66/Rev.2 (1968), which is the standard agreement applicable to all Non-Nuclear Weapon States of the NPT. The India-specific part comes not from INFIRC 66 but from the fact that India has kept a part of its nuclear programme out of IAEA safeguards. But for the facilities it proposes to put under IAEA safeguards, it will be treated as a Non-Nuclear Weapon States. Clearly, India will not have any special rights in its safeguarded facilities and this directly contradicts the assurances given by the Prime Minister to Parliament. Nuclear weapon states, as defined in the NPT, have the right to take any facility out of safeguards, a right India will not have for the reactors it is offering to IAEA for safeguards.

Against India's Interests
It is clear that the IAEA Safeguards Agreement does not address the fundamental problems in the Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement. As a result of operationalising the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, India will place its costly imported reactors under perpetual IAEA safeguards and risk their permanent shutdown in case it fails to toe the US line on foreign policy issues. Thus going ahead with the Safeguards Agreement will be harmful to India's interests.





Prakash Karat A.B. Bardhan





Debabrata Biswas T.J Chandrachoodan

Ei chukti desher sarthwa birodhi abar proman holo

ei chukti niye egole desher sorbonash, IAE rokhyakoboch chukti te hyde act ebong 123 chuktir mul somosya gulo somondhe kichui bola nei. bharot markin poromanu chukti rupayito korte giye amader desh je chora dam diye oi paromanobik chulli gulo kinbe ta cirodiner jonyo IAE rokhyakobocher ayotai chole jabe.sobcheye voiyer bapar holo amara jodi oder nirdharito bidesh niti na mene choli tahole oi chulli gulo chirotakaler jonyo bandho kore dite hobe.

aro kichu bapare dhoyoasa roye gecehe jemon amdanikrito paromanobik chullir jonyo jalani sorboraher protisruti tehek US ba NSG ontorvuktyo onanyo desh gulo jodi sore ase tahole ki oi sob chulli gulo ke IAE rokhyakoboch er baire niye jawar odhikar thakbe???

Bamera ki subidhabadi???

bameder sathe upa sorkarer je nuyotomo kormosuchi chilo ta borabori longhoner chesta koreche congress, ebong ta korte giye bameder probol badahar mukhe porte hoyeche congress ke, ete kosto peyeche amader anondo bajar patrika, jara goto 6 bochore amader birudhhe 186 khana sompadokiyo likhe galmondo koreche. r tate barbar abp bolte ceyeche sorkarer udarniti r arthik khetre sonsokarer badaha hoye dariyeche ei bam dal gulo,

jara cpim ba bamjot ke subidhabadi bolche tader jonyo boli ei bam jot kintu upa te theke 01. kuchro babsyai bideshi punji atkeche
02.sorkari bangulo ke pvt hote dei ni.
03.lav janak rastryawta company gulor bilongikoron atkeche.
04.shromoniti sithil korte dei ni.
05.pension bill sonskar korte dei ni.

Lies, Damn Lies and Sycophancy

In November 2007, the Indian government formed a UPA-Left Committee to look into the aspects of the nuclear deal from a political, strategic and technical perspective. The committee was supposed to discuss the features of the deal before ultimately making the final decision whether or not to operationalise the deal. It was seen as a face saving device between two allies, who had virtually diametric opposite views on the deal. While the Left had not let the government to proceed any further, the government got a valuable concession from the left to allow it to talk to the IAEA to pencil a safeguards agreement. The concession came with the caveat that the text of the safeguards agreement would be then brought into committee, before any decision to provide it to the board of governors of the IAEA is made.

First Lie

It turned out that neither was the text brought to the purview of the committee (the government instead presented a summary), nor was the government willing to place the text for discussion, terming that the text was classified. Instead the government tried to play a new tune, 'let us go to the IAEA board of governors, we will bring back the deal to the parliament after the up-down vote in the US Congress at which point the parliament's decision to accept it or not will be considered'. This refrain was confirmed by the prime minister himself in his statements. Clearly this refrain was not just against the grain of the UPA-Left Committee's written agreement, it was a blatant violation. Obviously the government had lied when it said that it wanted the text to be discussed before sending it to the board of governors.

The Text is "classified"?

When pointed out that the text of the IAEA safeguards agreement was not available in the public domain (the features of the safeguards agreement and the necessity to verify it's contents need not detain us in this article; they have been laid out in a statement of the left parties and also by a statement by eminent nuclear scientists circulated in the media), the government mentioned that it was not possible, as one had to "join government" to get to see the text of the agreement. Why is the government making this classification? After all texts/protocol negotiated with the IAEA by other countries (most prominently, the government's guru these days, the US) are available in the public domain and the IAEA itself has gone on record saying that it has not classified the text. Clearly the government has something to hide. Is it the fact that the text has clauses that violate the understanding provided by the prime minister in the house when he provided clear cut assurances about "full civil nuclear cooperation"? We cannot but speculate as the government is not keen at all to provide the text for us to make a reasoned conclusion.

Another lie

The next lie was even more damning. Just the day when the government effectively became a "minority" after the left parties withdrew support, the external affairs minister gave an assurance in public, that the government will not go to the IAEA board of governors before winning a vote of confidence as required once the president formally asks the government to face parliament on this issue. Fair enough, we thought, the government had spine and was willing to the right thing. We were wrong. The government, atleast the external affairs minister, simply lied. It was revealed by the IAEA itself in a press release on the 8th of July that the Indian government has indeed requested the IAEA secretariat to circulate the draft treaty for consideration of its board of governors. Clearly, the Indian government and its representatives in the cabinet had lived upto their lying credentials yet again.

What explains these public displays of bluffing and lying to the nation, in a matter of few days? It is not very difficult to surmise from where they have learnt this habit: from the perpetual liar and head of the US government, George Bush. Just a day before, Manmohan Singh emphatically said that India should stand "head-to-head and shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States". In a prelude to such "standing", Manmohan Singh's government now stands toe-to-toe and heart-to-heart with the biggest liar (ask Center for Public Integrity which documented more than 900 public lies by the George Bush government leading up to the horrible Iraq occupation). It is no secret that the US administration is teaching our dishonored government to just fib off right in the eyes of the public hawks of Indian democratic institutions. It is after all easy to do that. Very few newspapers/ news channels (such as The Hindu) will question these lies by pointing them out. After all, the corporate press is gaga about sending the nuclear deal to the next stage, "written agreement" may go to hell. And what if the IAEA safeguards text is not available in the public domain, eh?, they would not even ask. After all they have already been standing heart-to-heart and toe-to-toe with the American press in the way things are reported.

It is time to launch a massive campaign not just against the "notorious nuclear deal" as Prakash Karat put it, but against the agencies of disinformation and lying that predominate the corridors of power. It is time that democrats, progressives and believers in the spirit of constitutionalism join hands together in this endeavor.

http://www.pragoti.org/node/1626

Betrayal of Public Commitment

The Minister for External Affairs, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, announced on July 8, 2008 at a press conference that the government would send India's safeguards agreement to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board for approval only if it won the trust vote in parliament. "I cannot bind the government if we lose our majority", he said.



He also stated that he had consulted the Prime Minister who was in Japan, in this regard.



Coming hours after the announcement that the Left parties had decided to withdraw support to the government, this was a solemn commitment to the country that the government would not proceed to the Board of Governors of the IAEA till the government proved its majority in parliament.



It is shocking that less than twenty four hours of such a statement, the IAEA has announced that at the request of the Government of India, the text has been submitted to the Board for its consideration. (Annexure - press release of the IAEA).



This is a blatant violation of the assurance given by the government, a betrayal of a moral commitment to the country.



What transpired in the meeting of the Prime Minister with President Bush which led to this going back on a public pledge?



The Prime Minister owes an answer to the people and the country.



Text of the Safeguards Agreement



The Left parties had on July 8, 2008 asserted that it is the Government of India which is keeping the text confidential and not the IAEA. This has been confirmed by spokespersons of the IAEA in the last twenty four hours.



Subsequently, the text of the Draft India Safeguards Agreement is now available in the public domain. The Left parties will study the Draft of the Safeguards Agreement and come out with our analysis and stand.


Issued by:
Prakash Karat A.B. Bardhan Debabrata Biswas

General Secretary, CPI(M) General Secretary, CPI General Secretary, AIFB

Samne jor lorai!!!

Tabe shamne kothin larai. Sadharon manush er kachhe ekey pouchhei ditey habe. Khotikarok dik gulo bishesh bhabe tule dhorte habe. Congress er taraf theke ekta chesta hachhe puro byaparta k akta technical aspect theke dyakhnor, jate kore sadharon manush er bujhte asuvidhe hoy. Chesta cholchhe puro byaparta k aymon bhabe dyakhnor jate kore mone hoy j nuke deal er songe sadharon manush er jyano kono samporko e nei.

Bamponthy der er economic aspect gulo tule dhortei habe. Jyamon Joint Economic Forum er byaparta, ja dui desher shilpopati der niye gothito. Eder ja baktobyo jyamon banking ba insurance sector er liberalisation etc egulo tule dhorte habe.

Paromanobik biduyt ebong bamponthi ra.

Paromanobik biduyt niye bamponthira kokhonoi birodhita kore ni. Shaktir chahida metanor jonyo paromanobik biduyt er ekta bisesh gurutwapurno vumika ache.kintu tar jonyo bastob sonmoto dristi vongi niye egote hobe. koto utpadon khorcha porbe , ba unit proti koto dor porbe ta vavte hobe. jemon amdani kora pormanu chulli diye ekti paromanobik biduyt prokolpo chalu korte je korcha porbe tar theke oi soman khomota somponnyo ekti tapbiduyt prokolpo gorte tin gun kom korcha hobe.

sutorang druto biduyt ghattir obosaner jonyo amar mone hoi aro tap biduyt othoba jol biduyt prokolpo kendro gore tola uchit, najar dewa uchit solar energy segnent. amader rajyei solar energy niye darun kaj hochhe.

sobcheyer chintar bapar holo paromanobik biduyt utpadoner jonyo dorkar urenium, ja amader deshe kom ebong er jonyo amader onyo desher mukhopekhhi hoye thakte hobe. echara sobai janen urenimu er goto panch bochore dam bereche panchgun.