India reacts to the Indo-US N-deal

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New Delhi: The US congress is expected to clear the the Indo-US Nuclear Bill that allows the US government to negotiate with India soon.

US Under Secretary of State, Nicholas Burns is sure that the final draft of the Bill is going to please the Indian Government as well.

"We believe the Bill will be within the parameters of the agreement reached between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush."

However, some Indian analysts are not so sure.

Says Siddarth Varadarajan of The Hindu, "Many of the restrictive clauses that are there in the legislation, will serve as a guide to the administration in negotiating the agreement - for example, in negotiating the enrichment, restrictions and reprocessing will all come under this."

Nonetheless, proponents of the deal in India are more confident that the US will stick by its promises, and that all of India's major concerns will be met.

Says strategic analyst Raja Mohan, "My sense is most of India's concerns - at least all the important ones - have all been addressed and for India now, there is very little reason to object to the broad form of the language that has come in."

Ultimately, even critics agree that the final legislation to be voted on is not binding on India, and an Indian decision to stick by US assurances should wait until after the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) meets early next year.

"The correct Indian strategy would be - even if the Bill that has passed has problems - to wait and see what emerges in the NSG," says Varadarajan.