The US India nuclear deal signed on the 10th of October 2008 has been characterised as one the few foreign policy victories for the infamous Bush administration and a historic victory for India and her prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in which the deal nearly cost him his job in a failed no confidence vote.
Despite all the opposition to the deal in India, Dr Singh has really made a strategic revolutionary move. He and his supporters have made it clear that this deal would be used to meet the energy requirements of India in a cleaner way as India is set to be the fastest growing electricity consumer by 2015.By building more nuclear power plants India would be able to reduce its dependence on coal which is India's main power plant fuel and as a consequence reduce its imports of coal drastically which would help India to lower her trade deficit.With the deal signed India would also have the necessary resources to play an active role to combat climate change as well as making Indian cities less polluted due to lower reliance on fossil fuels.
On the other hand the nuclear deal would be a strategic move for Indian military.India would be able to greatly increase it's nuclear arsenal.India currently has 78000 tonnes of uranium, the main component in the production of civilian nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons.The rising number of nuclear power plants in India without the deal would mean that India would be forced to use a bigger fraction of it's uranium reserves for fuel production, instead of nuclear weapons.Using the nuclear deal which does not require India's military nuclear sites to be inspected by the the IAEA, India's military strategists could fulfill their dreams of having the greatest nuclear arsenal India could possibly have.Meanwhile a significant portion of uranium for power plants can be imported leaving the balance of uranium reserves for military purposes.
Now on to the global geopolitical perspective of the deal, India is still a clear winner.This is because India is currently too dependent on Russia for nuclear power plant fuel and reactors.As a result this could lead to the rise of misplaced Russian power over India which could threaten her sovereignty.Therefore the US India nuclear deal is a clear counter move to this possible obstacle in the future.This is because India would be able limit it's nuclear trade with Russia and one must also take note that the US India nuclear deal for India is actually an Indo Global nuclear deal because in the process of the US India nuclear deal the embargo on nuclear trade with India by the 45 member Nuclear Supplies Group has been lifted.
This permits India to trade nuclear materials not only with America but with any other nation in the world.That's why India and France just signed a nuclear deal in October 2008.This deal also prevents India from losing control of it's foreign policy as what many Indian critics of the deal believed because now India can trade nuclear goods with any of these nations on the Nuclear Supplies Group any form of American action to end the deal or to relaunch the boycott on India would leave America more isolated as companies worldwide stand to make U$150 billion dollars in contracts for the development of India's nuclear industry.Besides that, the US India nuclear deal would drastically improve ties between the US and India, and as a result stronger military and economic ties could follow on suit.Increasing trade due to warmer relations between India and the US could create a great deal of jobs in the US which soften the blow of the coming recession and lift more people as well as speed up India's approach to free market economics.The US India nuclear deal could also be a great tool for Indian and American strategists to contain China's surging power. As the US India nuclear deal is destined to feed energy hungry India in the long run India's economy would stand to be much more competitive.
As a consequence India would be more well armed economically to rival and limit China's soft power projection into Asia.Politically a stronger and wealthier India strongly allied with the US stands to exert a great deal of soft power and influence deep into Eurasia therefore helping the free world to contain the totalitarian Chinese regime.Finally the US India nuclear deal which would help construct a more powerful Indian military than it is now would act as the ultimate geostrategic weapon in the long term US project of encircling China and therefore limiting its ability to project its hard power.
