Terror struck Gujarat when 17 serial blasts ripped across the city on Saturday evening leaving 15 killed and 30 injured sending a wave of panic. )
The synchronised explosions in the space of 90 minutes in the eastern and western areas after the first blast hit Maninagar at 6.45 pm occurred in 13 places. There were two blasts each in Maninagar--the constituency of Chief Minister Narendra Modi--and in Sarkej targeting a state transport CNG bus and Sangam theatre.
Significantly two hospitals were also the target of attack. An NSG team has been rushed to Ahmedabad.
The low-intensity explosions occurred at eight areas of Maninagar, Isanpur, Narol circle, Bapunagar, Hatkeshwar and Sarangpur bridge, Sarkej and Odhav and created a wave of panic.
There were two blasts in Maninagar and the first blast occurred in this area at 6.45 PM. The second blast here occurred near LG hospital. Maninagar is the constituency of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The Ahmedabad blasts came a day after the multiple explosions in Bangalore in which two persons were killed. The mobile network in the area has completely collapsed.
Police said at least two had died and 25 injured, some of them seriously, in the blasts. The injured have been rushed to civil hospital and LG hospital.
Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said in New Delhi there were eight blasts. Unconfirmed reports said there were 13 blasts.
The explosion in the sensitive Sarkej area occurred in a CNG bus.
Some of the bombs were believed to have been placed in cycles eerily similar to the Jaipur blasts on May 13 in which 65 persons died. A couple of bombs were reported to have been placed in tiffin boxes in a modus operandi similar to the explosions outside a Lucknow court last year.
President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed for calm.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Who bribed the BJP MPs?
ON THE day the no confidence motion was moved against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government ie on Tuesday (July 22), three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of parliament (Members of Parliament) alleged in the Lok Sabha that each of them was promised three crore rupees to refrain from voting. To firm up the deal, each of them was advanced one crore rupees. The said MPs further alleged that the advance of three crore rupees (at one crore rupees apiece) was given by the secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Amar Singh.
CNN-IBN, the TV channel, claimed that it was in possession of the relevant evidence - it was on video. The channel passed on the evidence to the Speaker of the house, Somnath Chatterjee. Presently, it is in the custody of the secretary of the Lok Sabha. According to reliable sources, the Speaker watched the video on Wednesday (July 23).
According to the said reliable source, the video shows the three MPs arriving at Singh’s bungalow on Lodhi Estate on Tuesday (July 22). A man, identified as Sanjeev Saxena addresses them at the drawing room. Another man tells them that the government should win the no-confidence motion and to ensure it, the three MPs should refrain from voting. Simultaneously, he hands them wads and wads of currency, telling them the money is theirs. The three MPs count the money in Saxena’s presence and leave Singh’s bungalow. Subsequently they are interviewed by CNN-IBN and this is also on video. According to the said source, the camera reveals Saxena’s face clearly. But the audio is not clear with the result that none can make out clearly what Saxena says or what the three MPs say. But the camera does not reveal Singh.
But SP maintains that Saxena is a former secretary of Singh, the general secretary of SP. The Parliamentary Secretariat is looking into the matter and if the evidence is found to be genuine, investigation will begin no sooner the Speaker gives permission.
more >> Meanwhile, Shakeel Ahmed, a senior Congress party leader, said that if the Speaker desired to air it, his party would not object to it. Asked to name the people behind ‘operation bribe’, he said that according to rumours, a chief minister’s wife and a leading industrialist, who were allegedly into a joint venture were behind the operation. The currency wads allegedly carried the seal of the State Bank of Indore although he was not sure of it. When asked to comment on the rumour that Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel was amongst those who bribed the MPs, Shakeel Ahmed remarked that Ahmed Patel had offered to quit public life if the same was proved.
CNN-IBN, the TV channel, claimed that it was in possession of the relevant evidence - it was on video. The channel passed on the evidence to the Speaker of the house, Somnath Chatterjee. Presently, it is in the custody of the secretary of the Lok Sabha. According to reliable sources, the Speaker watched the video on Wednesday (July 23).
According to the said reliable source, the video shows the three MPs arriving at Singh’s bungalow on Lodhi Estate on Tuesday (July 22). A man, identified as Sanjeev Saxena addresses them at the drawing room. Another man tells them that the government should win the no-confidence motion and to ensure it, the three MPs should refrain from voting. Simultaneously, he hands them wads and wads of currency, telling them the money is theirs. The three MPs count the money in Saxena’s presence and leave Singh’s bungalow. Subsequently they are interviewed by CNN-IBN and this is also on video. According to the said source, the camera reveals Saxena’s face clearly. But the audio is not clear with the result that none can make out clearly what Saxena says or what the three MPs say. But the camera does not reveal Singh.
But SP maintains that Saxena is a former secretary of Singh, the general secretary of SP. The Parliamentary Secretariat is looking into the matter and if the evidence is found to be genuine, investigation will begin no sooner the Speaker gives permission.
more >> Meanwhile, Shakeel Ahmed, a senior Congress party leader, said that if the Speaker desired to air it, his party would not object to it. Asked to name the people behind ‘operation bribe’, he said that according to rumours, a chief minister’s wife and a leading industrialist, who were allegedly into a joint venture were behind the operation. The currency wads allegedly carried the seal of the State Bank of Indore although he was not sure of it. When asked to comment on the rumour that Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel was amongst those who bribed the MPs, Shakeel Ahmed remarked that Ahmed Patel had offered to quit public life if the same was proved.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Post trust vote, Govt puts reforms on fast-track
With the UPA Government surviving a trust vote without the support of reforms-wary Left parties, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said focus would now be on greater economic liberalisation, including relaxing FDI limit in sectors like insurance.
"On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted to make a point on this in his reply after the debate on trust vote, but he had to table it due to uproar in Lok Sabha," Chidambaram said.
The focus now in greater economic liberalisation in pension, insurance and banking sectors. Passing of the Insurance Bill and raising FDI caps from 26 per cent to 49 per cent is the first priority.
Chidambaram said the Centre would now reach out to other political parties, including those that voted against the UPA government on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, for faster economic reforms and passing of the bills
When asked about the measures for containing inflation, he said, "It is not a new question. We have answered inflation-related questions every week. There is nothing new to add. It is driven by crude oil and commodities prices. It is imported inflation. We have taken monetary measures to curb it."
"On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted to make a point on this in his reply after the debate on trust vote, but he had to table it due to uproar in Lok Sabha," Chidambaram said.
The focus now in greater economic liberalisation in pension, insurance and banking sectors. Passing of the Insurance Bill and raising FDI caps from 26 per cent to 49 per cent is the first priority.
Chidambaram said the Centre would now reach out to other political parties, including those that voted against the UPA government on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, for faster economic reforms and passing of the bills
When asked about the measures for containing inflation, he said, "It is not a new question. We have answered inflation-related questions every week. There is nothing new to add. It is driven by crude oil and commodities prices. It is imported inflation. We have taken monetary measures to curb it."
Oil drops again as US pump prices slip to near $4
Oil prices sank to their lowest point in weeks Friday as investors questioned whether crude has cooled enough to reflect a serious deterioration in demand. Prices at the pump eased to nearly $4 a gallon and the AAA auto club said that could drop another quarter by Labor Day.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $1.60 to $123.89 a barrel in on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier the contract dropped as far as $122.50, its lowest point since June 5.
In another sign that Americans continue to struggle with soaring energy prices, filling station operators hungry for business ratcheted down the average price for a gallon of regular by 2 cents, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom said such a large decline indicates a deteriorating demand by the world's thirstiest oil consumer. Retail prices have fallen about a dime per gallon in just the past week.
"People say typically prices shoot up like a rocket, fall like a feather. But this time ... it looks like it's different," Sundstrom said. "The retail sector is interested in bringing these prices down as fast as they can to stimulate business in their convenience stores."
A gallon of gas now sells for $4.006, the first time it has been that low in nearly seven weeks. Diesel dropped nearly a penny and a half to $4.774 a gallon.
Sundstrom said prices at the pump should slip below the $4 mark over the weekend and could drop by at least another 25 cents by Labor Day, if oil stays on its downward path.
"We're seeing a historic change in driving habits," he said, although he added that "we still have a long way to go before we get back to the comfort zone, if you will, for the consumer."
Oil traders managed to post a gain of $1.05 a barrel Thursday, but analysts say the market's momentum points to further declines. Crude has fallen in six of the past eight sessions, and is trading more than 15 percent below its peak above $147 a barrel earlier this month.
By afternoon Friday, crude was down nearly 16 percent from its peak above $147 a barrel two weeks earlier. Still, prices remained about 65 percent higher than they were this time last year.
"There's just nothing sufficiently bullish coming into the market right now to sustain a rally," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. "We're just seeing a new theme in which demand has become a very important part of the equation."
Threats to supply, which traders have fretted over for months, remain.
The abduction of five crew members from a Swedish boat in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger delta region highlighted the risks to supply in the African nation, a major supplier to the U.S. Earlier in the week, Nigerian militants threatened to blow up pipelines in the region within a month.
Investors are also watching for any signs in increased tension between Iran and the West.
Although supply concerns have taken a back seat to demand over the past two weeks, analysts note that prices could rebound, on even a temporary cut to supply.
"There is a palpable sense of exhaustion amongst traders after the steep sell-off of the past two weeks, and many think we are in for a period of stabilization," said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy. "This notion is being supported by renewed concerns about events in Nigeria and the Middle East."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 2.18 cents to $3.5453 a gallon while gasoline futures lost 2.54 cents to $3.034 a gallon. Natural gas prices sank 15.3 cents to $9.17 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $1.60 to $123.89 a barrel in on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier the contract dropped as far as $122.50, its lowest point since June 5.
In another sign that Americans continue to struggle with soaring energy prices, filling station operators hungry for business ratcheted down the average price for a gallon of regular by 2 cents, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
AAA spokesman Geoff Sundstrom said such a large decline indicates a deteriorating demand by the world's thirstiest oil consumer. Retail prices have fallen about a dime per gallon in just the past week.
"People say typically prices shoot up like a rocket, fall like a feather. But this time ... it looks like it's different," Sundstrom said. "The retail sector is interested in bringing these prices down as fast as they can to stimulate business in their convenience stores."
A gallon of gas now sells for $4.006, the first time it has been that low in nearly seven weeks. Diesel dropped nearly a penny and a half to $4.774 a gallon.
Sundstrom said prices at the pump should slip below the $4 mark over the weekend and could drop by at least another 25 cents by Labor Day, if oil stays on its downward path.
"We're seeing a historic change in driving habits," he said, although he added that "we still have a long way to go before we get back to the comfort zone, if you will, for the consumer."
Oil traders managed to post a gain of $1.05 a barrel Thursday, but analysts say the market's momentum points to further declines. Crude has fallen in six of the past eight sessions, and is trading more than 15 percent below its peak above $147 a barrel earlier this month.
By afternoon Friday, crude was down nearly 16 percent from its peak above $147 a barrel two weeks earlier. Still, prices remained about 65 percent higher than they were this time last year.
"There's just nothing sufficiently bullish coming into the market right now to sustain a rally," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. "We're just seeing a new theme in which demand has become a very important part of the equation."
Threats to supply, which traders have fretted over for months, remain.
The abduction of five crew members from a Swedish boat in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger delta region highlighted the risks to supply in the African nation, a major supplier to the U.S. Earlier in the week, Nigerian militants threatened to blow up pipelines in the region within a month.
Investors are also watching for any signs in increased tension between Iran and the West.
Although supply concerns have taken a back seat to demand over the past two weeks, analysts note that prices could rebound, on even a temporary cut to supply.
"There is a palpable sense of exhaustion amongst traders after the steep sell-off of the past two weeks, and many think we are in for a period of stabilization," said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy. "This notion is being supported by renewed concerns about events in Nigeria and the Middle East."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 2.18 cents to $3.5453 a gallon while gasoline futures lost 2.54 cents to $3.034 a gallon. Natural gas prices sank 15.3 cents to $9.17 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Fortify Your Internet Security Settings Now
The Web became a substantially more dangerous place this week, thanks largely to the publication of instructions that show cyber criminals how to exploit a pervasive, critical flaw in the Internet infrastructure.
While Internet service providers and corporations can mitigate the danger by updating the software that powers vulnerable components of their networks, data released yesterday indicates that only about half of the world's online population is currently protected by these updates.
At issue is a basic design flaw in the domain name system. DNS is the communications standard that acts as a kind of telephone book for the Internet, translating human-friendly Web site names like example.com into numeric addresses that are easier for networking equipment to handle and route.
When people type a Web site name into their Internet browser, the process of routing of that name to Internet address is generally handled through DNS servers managed by Internet service providers and corporations.
But according to research released this month, most of those DNS servers are vulnerable to a security flaw that allows miscreants to silently alter the virtual road maps that those systems rely on to route traffic. As a result, a cyber criminal could trivially rewrite those records so that when customers of a vulnerable ISP or network provider try to visit a particular Web site, they are instead taken to a counterfeit site created by the bad guys.
For example, if exploited, this flaw can easily help scammers steal personal information, such as social security numbers or bank accounts, by tricking people into entering sensitive data at fake bank and e-commerce sites.
Dan Kaminksy, the security researcher who discovered the flaw, worked in secrecy for nearly six months with a handful of other researchers to devise a fix for the flaw. On July 8, in a rare coordinated effort, dozens of software vendors - including Microsoft -- shipped security patches to help customers and network providers protect themselves.
On Wednesday, computer code demonstrating exactly how to exploit the flaw was posted online. The code also was summarily folded into Metasploit, a tool that makes exploiting the vulnerability a point and click operation within the reach of even the most novice of hackers.
In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Kaminsky said that data from a diagnostic tool he placed on his Web site to let visitors see if their ISP had patched the problem showed a large number of providers had indeed fixed it on their end, but that many still have not addressed the issue. Kaminsky said that on July 8, when the patches were first released, roughly 86 percent of the people who used the test tool were coming from unsecured networks. As of Thursday, he said, about 52 percent of visitors were in the same boat.
Lest anyone think this vulnerability is mere hype, consider the warnings from Kaminsky and others who say the flaw is attracting plenty of attention from cyber criminals.
"This attack is being weaponized out in the field," Kaminsky said.
Joao Damas, senior programming manager at the Internet Software Consortium, the entity which maintains BIND - the open-source software provider that powers a massive share of the DNS servers worldwide - said he has seen evidence of attackers trying to exploit the flaw.
"I have seen already code that is geared at exploiting this out in the wild, and I'm not even looking for it," Damas said.
My advice to readers is to visit the testing tool on Kaminsky's site. If the response is that your ISP is vulnerable, please post a note in the comments section saying so. If your ISP has not yet addressed this important flaw, please also consider protecting yourself using one of the following methods.
--Set up your system so that it uses the DNS resolvers provided by OpenDNS, an entity that provides a free service which routes all of you Web site queries through DNS servers that are not only patched against this flaw, but which can help you better spot phishing Web sites and prevent people on your network from visiting otherwise objectionable Web sites.
--Reconfigure your DNS settings to use servers that are known to be patched against this flaw. A few of those servers include 4.2.2.1, and 4.2.2.2. To do this in Windows, click Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, and double-click on the connection name that says it's already connected. From there, scroll down to the Internet Protocol setting, and click Properties. If it is not already checked, change the radio button to "Use the following DNS server addresses," and then type in 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 in the settings below. Click "OK" to finalize the settings. Note that you will only be permitted to make these changes if you are logged in to Windows using an administrator account.
While the patch Microsoft shipped earlier this month to address this problem on Windows machines addresses a facet of the vulnerability that is much more difficult for the bad guys to exploit, Windows users should still follow these steps. Many Windows users no doubt delayed installing this update or uninstalled it, following news that it prevented users of ZoneAlarm firewall products from being able to get online. ZoneAlarm has since pushed out an update that fixes this compatibility glitch.
One final note: While some people may question the sanity of making these changes given the fluid nature of ISPs working overtime to address this flaw, I would strongly urge readers to err on the side of caution. For one thing, online scam artists have shown to be increasingly eager to adopt the latest methods for scamming people online. Secondly, the stopgap solutions mentioned here are fairly simple fixes, remedies that -- even if left in place indefinitely -- will not adversely affect the online experience of most Internet users.
While Internet service providers and corporations can mitigate the danger by updating the software that powers vulnerable components of their networks, data released yesterday indicates that only about half of the world's online population is currently protected by these updates.
At issue is a basic design flaw in the domain name system. DNS is the communications standard that acts as a kind of telephone book for the Internet, translating human-friendly Web site names like example.com into numeric addresses that are easier for networking equipment to handle and route.
When people type a Web site name into their Internet browser, the process of routing of that name to Internet address is generally handled through DNS servers managed by Internet service providers and corporations.
But according to research released this month, most of those DNS servers are vulnerable to a security flaw that allows miscreants to silently alter the virtual road maps that those systems rely on to route traffic. As a result, a cyber criminal could trivially rewrite those records so that when customers of a vulnerable ISP or network provider try to visit a particular Web site, they are instead taken to a counterfeit site created by the bad guys.
For example, if exploited, this flaw can easily help scammers steal personal information, such as social security numbers or bank accounts, by tricking people into entering sensitive data at fake bank and e-commerce sites.
Dan Kaminksy, the security researcher who discovered the flaw, worked in secrecy for nearly six months with a handful of other researchers to devise a fix for the flaw. On July 8, in a rare coordinated effort, dozens of software vendors - including Microsoft -- shipped security patches to help customers and network providers protect themselves.
On Wednesday, computer code demonstrating exactly how to exploit the flaw was posted online. The code also was summarily folded into Metasploit, a tool that makes exploiting the vulnerability a point and click operation within the reach of even the most novice of hackers.
In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Kaminsky said that data from a diagnostic tool he placed on his Web site to let visitors see if their ISP had patched the problem showed a large number of providers had indeed fixed it on their end, but that many still have not addressed the issue. Kaminsky said that on July 8, when the patches were first released, roughly 86 percent of the people who used the test tool were coming from unsecured networks. As of Thursday, he said, about 52 percent of visitors were in the same boat.
Lest anyone think this vulnerability is mere hype, consider the warnings from Kaminsky and others who say the flaw is attracting plenty of attention from cyber criminals.
"This attack is being weaponized out in the field," Kaminsky said.
Joao Damas, senior programming manager at the Internet Software Consortium, the entity which maintains BIND - the open-source software provider that powers a massive share of the DNS servers worldwide - said he has seen evidence of attackers trying to exploit the flaw.
"I have seen already code that is geared at exploiting this out in the wild, and I'm not even looking for it," Damas said.
My advice to readers is to visit the testing tool on Kaminsky's site. If the response is that your ISP is vulnerable, please post a note in the comments section saying so. If your ISP has not yet addressed this important flaw, please also consider protecting yourself using one of the following methods.
--Set up your system so that it uses the DNS resolvers provided by OpenDNS, an entity that provides a free service which routes all of you Web site queries through DNS servers that are not only patched against this flaw, but which can help you better spot phishing Web sites and prevent people on your network from visiting otherwise objectionable Web sites.
--Reconfigure your DNS settings to use servers that are known to be patched against this flaw. A few of those servers include 4.2.2.1, and 4.2.2.2. To do this in Windows, click Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, and double-click on the connection name that says it's already connected. From there, scroll down to the Internet Protocol setting, and click Properties. If it is not already checked, change the radio button to "Use the following DNS server addresses," and then type in 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 in the settings below. Click "OK" to finalize the settings. Note that you will only be permitted to make these changes if you are logged in to Windows using an administrator account.
While the patch Microsoft shipped earlier this month to address this problem on Windows machines addresses a facet of the vulnerability that is much more difficult for the bad guys to exploit, Windows users should still follow these steps. Many Windows users no doubt delayed installing this update or uninstalled it, following news that it prevented users of ZoneAlarm firewall products from being able to get online. ZoneAlarm has since pushed out an update that fixes this compatibility glitch.
One final note: While some people may question the sanity of making these changes given the fluid nature of ISPs working overtime to address this flaw, I would strongly urge readers to err on the side of caution. For one thing, online scam artists have shown to be increasingly eager to adopt the latest methods for scamming people online. Secondly, the stopgap solutions mentioned here are fairly simple fixes, remedies that -- even if left in place indefinitely -- will not adversely affect the online experience of most Internet users.
Infamy or beautiful friendship
IT is a high ambition of the Rudd Government to greatly deepen Australia's engagement with India. Well, it is about to get the opportunity to do just that. This week, the Indian parliament passed a momentously important vote of confidence in the Government of Manmohan Singh.
This vote could be a pivot point in modern history. It was all about India's nuclear co-operation deal with the US. That Singh won the vote means that deal proceeds through its next vital stages, during which Australia, specifically the Rudd Government, will face two moments of decision that will be crucial for us.
In 2005, Singh agreed the deal with the Bush administration. Singh's Government was a coalition of his Congress Party and a range of parties on the Left. Its main opposition is the Hindu fundamentalist party, the BJP, on the Right. And then there are a range of regional parties of no fixed ideological address.
India is not a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and is not one of the five accepted nuclear weapons states (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China). But it possesses a nuclear weapons arsenal, so the world will not trade in nuclear materials or technology with India. This has partly blighted India's peaceful nuclear energy program.
Under the deal India will separate its peaceful nuclear energy program from its weapons program. It will put the reactors devoted to the production of electricity under complete supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency and commit to a voluntary moratorium on further tests of nuclear weapons.
In exchange the US will help India's peaceful nuclear energy program and will encourage other nations to engage in nuclear trade with India. France and Russia will sell nuclear reactors to India.
The deal was stalled for a long time because the left parties supporting Singh, especially the communists, hated it as they saw it drawing India into the US's strategic camp. The BJP opposed the deal, saying it gave away too much Indian sovereignty.
There, it seemed, we were stuck. But Singh - one of the most admirable men involved in international politics, a technocrat economist by profession, a politician by accident, and the true father of India's economic reforms - struck out against the left parties.
He proceeded with the deal and they deserted his Government. Now, in a magnificent democratic moment, he has won a decisive vote of confidence. There was a fierce and passionate debate in parliament. Much of it was of the highest quality, some of it was of the lowest farce. Some MPs brought wads of cash into the parliament saying they had been offered bribes for their vote. But no one has ever doubted Singh's personal integrity and no one does here.
It is worth pausing to praise Indian democracy. We all have a huge stake in India's success. The confidence vote shows that even big, raucous democracies can make fundamental strategic decisions. With the resurgence of tyranny as a political ideology in Russia and China, it is absolutely critical that India succeed in combining democracy and development. And this vote gives that combination a huge shot in the arm.
The mechanics of the deal means that it will now be considered by the IAEA, perhaps as soon as next week. The IAEA is expected to provide a special set of arrangements for India.
This may be complicated by a last-ditch effort from Pakistan to get the deal scuttled. But last night the smart money was on the IAEA approving the special arrangements for India.
Then the deal must be approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Here's where Australia comes in. With something like 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves, Australia is a key member of the NSG. So far, the Rudd Government has not said whether it will support the US-India deal at the NSG or oppose it.
It has however hinted that it would support the deal at the NSG, a hint Foreign Minister Stephen Smith repeated yesterday. Certainly Australia could kiss goodbye forever the idea of any decent relationship with India if it opposes the deal at the NSG.
Accepting the deal at the NSG would not commit Australia to supplying uranium to India. However, that will be the next big question.
If the NSG can be sorted out in the next six weeks or so, the Indians are still hopeful that they can get the deal to the US Congress for final ratification by September. It would also need a further ratification in the Indian parliament. US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has indicated he will not seek to renegotiate the deal. Republican John McCain will also support the deal.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb has effectively homed in on the contradiction between the Rudd Government selling uranium to China - which has a terrible, though not recent, record of nuclear proliferation - while refusing to sell uranium to India, which has never passed on nuclear technology to anyone.
The Howard government had decided in favour of selling uranium to India. It is fair to say this debate has not yet moved beyond the specialists. But the Rudd Government will face a deep contradiction between supporting the US-India deal in the NSG, then saying it will not sell uranium to India. It will face an even bigger contradiction between its concern with greenhouse gas emissions and taking action, by refusing uranium to India, that impedes the development of clean energy.
Singh told the Indian parliament: "India needs to grow at 10 per cent to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease ... A basic requirement is the availability of energy ... We must make full use of atomic energy, which is a clean, environment-friendly source of energy.
"All over the world there is growing realisation of the importance of atomic energy to meet the challenge of energy security and climate change."
In his speech, Singh listed 10 countries with which India has particularly good relations. Australia was not among them.
I suspect that very soon we will enter the top 10 with a bullet or sink to a previously unimagined place of infamy in the Indian mind. This Indian parliamentary vote was mighty important for us, too.
This vote could be a pivot point in modern history. It was all about India's nuclear co-operation deal with the US. That Singh won the vote means that deal proceeds through its next vital stages, during which Australia, specifically the Rudd Government, will face two moments of decision that will be crucial for us.
In 2005, Singh agreed the deal with the Bush administration. Singh's Government was a coalition of his Congress Party and a range of parties on the Left. Its main opposition is the Hindu fundamentalist party, the BJP, on the Right. And then there are a range of regional parties of no fixed ideological address.
India is not a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and is not one of the five accepted nuclear weapons states (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China). But it possesses a nuclear weapons arsenal, so the world will not trade in nuclear materials or technology with India. This has partly blighted India's peaceful nuclear energy program.
Under the deal India will separate its peaceful nuclear energy program from its weapons program. It will put the reactors devoted to the production of electricity under complete supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency and commit to a voluntary moratorium on further tests of nuclear weapons.
In exchange the US will help India's peaceful nuclear energy program and will encourage other nations to engage in nuclear trade with India. France and Russia will sell nuclear reactors to India.
The deal was stalled for a long time because the left parties supporting Singh, especially the communists, hated it as they saw it drawing India into the US's strategic camp. The BJP opposed the deal, saying it gave away too much Indian sovereignty.
There, it seemed, we were stuck. But Singh - one of the most admirable men involved in international politics, a technocrat economist by profession, a politician by accident, and the true father of India's economic reforms - struck out against the left parties.
He proceeded with the deal and they deserted his Government. Now, in a magnificent democratic moment, he has won a decisive vote of confidence. There was a fierce and passionate debate in parliament. Much of it was of the highest quality, some of it was of the lowest farce. Some MPs brought wads of cash into the parliament saying they had been offered bribes for their vote. But no one has ever doubted Singh's personal integrity and no one does here.
It is worth pausing to praise Indian democracy. We all have a huge stake in India's success. The confidence vote shows that even big, raucous democracies can make fundamental strategic decisions. With the resurgence of tyranny as a political ideology in Russia and China, it is absolutely critical that India succeed in combining democracy and development. And this vote gives that combination a huge shot in the arm.
The mechanics of the deal means that it will now be considered by the IAEA, perhaps as soon as next week. The IAEA is expected to provide a special set of arrangements for India.
This may be complicated by a last-ditch effort from Pakistan to get the deal scuttled. But last night the smart money was on the IAEA approving the special arrangements for India.
Then the deal must be approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Here's where Australia comes in. With something like 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves, Australia is a key member of the NSG. So far, the Rudd Government has not said whether it will support the US-India deal at the NSG or oppose it.
It has however hinted that it would support the deal at the NSG, a hint Foreign Minister Stephen Smith repeated yesterday. Certainly Australia could kiss goodbye forever the idea of any decent relationship with India if it opposes the deal at the NSG.
Accepting the deal at the NSG would not commit Australia to supplying uranium to India. However, that will be the next big question.
If the NSG can be sorted out in the next six weeks or so, the Indians are still hopeful that they can get the deal to the US Congress for final ratification by September. It would also need a further ratification in the Indian parliament. US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has indicated he will not seek to renegotiate the deal. Republican John McCain will also support the deal.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb has effectively homed in on the contradiction between the Rudd Government selling uranium to China - which has a terrible, though not recent, record of nuclear proliferation - while refusing to sell uranium to India, which has never passed on nuclear technology to anyone.
The Howard government had decided in favour of selling uranium to India. It is fair to say this debate has not yet moved beyond the specialists. But the Rudd Government will face a deep contradiction between supporting the US-India deal in the NSG, then saying it will not sell uranium to India. It will face an even bigger contradiction between its concern with greenhouse gas emissions and taking action, by refusing uranium to India, that impedes the development of clean energy.
Singh told the Indian parliament: "India needs to grow at 10 per cent to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease ... A basic requirement is the availability of energy ... We must make full use of atomic energy, which is a clean, environment-friendly source of energy.
"All over the world there is growing realisation of the importance of atomic energy to meet the challenge of energy security and climate change."
In his speech, Singh listed 10 countries with which India has particularly good relations. Australia was not among them.
I suspect that very soon we will enter the top 10 with a bullet or sink to a previously unimagined place of infamy in the Indian mind. This Indian parliamentary vote was mighty important for us, too.
US confident of getting IAEA,NSG nod;cites India's trackrecord
Ahead of the crucial IAEA meeting, the US today said it was confident of making "a very good case" before the UN atomic watchdog and NSG for the nuclear deal with India because of New Delhi's impressive non-proliferation record and would "expeditiously" push the agreement in the Congress.
"The civil nuclear deal is important for the United States, important for India, but also important in helping to advance the nonproliferation framework, the regime in which countries are operating," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Perth.
"I think that's why the deal has received the support of Mohamed El Baradei (chief) of the IAEA because India has a very good record on proliferation," Rice said at a joint press meet with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith who gave the clearest indication so far that his country is ready to back the deal at the NSG despite its refusal to sell Uranium to India, asserting that they were two different issues.
In her first public comments after Manmohan Singh government won the trust vote, Rice said "we welcome the parliamentary vote." Rice said the US will continue to consult with countries of the IAEA Board of Governors and with the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG). "But I think we can make a very good case that this is a not just a landmark deal, but a positive landmark deal," the top US official said.
Asked whether the deal will go through before the end of the Bush Administration's term in January, Rice said "it's certainly our hope that we can get through all of the processes and get this done in the Congress. And were going to work very expeditiously toward that goal." PTI
"The civil nuclear deal is important for the United States, important for India, but also important in helping to advance the nonproliferation framework, the regime in which countries are operating," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Perth.
"I think that's why the deal has received the support of Mohamed El Baradei (chief) of the IAEA because India has a very good record on proliferation," Rice said at a joint press meet with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith who gave the clearest indication so far that his country is ready to back the deal at the NSG despite its refusal to sell Uranium to India, asserting that they were two different issues.
In her first public comments after Manmohan Singh government won the trust vote, Rice said "we welcome the parliamentary vote." Rice said the US will continue to consult with countries of the IAEA Board of Governors and with the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG). "But I think we can make a very good case that this is a not just a landmark deal, but a positive landmark deal," the top US official said.
Asked whether the deal will go through before the end of the Bush Administration's term in January, Rice said "it's certainly our hope that we can get through all of the processes and get this done in the Congress. And were going to work very expeditiously toward that goal." PTI
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