Context: The United States has announced the removal of three Indian entities from its restrictive Entity List, in a move to remove hurdles for civil nuclear partnership between Indian and American firms.
Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: Key facts about the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement 2008; US Entity List.
Major Highlights:
- US Entity List: The US Entity List is a list of foreign individuals, businesses, and organisations that are subject to export restrictions and licensing requirements for certain goods and technologies.
- Being placed on the Entity List does not outrightly prohibit transactions but imposes stringent licensing requirements.
- Inclusion on this list indicates that the US government has reasonable grounds to believe these entities may engage in activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests.
- The three entities removed from the US entity list are:
- Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)
- Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Centre (IGCAR)
- Indian Rare Earths (IRE)
- Significance: The removal of Indian entities is an attempt to facilitate implementation of the landmark India-U.S. Civil Nuclear agreement 2008.
US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement
- The US-India Nuclear Deal or the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement is a bilateral agreement signed between the US & India in 2008. It is popularly known as the 123 Agreement.
- Aim: To pave the way for allowing the US to share civilian nuclear technology with India.
- Benefits:
- Ends India’s nuclear isolation and technology denial regimes against India.
- Enables India to have civil nuclear cooperation as an equal partner with the US and the rest of the world.
- Allows US companies to supply nuclear fuel and dual-use nuclear technology (including materials and equipment that could be used to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium) for India’s civilian nuclear energy program.
- Enables India to meet the twin challenges of energy security and environmental sustainability.
- India agrees to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog group, access to its civilian nuclear program.
Key Facts
- India is not a signatory to the treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which it views as discriminatory.
- India has not signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
- India is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the main reason being its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Read More: US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation