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Education Projects: Upgradation of the educational infrastructure of the schools in the Central
province including teachers’ training, setting up of 10 computer labs, setting up of 20 e-libraries
(Nenasalas), Mahatma Gandhi scholarship scheme for +2 students and setting up of a vocational
training centre in Puttalam. India also contributes to the Ceylon Workers Education Trust that gives
scholarships to the children of estate workers.
Training: A training programme for 465 Sri Lankan police officers commenced in December 2005.
Another 400 Sri Lankan police personnel are being trained for the course of ‘Maintenance of Public
Order’.
INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL
The 123 Agreement signed between the United States of America and the Republic of India is known
as the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement or Indo-US nuclear deal. The framework for this agreement
was a July 18, 2005, joint statement by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then US President
George W Bush, under which India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and to
place all its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards
and, in exchange, the United States agreed to work toward full civil nuclear cooperation with India.
This US-India deal took more than three years to come to fruition as it had to go through several
complex stages, including amendment of US domestic law, specially the Atomic Energy Act of 1954,
a civil-military nuclear Separation Plan in India, an India-IAEA safeguards (inspections) agreement
and the grant of an exemption for India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an export-control cartel that
had been formed mainly in response to India’s first nuclear test in 1974. In its final shape, the deal
places under permanent safeguards those nuclear facilities that India has identified as “civil” and
permits broad civil nuclear cooperation, while excluding the transfer of “sensitive” equipment and
technologies, including civil enrichment and reprocessing items even under IAEA safeguards. On
August 18, 2008 the IAEA Board of Governors approved, and on February 2, 2009, India signed an
India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA. Once India brings this agreement into force,
inspections began in a phased manner on the 35 civilian nuclear installations India has identified in
its Separation Plan. The deal is seen as a watershed in US-India relations and introduces a new
aspect to international non-proliferation efforts. On August 1, 2008, the IAEA approved the
safeguards agreement with India, after which the United States approached the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) to grant a waiver to India to commence civilian nuclear trade. The 45-nation NSG
granted the waiver to India on September 6, 2008 allowing it to access civilian nuclear technology
and fuel from other countries. The implementation of this waiver made India the only known country
with nuclear weapons which is not a party to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but is still allowed
to carry out nuclear commerce with the rest of the world.
The US House of Representatives passed the bill on September 28, 2008. Two days later, India and
France inked a similar nuclear pact, making France the first country to have such an agreement with
India. On October 1, 2008 the US Senate also approved the civilian nuclear agreement allowing India
to purchase nuclear fuel and technology from the United States. US President, George W Bush, signed
the legislation on the Indo-US nuclear deal, approved by the US Congress, into law, now called the