Page 267 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

Ms Rice was aware of the Indian decision before she left Washington. But she was very hopeful
that the deal would be signed as the US state department had said that the President’s signature was
not prerequisite for Rice to ink the deal. Rice had earlier said that there were still a number of
administrative details to be worked out even as she insisted that the US would abide by the Hyde Act
on the testing issue:

US President George W Bush signed the legislation on the Indo-US nuclear deal into law on

October 8. The new law, called the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-
proliferation Enhancement Act, was signed by President Bush at a brief White House function in the
presence of the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Vice-
President Dick Cheney and the Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen besides a large gathering of
other dignitaries. The final administrative aspect of the deal was completed after Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee signed the bilateral instruments of
the 123 Agreement in Washington on October 10 paving the way for operationalization of the deal

between the two countries.

Chronology of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal

July 18, 2005: President Bush and Prime Minister Singh first announce their intention to
enter into a nuclear agreement in Washington.

March 1, 2006: Bush visits India for the first time.

March 3, 2006: Bush and Singh issue a joint statement on their growing strategic
partnership, emphasising their agreement on civil nuclear cooperation.

July 26, 2006: The US House of Representatives passes the ‘Henry J Hyde United States-
India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006,’ which stipulates that Washington

will cooperate with New Delhi on nuclear issues and exempt it from signing the Nuclear
Non-proliferation Treaty.

July 28, 2006: In India, the Left parties demand threadbare discussion on the issue in
Parliament.

November 16, 2006: The US Senate passes the ‘United States-India Peaceful Atomic
Energy Cooperation and US Additional Protocol Implementation Act’ to “exempt from
certain requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 United States exports of nuclear
materials, equipment, and technology to India.”

December 18, 2006: President Bush signs into law congressional legislation on Indian

atomic energy.

July 27, 2007: Negotiations on a bilateral agreement between the United States and India