Despite the shared values of democracy, liberalism and pluralism, for most part of the last half century, Indo-US relations suffered from lack of warmth. But now that we are on the verge of closing the civil nuclear deal, we can hopefully look forward to an era of strategic partnership and cooperation in trade, agriculture, energy, space exploration, satellite navigation, science and other technologies. The salience of this proposed new relationship is all too obvious and is bound to yield rich dividends for both the countries.

The India-US strategic partnership is logical culmination of a natural bonding that exists in the form of our commitment to open and diverse societies and recognition of the need to work unitedly to give a new thrust to the Global Democracy Initiative in countries that seek such assistance to strengthen their institutions and make them more credible and effective.

In fact, it can be said that the conclusion of the civil nuclear deal will be the first meaningful step in the direction of making India take its rightful place among the comity of nations. The initiative taken by both countries is acknowledgement of each other's importance and potential. For India, US cooperation is vital for its continued economic development and prosperity. For the US, India is an important destination of human resources to man its IT, BPO and KPO services.

The strategic partnership between India and USA will have the most important bearing on the ongoing war against terrorism. Both the countries have been subjected to most barbaric attacks and the threat has not fully abated so far to ensure peace. Together they can pursue more active and vigorous counterterrorism measures and mobilise international efforts in this direction. This partnership will also reduce US dependence on Pakistan -- a country that cannot keep its intelligence agency the ISI from extending help and assistance to its proxies -- the terror outfits and their patrons inside Pakistan.

It is true that India refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and suffered nuclear apartheid for more than three decades. But no one can fault India for having flouted any of the provisions envisaged in the treaty to ensure non-proliferation of nuclear material. In fact, despite being a non-signatory, India imposed on itself a regime of rules and discipline no less rigorous than NPT. India has been a responsible steward of nuclear technology, material, and know-how. India is not a proliferation threat that a smart counterproliferation strategy must combat; rather it is a partner to cultivate, in isolating terrorists and "rogue" states that are proliferation threats.

The established global nonproliferation regime is based on regulations that make no distinction between the responsible players and the rogue elements. Uniform application of these rules creates complications as we are not living in an ideal world. The non-proliferation regime needs to be sensitive to make a distinction between those who have a system of accountability in place and others who feel no compunction in playing havoc with international peace and safety. It must ensure that the good guys are not constrained, instead aim at identifying and isolating those whose past record is marked by byzantine proliferation activities.

All these years India trod a lonely path in pursuing nuclear research and development as we considered it an important and necessary input not only for building a developed and prosperous India but also to deter threats to our security and defence that we have been facing right from the time of our independence in 1947.
The new deal is an important step as it seeks to correct the existing anomaly of India's exclusion as an accepted nuclear-weapons power. India cannot be a threat to the new liberal world order; rather it has the potential to become an important and effective partner in building and promoting world peace and security.

The current growth rate of Indian economy will lead to increased development of industry, trade and services in coming years which in turn will require more availability of power. The present power scenario is rather depressing. There is an overall 12 per cent power shortage that needs to be repaired and for the next 15 years we require at least an additional installation of 10 pc power annually to maintain the momentum of growth by industry and agriculture.

According to an estimate, dependence on conventional sources of energy will mean using domestic and imported coal that will result in an emission of 130 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Hence the need to generate more and more power from comparatively cleaner sources like nuclear and gas-based stations. Since there are constraints on the availability of gas we have no option except to enhance our capability to generate nuclear power. The existing installed nuclear capacity is only about 3000 megawatts and now after the nuclear deal between India and USA is clinched; it will become feasible to make additions to the existing capacity. Nuclear power is the future source of power; hence it is important for countries to come together and make joint efforts to develop technologies that will help produce power at an affordable price, and the nuclear deal should be seen as our moving in that direction.

The other area of great importance is agriculture as we still have more than 60 pc of our people engaged in cultivation of crops to earn their livelihood. The strategic partnership must pave the way for formulation and implementation of programmes to create infrastructure to protect the poor people as they move off the land into urban economies that presently have few job opportunities, housing, and other resources to sustain them.

The India-US civil nuclear deal is not about generation of power alone, it is the cornerstone of the strategic partnership of two great democracies that will continually expand to promote the quality of life and ensure freedom from fear and terror.

Arif Mohammed Khan resigned as minister from Rajiv Gandhi's Council of Ministers in 1987 in protest after the government moved a bill in Parliament to overturn the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case. He has since remained a consistent voice of Muslim progressives