US confirms India in narcotics list

The Government has admitted in Parliament that the United States has put India on the list of countries engaged in production and smuggling of narcotics.

When asked whether the US had included India also in the list of countries engaged in production and smuggling of narcotics, Finance Minister P Chidambaram replied in the affirmative in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The minister said that the government had taken up the matter with the US government.

The US government has indicated that India's inclusion in the list is primarily because of the 'large-scale diversion from opium production into the illicit market.'

The US has requested information over a period of time that diversion from such production has been reduced to a modest problem, Chidambaram said.

Under the US domestic law of Foreign Relations, the US President is required to identify countries as 'major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries' referred to as the 'Majors List.'

India, has been included in this list, Chidambaram said, adding that the country had not been listed as a country that has 'failed demonstrably.' The US President is also required under the Act to identify any country on the 'Majors List' that 'failed demonstrably' during the previous 12 months to adhere to international counter narcotics agreements or to take counter narcotics measures set forth in US law, he added.