HYDERABAD: Dr Manmohan Singh, the architect of modern India, is world renowned for ending the stifling licence raj and setting the country on the path of faster economic growth. However, this is not the only achievement that posterity will recall him for.
His another major achievement was ending the global nuclear and technology apartheid against India, by signing the civil nuclear agreement with the United States — even at the risk of him losing the most coveted post of the Prime Minister.
Barely one year into his new government in July 2005, Dr Singh and US President George W. Bush announced their intention to enter into a nuclear agreement in Washington. In one year — July 2006, the US Congress agreed for nuclear trade with India by exempting it from signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
He did not budge from his commitment even in the face of the Left parties — key allies for the Congress-led UPA — threatening to dislodge his government. Dr Singh successfully faced a vote of confidence on the single point opposition of the Left parties against the nuclear deal.
Under the leadership of Dr Singh, India, with the help of the US, got the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to approve India-specific safeguards. India became the only country, which did not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to get a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for nuclear commerce.
Though India is still not a member of NSG because of China’s opposition, India voluntarily accepted to follow its restrictions governing nuclear trade.
Though India is yet to realise the full potential of nuclear energy, the Indo-US nuclear deal allowed India under the BJP-led government to enter all but one elite arms regimes such as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement, and the Australia Group.
India’s inclusion into these regimes ended decades long nuclear and technology apartheid against the country. It helped the country’s best minds to collaborate on critical technologies with their counterparts in the western countries, which is powering India’s rapid strides in the high-end technologies.