The Newshour Debate: Narendra Modi Outdoes Manmohan Singh? - Part 2 (25th Jan 2015)
Subscribe Now To Our Network Channels The NewsHour Debate : http://goo.gl/LfNgFF ET Now : http://goo.gl/5XreUq Times Now : http://goo.gl/U9ibPb Social Media Links :- Twitter - http://goo.gl/FzJIpz Facebook - http://goo.gl/CC7rGc G+ - http://goo.gl/O1iEp5 Also visit our website - http://goo.gl/XPUXe8 Tonight a bitter Congress now asks questions on transparency over the nuclear deal breakthrough, after its own policy paralysis left the deal frozen for 6 years. While former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laboured to pass the bill, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who piped him to the post, leaving the Congress high and dry. Earlier in the day, India and the US broke the 7-year-old logjam in operationalising their landmark civil nuclear agreement with an announcement that "the deal is done" after talks between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In what Obama called a "breakthrough", the two sides have resolved key hurdles pertaining to the liability of suppliers of nuclear reactors in the event of an accident and the tracking of fuel supplied by the US and other countries for its proposed nuclear plants. "We have broken the logjam of the past few years. We have reached an agreement. The deal is done," Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh announced after extended discussions between Obama and Modi lasting more than three hours. The White House said tonight that the understanding on the civil nuclear programme resolves the US concerns on both tracking and liability. "In our judgement, the Indians have moved sufficiently on these issues to give us assurances," Ben Rhodes, US Deputy National Security Adviser told American journalists. According to Rhodes, it will still be for the US companies to assess the market and decide whether to partake in India's nuclear programme. Neither country needed to take legislative action to complete the agreements reached between the two leaders. The nuclear deal was the centrepiece of Obama-Modi discussions given its contentious nature but the two leaders reached understanding on a number of other areas including defence. Obama said US and India have made progress on defence partnership and decided to renew the framework agreement for 10 more years. "Today, we have also decided to take our growing defence cooperation to a new level. We have agreed, in principle, to pursue co-development and co-production of specific advanced defence projects. "These will help upgrade our domestic defence industry; and expand the manufacturing sector in India. We will also explore cooperation in other areas of advanced defence technologies," Modi said. The Foreign Secretary said that assurances are given to the US side on both the liability clause and tracking issues. "The liability provisions and administrative arrangements finalised under 123 act (tracking) are consistent with our bilateral legal arrangements and contracts and IAEA safeguards and international laws and obligations," Singh said. "The civil nuclear agreement was the centrepiece of our transformed relationship, which demonstrated new trust. It also created new economic opportunities and expanded our option for clean energy. In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Manish Tewari, Sr Leader, Congress & Former MoS (IC), I & B; Kumar Ketkar, Sr Journalist; Nalin Kohli, National Spokesperson, BJP & Advocate; Naresh Gujral, MP, Rajya Sabha, SAD; Rakesh Sood, Former Diplomat and Maroof Raza, Consulting Editor, Strategic Affaris, TIMES NOW -- discuss the issue -- did Modi win where Manmohan failed?
