ABSTRACT
The three-year long effort to set up the Indo-US Nuclear deal has finally concluded successfully. This was after surviving several major obstacles during each of which, opponents of the deal somewhat hastily declared it dead. The last of these was the stand-off caused by heated political disagreements in India over the deal, leading the Left parties to withdraw support from the UPA government. However, the government survived the ensuing no confi dence motion with the support of other parties, and once that happened, it quickly proceeded to complete the remaining steps on the nuclear deal. First came the safeguarding agreement with the IAEA which had been negotiated earlier but was now formally approved by the IAEA Board of Governors. This was followed by discussion on the India-specifi c waiver of sanctions by the NSG, initiated by the US, since India is not a member of the NSG. After marathon discussions and much uncertainty, this waiver was approved by consensus in the NSG on 6 September 2008. The last step was of getting the fi nal 123 Agreement approved by the US Congress. It was pretty certain, given the bipartisan support it enjoys in the Congress, that it would be approved sooner or later. The only question was whether the approval would come before the current Congress went to the polls in November 2008. That too was done in the nick of time through the hectic efforts of the US executive and the Indian-American community.
