If India demonstrates its commitment to a peaceful program through dismantling after becoming a signatory to the NPT, the NSG should then nominate India for membership. India will need to transfer its nuclear material via safeguards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will also monitor compliance: the associated costs of transferring material safely are not overwhelming, but coordination between the government officials and the Agency may increase such costs. The cooperation among all three parties will make the process more efficient and fair for all involved groups. The process will need to be carried out by a partnership among IAEA officials, scientific advisors, and Indian governmental officials. In the seven nuclear power plants, there are 21 nuclear reactors: some of them can be dismantled to demonstrate good faith toward implementation of the NPT provisions. Within the next year, India should begin to dismantle some of its nuclear facilities that are not used for civilian nuclear power. … It is a burden, but a reasonable one for a nation with world leadership ambitions.” The United States has already signed a deal that essentially bypasses the NPT with the US-India Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in 2006 that allowed India to “…buy and sell nuclear fuel and technology…for civilian purposes, without having to join the NPT or dismantle any of its existing nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons making program.” Exceptions have already been made for India, and India must make a gesture of good faith to substantiate its commitment to a peaceful nuclear program. India “…has a responsibility to show the world that its four-decade-long incisive rhetoric on disarmament is backed up by concrete deeds. If India is committed to a peaceful nuclear program as it has stated many times, and represents the view of several prime ministers (including Narendra Modi), compliance should not be problematic. The concern is not the inclusion of India itself: indeed, any state that wishes to gain membership to the NSG should be held to the same standards as all others. As the de facto leader of the NSG, the United States maintains a great deal of influence over the NSG, and it must look beyond its short-term goals of strengthening the US-India alliance over undermining the long-term effect of diminishing the legitimacy of the NPT. The United States must withhold nomination of India to the NSG until India has signed and complied with the NPT. ġ – Withhold India’s Nomination to the NSG until it has signed the NPT Each of the three steps will seek to identify the primary actors involved, set a general timeframe, estimate costs of implementing each step, and present deliverables that demonstrate the objective has been fulfilled. In order to strengthen and maintain the legitimacy of the NPT and NSG, three critical steps must be taken these will need to be carried out by different actors, each of whom plays a critical role in enforcing non-proliferation throughout the international community. To ensure the safety of NSG member states and other countries around the world, dual use technology and the transfer of science and technology information must be more thoroughly scrutinized. Non-proliferation and nuclear issues are generally sensitive topics and thus enforcement of international norms and governing international doctrines must not be undermined. Only states that exploded a nuclear weapon before 1976-namely, the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France-qualify as a Nuclear Weapon State (NWS)-while all other signatories remain classified as non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS). As one of the main governing paradigms on nuclear non-proliferation in the international community, the NPT sets forth certain standards that prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and associated material. Ratification of the NPT has been a prerequisite to joining the NSG, and moving away from this tradition by admitting India-a non-signatory state of the NPT-would indicate that the NPT is a dated, potentially unnecessary document. The likely nomination of India to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) sets a troublesome precedent that undermines the legitimacy of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the NSG.
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