This article was published in the IPCS website. It was written while I was Associate Fellow, Indian Pugwash Society, New Delhi.
The article published in IPCS website by Alex Stolar titled India at Crossroads: Next Steps in the Nuclear Deal correctly mentions that "India has been given once in a lifetime opportunity." India does need the nuclear fuel for the continuation of its civilian nuclear program and also does get acceptance as a de facto nuclear power as a result of the deal. But the cooperation also furthers US's strategic goals of finding a regional counterbalance to a rising China and of gaining an important ally on the Iran issue. Also, the Indo-US nuclear deal and the resultant nuclear trade have extended a lifeline to the American and other Western corporations whose fortunes were adversely affected ever since the West stopped commissioning new reactors. The recently completed feasibility report by the French company Aveva to set up six civilian nuclear plants in India, with each nuclear reactor costing over one billion Euros, is a case in point.