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We’ll wait for India to talk: IAEA chief Mumbai, October 9 However, with the ties between the Left parties and the UPA government straining on the issue, the nuclear establishment was keen to play down the exchange of notes between the two officials. Shortly after the meeting, ElBaradei sought to calm down fears that a secret deal between India and the agency might be stitched up. “Ďndia will approach me when it is ready,” he told reporters. He further added that the IAEA had not set up any time limit for talks with India. Sources here maintain that ElBaradei will hold further talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Capital tomorrow. IAEA chief is said to be keeping a track of the political developments in the country on the nuclear deal. Meanwhile, amid the controversy over the Indo-US nuclear deal, IAEA chief said India was a “valuable partner” for the UN nuclear watchdog and that they would continue to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. “We will continue to be partners in promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and also in arms control. India has always been a valuable partner even from the days of former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and we will continue to look for this partnership,” ElBaradei said. The IAEA chief, whose five-day visit to India is under intense scrutiny of the Left parties, made these remarks after inaugurating the advanced computerised technobalt machine for cancer treatment. He also praised India for its assistance to the Vienna-based international body in promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Elbaradei wanted developing
countries to make huge investments in science and technology and not to rely on imported technologies. India is a model for the developing world for its continued investment in science and technology and is also expanding its nuclear power programme, he added. At a function held at the Advanced Centre for Training, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) here, the Bhabhatron-II was officially donated by India to the IAEA’s
Programme for Action of Cancer Therapy and is to be sent to a hospital in Vietnam. ElBaradei said, “I salute India for the generous donation of the Bhabhatron-II to another developing country to ensure the benefits of the device to people in need.” Dr Kakodkar said the Bhabhatron-II will be sent to Vietnam by the Department of Atomic Energy as soon as possible. “We want to see more such collaborations in the near future which will benefit mankind,” Kakodkar said. Speaking at the function, BARC director S. Banerjee said the Bhabhatron-II had a lot of advantages over the imported teletherapy machines. The machine had an automated source withdrawal technique, was battery operated, accident free and low cost, he said. Dr K.A. Dinshaw, director, Tata Memorial Centre, said with the increasing number of the cancer patients in the country who need radiation therapy, India needs at least 1,000 units of such teletherapy machines. In spite of the fact that cobalt was being replaced in teletherapy machines across the world with linear accelerator technology, India will continue to use cobalt machines due to its robustness and low cost, she said.
Find solution: Allies
New Delhi, October 9 Speaking at the meeting of the UPA-Left nuclear panel today, Union ministers Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad Yadav and T.R. Baalu are learnt to have expressed their reservations about an early general election and said instability would not be in the country’s interests. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, it is learnt, even went so far as to suggest that the government should not be sacrificed to save the nuclear deal. “The nuke deal should not be at the cost of the government,” Pawar is learnt to have told the joint committee, which met here ostensibly to resolve differences over the nuclear agreement but ended inconclusively with both the Left and the Congress reiterating their known positions. The committee is slated to hold its next meeting on October 22 with all leaders taking a break for the festive season. UPA sources said Lalu Prasad Yadav agreed with Pawar when the latter said all efforts should be made to avert any crisis to the UPA government. The NCP leader is credited with the view that the concerns of the Left parties ought to be addressed since they are extending critical support to the ruling alliance. Although UPA allies have backed the deal wholeheartedly, speculation of a possible mid-term election seems to have unnerved them sufficiently to suggest that the government and the Left parties arrive at an amicable solution. Left leaders, it is stated, clarified that contrary to popular perception they did not favour a mid-term poll and that they have never spoken about withdrawing support to the UPA government. The NCP and the RJD stand has come as a shot in the arm for the Left who had found themselves isolated on the controversial nuclear deal. The Left leaders, on their part, toned down their rhetoric. Striking a conciliatory tone CPM leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters “the nuclear agreement and not mid-term poll was on their agenda”.
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