Are India, US on the Verge of a Breakthrough on Nuclear Agreement?

New Delhi: As US President Barack Obama heads to India for a historic second visit, NDTV has learnt that there has been significant progress on the nuclear deal, which has been stalled since 2008.

Sources say India is "optimistic" about the possibility of an agreement when the two leaders meet in Delhi on Sunday. The final push has to be given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, they said.

Barring any last minute differences, this could be a key breakthrough, said sources.

Ahead of the visit, the main stumbling block has not just been the liability issue, where US companies have concerns about having to pay up huge amounts in case of an accident, but also America's insistence on "flagging" or tracking the nuclear material they supply to India.
 
The US wants to track the whereabouts of material they supply, which is required under its rules. But India says the demand is intrusive, especially in view of the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, which are in place.

The implementation of the India-US nuclear deal, worked out during the UPA government's first term, headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2008, had been stalled over the tough provisions in India's Civil Nuclear Liability Act.

During his visit to the US in September, PM Modi and President Obama had decided to set up a high-level Contact Group on civil nuclear cooperation.

The group has held three rounds of detailed discussions on a range of implementation issues - administrative, liability, technical and licensing - to facilitate the establishment of US-designed nuclear power plants in India.