The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 16-2 to give a thumping majority support to the US-India nuclear cooperation accord on Thursday, a major step toward approval of the unprecedented deal. The debate preceding the vote lasted almost 90 minutes.
This comes two days after the House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee approved a similar measure. The votes make it likely that both chambers of Congress will approve the agreement.
In endorsing the India-US nuclear deal with overwhelming majorities one after the other, two key panels of the US Congress took slightly different routes to the same destination – building a bipartisan consensus while ensuring the legislature’s watchdog role,says IANS.
The bipartisan support for the Bill — now renamed “US and India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act, 2006” — determines its passage when it is put to a full-floor vote.
What happens next? For details please see here.
Pakistan is understandably annoyed. “A day after a key committee in the Congress endorsed a bill to implement the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, a bitter Pakistan today said it would not accept any ‘discriminatory treatment’ and that a ‘package deal’ for the two neighbouring countries would have better served the strategic stability in South Asia.”
Meanwhile as a sop, the Bush administration has notified Congress of an arms deal with Pakistan to supply F-16 Fighter Jets.
Pakistan would be permitted to purchase 18 new jet fighters, be able to order up an additional 18 of the planes and get 26 used jets already in its arsenal refurbished, says Khaleej Times.
Here I am reminded of a monkeys and cat’s tale we learn in schools both in India and Pakistan (but never learn a lesson from it).
There were two monkeys who were fighting over a ‘roti’ (bread). They invited a cat to be the judge. The cat brought a weighing scale so that both the monkeys could have equal portion. But while weighing, the cat kept nibbling at the roti to ensure a proper balance…and finally ended up eating the entire roti. Poor monkeys!!!
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.