I strongly recommend an informative article ‘US Congress and the N-deal: Substance to Process’ to those who have been following the US-India nuclear tie-up. The article is written by a well-known Indian columnist C Raja Mohan and appears in today’s (Monday) Indian Express.
Excerpts from the article: “As India and the US begin technical talks in New Delhi today on a formal bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, the focus of the American debate on the nuclear deal has shifted from substantive issues to process-related questions. While American opponents have not given up the fight on the substance of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, the process of getting the U.S. Congress to act is now gathering momentum.
“The non-proliferation lobby in Washington is set to unveil a statement from a number of Nobel laureates opposing the deal this week. In the complex politics between the administration and the U.S. Congress, expertise in one area is not necessarily credible in another.
“Meanwhile, expectations are rising that the House International Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will soon conclude their deliberations on the deal and “mark upâ€? the bills later this month for a vote in the full House of Representatives and the Senate.
“The big shift in the American focus from substance to the process is reflected in a new report on the Indo-US deal released last week by the prestigious US Council on Foreign Relations.”
In addition to this article, there was also a discussion in April this year on Indo-US nuclear agreement recorded at the PBS.
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.