4 JUNE 2016

Ø   Weeks after China announced that it intends to block India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Friday a high-power campaign was under way aimed at “engaging all members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group” in the run-up to the extraordinary plenary that NSG will host in Vienna on June 9. The plenary is likely to consider India’s application to become a member of the group. India’s quest of NSG membership is likely to feature prominently during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Switzerland, the U.S. and Mexico which are part of his five-nation trip beginning on Saturday. “This [membership of NSG] has been an objective that we have pursued for many years now. We believe we made a lot of progress and that has led us to formally apply to NSG some days ago. We are engaging all NSG members regarding this issue,” S. Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary, told the media at the MEA on Friday. The more NSG-focused leg of the five-nation trip will begin with Mr. Modi arriving in Switzerland on Monday and going onward to the U.S. on June 6. The Prime Minister will visit Mexico, a critical NSG member, for a day before returning to India on June 9. Both Mexico and Switzerland are known as “non-proliferation hardliners” who constitute a strong group in the NSG. While NSG’s Chairperson Rafael Grossi told The Hindu in November 2015 that he would begin consultation with various countries that are part of the 48-member group for India’s membership, the process of India’s admission received an early jolt from China on May 19. Beijing announced that it sought membership of NPT as a precondition for any new membership of the NSG. India has traditionally opposed the NPT as a discriminatory instrument and did not sign it. President Pranab Mukherjee subsequently paid a visit to China. On the eve of Mr. Modi’s five-nation tour, the South Korean ambassador to India Hyun Cho extended a personal note of support for India’s membership in the group which controls supply of nuclear material and technology in the world. “South Korea happens to be the chair of NSG meetings this year. It is high time that India gets invited to NSG as it has an impeccable track record,” he said. “What matters to NSG members is the track record of an applicant.” “Getting us into the NSG will help facilitate nuclear trade with us,” Mr. Jaishankar said, while arguing that India’s growing energy needs require a re-ordered nuclear supply regulation. Mr. Jaishankar deconstructed the argument which has been extended by “non-proliferation hardliners” who say that to become eligible for the NSG, India should first become a signatory of the NPT. “NSG is a regime – a flexible arrangement among states which is quite different from the NPT which is a treaty.” He argued that membership will help both India’s plans to move away from fossil fuel reliance and said that the NSG already exempted India once in 2008 when it noted “the energy needs of India” after it separated military and civilian reactors in 2008 following the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement. Experts had cautioned that China’s opposition is a serious threat. However the “extraordinary plenary” at the NSG will discuss “new applications” including those from India and Pakistan.

Ø  After bagging the strategically important Chabahar Port in Iran, the government is looking eastwards and is in discussions with Bangladesh to develop a similar facility in Paira. India Ports Global, the joint venture between the state-run JNPT and Kandla Port for overseas ports, is interested in the expressions of interest which have been invited for construction of Paira/Payra port in Bangladesh, the Shipping Ministry said in a release on Friday. “ ... Talks are on between our Foreign Ministry and them [Bangladesh]. Dhaka also wants us. We have sent a team there for studies,” Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters, but did not disclose the port’s location. A media report in February said China had evinced keen interest in building the Paira port. In what was taken as a reflection of the growing Indo-Bangladeshi ties, Dhaka had cancelled the deal and was about to award it to New Delhi. The Narendra Modi government has been talking about an ‘Act East’ policy, as against the previous regime’s ‘Look East’ policy, and the moves to build maritime infrastructure in Iran in the West and Bangladesh in the East seem to be part of that approach.

Ø  Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced a tentative deadline of October for the completion of talks with Iran regarding the development of that country’s Farzad-B gas project by a consortium of Indian companies and said the commercial terms are yet to be finalised. “Iran has given an in-principle approval for the deal,” Mr. Pradhan told reporters during a press conference highlighting the achievements of his ministry in the last two years. “The price is yet to be settled. While they need a viable royalty amount, our companies also need a suitable economic incentive. We are trying to complete the talks by October.” The Farzad-B field, discovered in 2012, is estimated to have 21.68 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves. The deal with Iran would see development of the field by a consortium of Indian companies led by ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. The Minister also said he welcomed the interest shown by international companies like Saudi Aramco and Total SA of France to invest in India. A license to sell fuel in India is subject to a company investing Rs. 2,000 crore in oil and gas infrastructure, whether it is in refineries, exploration and production, pipelines or terminals. On queries about ONGC’s purchase of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) assets in the Krishna-Godavari area, the minister said: “ONGC and GSPC are talking at their level. There is no problem in that. If they reach an understanding, then that is good,” Mr Pradhan said. The Minister also unveiled the unified guidelines for the awarding of LPG distributorship. Under the new system, there will be four broad types of distributorships with varying refill ceiling limits – Sheheri (Urban), Rurban (a combination of rural and urban), Gramin (rural) and Durgam Vitrak (for hilly and difficult to reach locations). The new guidelines also provide for a 33 per cent reservation of the licenses for women across all categories. “In this year, the oil marketing companies will start the process for selection of new distributors in 10,000 new locations,” Mr Pradhan said. He also said that his Ministry was in talks with the Finance Ministry for a single price for both the domestic as well as commercial usage of LPG. The minister highlighted some achievements of his Ministry over the last two years such as the Rs. 30,000 crore of LPG subsidies directly transferred to beneficiaries’ accounts between January and May of this year. While India currently has an LPG consumption of 19 million metric tonnes, this is set to increase substantially.