Blacklisting of agencies:
India-US talks may be hit
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 — The US move to blacklist 240 Indian government agencies, private companies and research institutions may cast its shadow on the next round of talks between the Prime Minister’s special emissary, Mr Jaswant Singh and American Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.

Mr Jaswant Singh is expected to lobby hard to impress upon his US counterpart about the possible fall-out of the US action. The next round of talks between the two is scheduled in Rome for November 19,1998. Interestingly the list will be published in the Federal Register on the same day.

Even as the analysts said that the blacklisting could affect the nuclear and missile-related commerce, the Scientific Adviser to the Indian Defence Minister, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam expressed confidence that India’s nuclear and missile development programmes would not be affected by the denial of technology by the USA. The analysts said those companies would be able to do business provided the traded good is not of "dual purpose".

A "good" is said to be of "dual purpose" if it can be used for both peaceful as well as destructive purposes. For instance, fertilisers can be used for farming as well as chemical warfare. This is where the issue is open for interpretation and some confusion may creep in, an expert said.

The US Administration is said to have claimed that the blacklisting is actually going to increase the flow of goods and services across the two countries.

This belief is predicated on the principle that the US industry would now know which goods are actually to be traded and which are to be not.

The meeting assumes significance in the wake of the possible fallout of the "entities list". The Clinton Administration had released a blacklist of over 300 Indian and Pakistani government agencies, government affiliated firms, private companies and military entities targeted for sanctions for alleged nuclear weapon development links.

Observers said that the USA had been trying to give the impression that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was committed to the signing of the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) without really acknowledging the Indian stand on negotiations.

The US Commerce Department had said that the release of the "entities list" was envisaged to "facilitate implementation of the sanctions by helping US exporters to conduct trade in a more transparent manner".

Among the blacklisted are the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, the Fertiliser Corporation of India, the National Aerospace Laboratory, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited among others.

Contrary to the US claim, the Indian industry has strongly condemned the US action of issuing the entities list. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Mr Rajesh V. Shah, said this reflected inconsistency of US policy towards India and particularly Indian industry.

Stating that this was "uncalled for, unwarranted, untimely and harmful to Indian business", Mr Shah said that it creates confusion about US strategy towards India.

According to the CII, the entity list implied that any US company doing business with the listed Indian organisations, or vice versa, would have go through a US licensing procedure and the basic presumption was that approval would be denied.

The Union Industry Minister, Mr Sikander Bakht, described the US move as a "childish game". "It is not at all fair and right. I don’t think that the USA should have played this sort of dirty game".

Mr Vijay Kirloskar, whose company’s name figures in the blacklist said that the exact implications of the US action was not clearly understood. He, however said that the move would not affect the company’s import requirements in any way.

The brain behind India’s missile programme, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said that science and technology was part of the global arena and should not be disturbed by technology denial regimes.

Dr Kalam said that whenever embargoes had been imposed on the country, it had emerged as a cost effective technology developer in a big way, including high technology areas.

Indigenous technology systems had made India self-reliant in food production, milk, vegetables, fruits, cereals and certain engineering systems and also in space technology. Defence technology and nuclear technology to a great extent, the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister said.

It is the duty of the scientific community to ensure that technology does not become a pawn in the hands of geo-politics, Dr Kalam said while inaugurating the Third International Associations of Technology Assessment and Forecasting Institutions (IATFI) here.