If a month ago US President Barack Obama began his India visit with Mumbai, the country’s financial hub, French leader Nicolas Sarkozy underlined his interest in the nuclear and defence arena by arriving first in Bengaluru, a leading centre of nuclear and space sciences and defence production, for his four-day visit. The keenness of the French interest in these areas is evident from the fact that the French President has been in India in the first as well as the last month of the current year.
India reciprocated the move with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visiting France in September. The emphasis in these interactions has been on the supply of French nuclear reactors to India. The French have also evinced keen interest in supplying helicopters and fighter jets to India. This country is in the market for a $80-billion defence package in the next decade or so. France is also one of the world’s leading producers of nuclear energy, with a substantial proportion of its own electricity generation being met by nuclear power. Saying it directly, Mr Sarkozy noted in Bengaluru that nuclear energy will “now be the focus of our cooperation”. He also observed quite rightly that India’s stated intention to raise its nuclear power generation from 4,000 MW per annum to 62,000 MW in a relatively short period represented not only a change of scale but also a “change of attitude”. He is the first international statesman to make that pithy point.
India has given the go-ahead for the fabrication of the first two of the envisaged six French reactors — totalling 10,000 MWe — at Jaitpur in Maharashtra at a cost of more than $9 billion. This suggests it is eventually expected to produce about 16 per cent of its nuclear generation using French reactors. The agreement thus underlines the depth and intensity of bilateral relations that the two countries hope to establish. After the operationalisation of the India-US civil nuclear agreement of 2005, which helped to place India back into the international mainstream of nuclear commerce, it is clear that international supplies of reactors for nuclear power generation would be sourced to the United States, Russia and France. This should help quell criticism that India was seeking to place too great a reliance on the United States in this sensitive area. That impression has persisted, although India had begun talks with Russia and France for assistance in nuclear power generation before the bilateral agreement with the US was inked in 2005. The idea of diversification of sources of supply of crucial high technology equipment goes back to the time of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who began to work on an opening with France in 1980-81. That was the first move in the country’s foreign policy to move from a single-supplier system, as represented then by the former Soviet Union. Multiple-sourcing in these spheres allows for greater freedom in foreign policy. Seen in this light, it is to be welcomed that the present government has not tied itself down to any one country for high-performance military hardware.
During his visit Mr Sarkozy also endorsed India’s ambition to be in the UN Security Council as a permanent member. We should not get carried away by this. The French leader has hinted that India’s actions in the UNSC as a non-permanent member over the two-year term beginning January 1, 2011 will be watched with interest by the veto-wielding permanent members (including France). In any case, the issue of restructuring the UN to allow for more permanent members is part of a tortuous process. In the final analysis, a good deal will also depend on the degree of leverage India is able to command in the international arena in the near future. All things considered, strengthening bonds with France, a leading European power, is a good idea.