The Indo-U.S. Nuclear Deal was envisaged during Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to the U.S. in July 2005 which led to a Joint Statement announcing a slew of bilateral measures on areas like energy, space, agriculture, commerce and science and technology. The most important development perhaps was to initiate the measure to strengthen energy security and promote the development of energy markets in India with the objective of ensuring sufficient affordable energy supplies.

After many twists and turns of over three years during which several clauses of the deal met with severe criticism and stiff opposition from some quarters, both in America and India, the two countries finally sealed the unprecedented deal, on October 10, 2008, putting an end to controversies as well as to 34 years of India's nuclear isolation.

The issue of the Indo-U.S. Civil Nuclear Deal is extremely complex involving national and international polity, nuclear non-proliferation, diplomacy as well as technicalities of the nuclear fuel cycle. This is also an important test case for both the United States and India to place their relationship in a new paradigm of collaborated acceleration rather than inconsistent progress in fits and starts. In the process, we will also be testing new waters of acceptance of India as a nuclear weapons state by the international community in general, and the nations in our immediate neighborhood, China and Pakistan, in particular.