US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pleaded to Congress to amend the country's law concerning atomic energy so as to enable the country to implement a nuclear agreement, which President George W Bush had recently signed with India during his recent visit in New Delhi.

The deal has given an access to India to equip this country with civilian nuclear technology, which has long been denied.  It is conditional, India would in return place most of its nuclear reactors under international inspection and that's important.

This agreement is considered very significant for the countries, USA and India, so it must be cleared by the US Congress so as to get it implemented in mutual interest.

The Bush administration has earlier proposed to Congress that an India-specific amendment be made to the US Atomic Energy Act, which has till now prohibited nuclear sales to states including India who are not the signatories to the NPT. 
 
Though India has since refused to sign the NPT and has developed nuclear weapons, US has no objections to that and has gone for the new agreements as a special case.

The deal, however, has met with sharp criticism from different quarters in Congress. Democratic Representative Edward Markey, co-chairman of the Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, said the agreement undercuts the very foundation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

But Rice, writing in The Washington Post newspaper, called the agreement 'historic.'

'This agreement is a strategic achievement,' she said. 'It shall most certainly strengthen international security. It will enhance energy security and environmental protection. It will also foster economic and technological development.'

The secretary of state insists that the deal will also 'help transform the partnership between the world's oldest and the world's largest democracy.'