Unknown to the public at large, France and India joined hands in the civil nuclear field two years after Independence. That agreement to extract thorium from monazite sand didn't work out but France opened its doors to the young Turks of the Indian civil nuclear establishment leading to cooperation in setting up a fast breeder reactor. This partnership was to continue despite the 1974 nuclear test that led to the transAtlantic cartel to put the squeeze on India lasting for over three decades.
It is also not known that the 1998 visit of Jacques Chirac led to talks on French company Areva opening talks for setting up six nuclear power plants, the second country after Russia to do so, while the rest of Europe and the U.S. were plotting to emasculate the Indian nuclear industry by placing technology transfer restrictions and blacklisting Indian companies. It is natural that after Russia, Indian nuclear scientists have developed confidence in the French ability to stand by their word on civil nuclear matters.
Just like in the nuclear field, what is not known to the public is that the Cheetah and the Chetak — the wasp-like helicopters seen flitting across snow encrusted mountains to service Indian soldiers perched on the heights of the Siachen and the Himalayas — are of French origin. So are the new submarines currently being assembled in Mumbai.
France has already been allocated land to set up six nuclear power reactors. New Delhi would now expect France to standby the commitment made by its President Nicholas Sarkozy for a ``complete'' civil nuclear partnership with India that would include enrichment and reprocessing (ENR), which is sought to be denied by the cartel of nuclear technology suppliers to countries like India that they think do not conform to their norms.
The two nations,which have always professed respect for each other's national security interests and shared the quest for strategic autonomy, could help further democratise global politics as well as help each other.
