India will not be in nuclear club: Rice

However, Washington and its three major western allies are against India's entry into the nuclear club as a weapon state.

"Let me be clear: We do not support India joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a nuclear weapon state," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared at a joint power lunch hosted on Monday by two of the largest Indian American associations that have come together to lobby for the deal.

"Rather, the goal of our initiative is to include India, for the first time ever, in the global non-proliferation regime," she said in a bid to sell the deal to critics who suggest that it would enable New Delhi to rapidly expand its nuclear arsenal.

By requiring India to place two-thirds of its existing and planned civil nuclear reactors under the watchful eye of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), this initiative would be a net gain for the cause of non-proliferation worldwide.

This is not the position of the US government alone but also that of Britain, France and Russia besides IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the custodian of global non-proliferation, Rice declared.