(This story originally appeared in on Jun 20, 2016)

NEW DELHI: At a time when questions are being raised about India’s non-proliferation credentials, one of world’s leading proponents of the international non-proliferation regime, Canada , has come out openly in support of India saying that the presence of India in the exclusive nuclear club will actually strengthen the Group’s export controls.Ahead of the NSG plenary later this week in Seoul, Canada also said that it was encouraging all NSG members to join in the consensus needed to achieve this objective "at the earliest possible date’’."India's role in international nuclear commerce is bound to keep growing in strength as the size of India's fleet of nuclear power plant, already one of the world`s largest, rapidly increases,’’ Canada’s acting high commissioner Jess Dutton Monday told TOI."As such, we believe India's membership in the NSG will reinforce the international nuclear non-proliferation regime,’’ he added.Dutton’s remarks to TOI came on a day China claimed that the issue of India’s NSG membership wasn’t even on the agenda for the Seoul meeting of the 48-nation Group. Dutton said Canada was working actively to create a consensus for India’s membership."The NSG stands to benefit from the active participation of Indian technical specialists in helping the Group strengthen the international control of nuclear goods and technologies and help strengthen domestic controls on nuclear exports,’’ said Dutton, adding that India was ready to become an active member of NSG.Canada entered into a civil nuclear agreement with India based on the 2008 clean waiver to India by the NSG for nuclear trade despite New Delhi not having signed NPT. Canada is now a significant source of uranium for India. Unlike in the case with a few other members of the Group who had supported India in 2008, Canada’s support to India and its acknowledgement of India’s non-proliferation credentials remain unwavering despite it regarding NPT as the mainstay of its policy to promote disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy."Given its nuclear non-proliferation credentials, we believe India has demonstrated that it is ready to become an active and constructive member of the NSG. We strongly encourage all NSG members to join in the consensus needed to achieve this objective, at the earliest possible date,’’ said Dutton.Canada’s voice carries a lot of weight with many other members of NSG who regularly profess commitment to NPT as the cornerstone of their disarmament and non-proliferation policies. Canada was also one of the 7 original members of NSG which itself was formed in 1975 as a reaction to India’s nuclear testing the previous year. The plutonium which India used for its 1974 nuclear test was sourced from a reactor supplied by Canada.Canada is also an important member of the Vienna Group of Ten, a group of 10 "like-minded’’ countries who work together on issues related to NPT and all of which are members of NSG. At least 3 members of this Group – New Zealand, Austria and Ireland – are said to have reservations about allowing India as a non NPT signatory into the NSG. In the NSG meeting though in Vienna earlier this month, some of these countries were said to have relented a bit as they sought a process for inclusion of non-NPT states and not a one-time exception for any country.Dutton said Canada had been a strong supporter of Indian membership in the NSG for many years and had been actively engaged in efforts to create the consensus required to allow India to join the Group. "We welcomed India`s recent application for membership, as well as its formal adherence to the NSG Guidelines in mid-May of this year," he said.