The government says their coal is running out and is poor quality while renewable sources are difficult to find.
Communist partners of ruling coalition oppose any nuclear deal with the US and have withdrawn support, something which could topple the government.
The communists oppose the deal because they believe oversight provisions infringe on Indian sovreignty by allowing the U.S. to meddle in Indian policy. Good for them.
We in the U.S. (and the rest of the world) should oppose the deal because India has over 200 different terrorist groups active within its borders, some of which have ties to Al Queda (others of which will do anything for money). Literally thousands of people die each year in terrorist attacks in India. Plus Indian bureacracy may not be as corrupt as some third world nations, but is still far too corrupt to be trusted with overseeing nuclear products that remain deadly for 200,000 years.
Putting more nuke plants in India is an invitation to terrorist groups to steal radioactive materials and do what they can with them. The dirty bomb may be fiction at this point, but why give them the opportunity to try?
There are only two groups of people this deal makes sense for: the nuclear power industry, and that segment of neocons that needs terrorists to be a real threat in order to advance their agenda.
Anyone who wanted radioactive materials probably got all they needed after the USSR collapsed.
So what does India do to supply their ever-growing power needs?
It seems to me that a country with India’s climate could expand on the solar energy front to a greater extent than it does at present. My geography is crap but doesn’t it have a large mountainous region which no doubt have rivers with the potential of hydro-power, also it has a massive coastline with the potential of tide and wind. The answers are there waiting for the inovators and the will.