Vienna, Sept. 5: Diplomats were working late tonight to incorporate changes in the revised draft waiver for India as the crucial two-day Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting went down to the wire.

US and Indian officials were tapping representatives from the grouping’s 45 member countries to ascertain how much the draft needed to be amended to assuage the concerns of the anti-proliferation lobby. One diplomat said 80 per cent of the work was over.

“The plenary of the 45-member group is still on with breaks in between. Efforts are continuing to evolve a consensus in the NSG,” foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Delhi.

Earlier today, the NSG had welcomed an Indian pledge to uphold non-proliferation standards, describing it as an important, timely step forward. Some of them, however, felt it did not go far enough, diplomats said.

India, hoping the meeting would on its last day clear the way for the Indo-US nuclear deal to take effect, had reaffirmed a voluntary moratorium on atomic bomb tests.

“Our civil nuclear initiative will strengthen the international non-proliferation regime. We do not subscribe to any arms race, including nuclear arms race. We affirm our policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons,” Mukherjee said in Delhi.

Some diplomats said India’s move did not fully allay fears for the integrity of the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

“It’s not enough to resolve outstanding difficulties with the main (waiver) text. Voluntary declarations do not have the same value as a (binding) NSG text,” said one diplomat.

He said Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands were “holding firm for an automatic termination of the exemption” if India tested another weapon, and China was backing them.

Rows over two other conditions had been resolved, another diplomat said, citing US assurances the final draft would rule out transfers of fuel-enrichment technology that could be replicated for bomb-making, and provide for periodic reviews of Indian compliance with the waiver.

An Austrian statement exemplified the tricky nature of the negotiations. It said Mukherjee’s statement “addresses a lot of concerns” but maintained that the draft waiver should include “auxillary measures” that ensure a net gain for the international security architecture.

If the NSG exemption does not come within days, the US Congress may run out of time to ratify the nuclear deal before it adjourns in end-September for elections, relegating the matter to an uncertain fate under a new President.

The calendar in the US requires a continuous 30-day session once the President introduces the bill in the Congress, but sources hinted that if India gets the NSG waiver now, “some considerations” can be given to this.

If India doesn’t get the waiver now, it still has one last, slim hope of securing the deal under the Bush presidency — a lame-duck Congress session that will be held in December after the presidential election.