Moin, I agree with most of what you said. Here is something I found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States-India_Peaceful_Atomic_Energy_Cooperation_Act
It says "While India is self-sufficient in thorium, possessing 24% of the world's known and economically available thorium,[10] it possesses a meager 1% of the similarly calculated global uranium reserves.[11] Indian support for cooperation with the U.S. centers around the issue of obtaining a steady supply of sufficient energy to grow the economy. Indian opposition to the pact centers around the concessions that would need to be made, as well as the likely de-prioritization of research into a thorium fuel-cycle if uranium becomes highly available given the well understood utilization of uranium in a nuclear fuel-cycle"
We need the fuel. If we cannot get it from the US, we should at least be able to source it from others like Australia and France. That's what this deal is all about. Getting rid of road blocks.