washington his voice is firm his views strong and more than 25 years after leaving office he works tirelessly in international diplomacy and public service across the world jimmy carter the 39th us president commands enormous respect even reverence worthy of an elder statesman still active at age 82 he expresses views on current affairs quite freely in an exclusive interview with the times of india last week he touched upon the hot button issues of the day indias bid for the unsc and unsg and the nuclear deal while speaking about his pet project to build and promote lowcost housingasked if he saw any merit in india nominating a candidate for the post of un secretary general the former president said without hesitation of coursei believe it is very productive for india to put forward a candidate weve now had kofi annan from ghana and boutros boutros ghali from egypt and others from different parts of the world so it is very appropriate for india to put forward a candidatewhile supporting indias move the former president said he would not express a preference for any particular candidate but he hoped all nominees would be considered on the basis of their credentials and merit and the public statements they make on issues the former president also backed new delhis now fading bid for a seat in the un security council saying it is inevitable that when and if unsc members are increased india would be a very logical additionbrazil japan and others are putting forward very strong requests i dont think there is any doubt among all those countries india would be the most logical country to be added to the list carter saidhowever on one issue that is currently on the frontburner the former president was unshakeable he remained opposed to the nuclear deal in its current form as long as india does not sign the nuclear nonproliferation treatyi would hope that india would become a signatory and would put all of nuclear program under inspection that was my position 25 years ago he maintainedthe former president said he was very pleased to see the bush administration reaching out to india as he had done when he was president and his position on the nuclear deal did not imply criticism of the administrations overall india policy but his first preference is to have india pakistan north korea and israel all have their nuclear facilities put under international inspections carter visited new delhi as president in 1978 when india was governed by the janata party with morarji desai as prime minister although both leaders with a pacifist streak got along well the visit presaged the end of nuclear cooperation between the two sides with washington cutting off fuel supplies to tarapur under congressional pressure in an ironical twist the us congress is expected to give a green signal this week to a usindia civilian nuclear deal that will pave way for resumed international fuel supplies to tarapur carter