NEW DELHI, INDIA - INDIA said on Thursday it was sending out envoys to lobby for the final international clearances needed to finalise a controversial nuclear energy deal with the United States.

The diplomatic offensive comes after the ruling coalition survived a hard-fought confidence vote in parliament sparked by left-wing and communist opposition to the pact.

Government officials said that senior cabinet ministers and foreign ministry officials had left New Delhi to solicit the support of members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Another senior government envoy, Shyam Saran, was in Ireland, another NSG member, while National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan will head abroad this weekend, with his schedule not yet fixed, officials said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who risked his government to push through the deal, 'is now putting in all efforts to get the processes through to get the pact operational,' said a senior government official.

'The parliament has given Singh and the government the boost to carry on with implementing the pact,' he added.

The agreement, unveiled in 2005, will allow the United States to sell nuclear plants and related technology to India once it has separated its civil and military programmes and accepted a certain level of UN inspections.

India needs IAEA and NSG approval before the US Congress has a final vote.

US officials have told India to hurry up before Washington goes into presidential election mode.

On Wednesday, US ambassador to India David C. Mulford said Washington was 'actively on its way' to getting the deal through before time runs out.

Former Indian diplomat Arundhati Ghosh said an endorsement from the Group of Eight rich nations, which met in Japan earlier this month, has helped but does not guarantee success.

New Delhi, she said, has 'a very short time to deal with the questions raised at the IAEA and NSG.' 'The question is how strongly the countries supporting the deal will push for it. There will be spoilers,' she said, referring to reports that India's arch-rival Pakistan may be putting up hurdles.

'While decisions at the IAEA are taken by voting, at the NSG the process is by consensus. So even one country can hold up the consensus process,' Ms Ghosh said.

Mr C. Uday Bhaskar, former head of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, said 'there is nothing automatic' about the deal going through.

'You cannot take the stamp of approval for granted,' he said, noting that some NSG countries still had to be persuaded.

'But the fact that the major powers are seen to be backing the deal works in India's favour,' he added. -- AFP