DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

The Indian government has survived a vote of confidence in parliament. Official results show a total of 275 deputies backing the government, with 256 opposing and two abstaining. The confidence vote was triggered by left-wing and communist parties, who withdrew their support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month over their opposition to a civilian nuclear energy deal with the United States. The deal would allow India, which has nuclear weapons yet declines to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to be treated as a special case on condition it separates its civil and military programmes and allows UN inspections.