NEW DELHI- The Indian government has allowed greater and easier access of all its nuclear facilities to global watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency, highly placed sources said today.

"The granting of easier inspection to IAEA, through ratification of India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, will facilitate India's entry as a full member of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group. This will also indicate this country's seriousness about being a responsible nuclear weapons state," the sources said. The Bharatiya Janata Party government recently made the decision, despite expressing some reservations, under the nuclear deal sealed by the previous Congress-led government.

The move came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States in September this year. India has already placed several nuclear facilities under the IAEA's watch. This includes a part of the nuclear fuel complex in the southern city of Hyderabad, the nuclear reactors in the western state of Rajasthan, the older reactors at Tarapur, and India's largest nuclear reactors at Kudankulam in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.