The House lawmakers voted 359-68 in favor of the legislation, which must now be approved by the Senate before President George W. Bush can sign it into law.

"This will be known as the day when Congress signaled definitively the end of the Cold War paradigm governing interactions between New Delhi and Washington," US Representative Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' International Affairs Committee, said before the vote on Wednesday.

He said passage of the bill -- the United States and India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act -- would launch "a new era of mutual respect and cooperation."

The bill "clears the way for the United States and India to reinforce an already strong, strategic alliance," said Republican Representative Henry Hyde, adding that it "would improve international nuclear security."

The bill emerged after a meeting last year between Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Democratic and Republican leaders in both houses of Congress have expressed strong support for the bill. If it becomes law, the measure would reverse some three decades of US policy to restrict access to nuclear technology.

The United States has withheld its civilian nuclear know-how from India since 1974, when it conducted its first nuclear test.

India tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 and, as a result, is currently banned by the United States and other major powers from buying fuel for atomic reactors and other related equipment.

But some lawmakers have expressed doubts about extending civil nuclear technology to India, which is not a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, without first putting the most stringent of safeguards in place.

Under the deal, the United States will aid the development of civil nuclear power in India in return for New Delhi placing its civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections.

Supporters see the deal as a sign of a geopolitical re-alliance following the Cold War, one which allows India to jump-start its quest for alternative energy, as its economy booms.

Detractors say, however, they are not convinced that India can be trusted to safeguard critical atomic secrets, or to refrain from using atomic material to gain an edge over neighboring rival power, Pakistan.

"We are deeply concerned that this proposal, in its current form, will blow a hole in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, allow India to greatly increase the size of its nuclear arsenal, and potentially spark a nuclear arms race in Asia," House Democrat Ed Markey told a press conference Tuesday.

Markey said the bill would allow India to dramatically increase its production of nuclear weapons.

"The agreement would create a huge exemption for India from US non-proliferation laws and international norms," he said. "By shipping India fuel for its civilian reactors, this legislation potentially frees up their entire supply of domestic uranium for use in weapons."

He cited expert estimates that India could increase nuclear weapons production from seven warheads to 40-50 warheads a year.

"What kind of signal are we sending to the world when Iran is on trial in the (UN) Security Council for its nuclear program, and we are turning a blind eye to India?" Markey asked, warning that the bill could "make a mockery" of nonproliferation efforts.

But House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said there were safeguards built into the bill, that it "requires that before Congress votes on the agreement, India and the IAEA will have had to establish a process through which IAEA safeguards will be applied forever to India's civilian nuclear facilities, programs, and materials."

Pelosi said in a statement that if the agreement is ultimately approved, "Congress will retain an ability to monitor it through the required annual reports on US nonproliferation policy in South Asia, and on the implementation of the US-India nuclear deal."

But Markey said the bill could ratchet up the arms race in Asia.

"Just yesterday the world learned that Pakistan is building a huge new plutonium-production reactor, which will allow them to increase their weapons production from two to three weapons a year to 40-50," Markey said.

"If you think that Pakistan's new reactor and this nuclear deal with India aren't related, you're fooling yourself."

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