Friday, September 5, 2008

Nuclear Deal - Death of Indian Democracy ?

For those who think the 123 Agreement is all about the new proposal to reform the primary education system in India by introducing Sesame Street into the curriculum, please visit the CNN-IBN special page. And please do not form your opinions by reading the Wikipedia entries on such controversial topics as they may be heavily biased. Click here for the Wiki entry.

How is the Indo-US Nuclear Deal going to benefit India ?

According to Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary statements, its going to secure India's future energy requirements. What does that mean to the common man according to them?. No more 4 hour load shedding (power cuts) daily. No more increase in tariff for energy products.
The proponents in the UPA govt also assured us that the deal would not be affect India’s strategic interests, its nuclear R & D programmes or its 3-phase civil nuclear energy programme. The deal was also highlighted as Full Civilian Nuclear Cooperation.

It seems now after the revelation of the letter ( send by the US State Department to the US Congress in January this year ) alleviating the concerns of US Congressmen, the UPA Govt. has misled the nation with its false proclamations. The letter is available here at the Washington Post website. The letter consisting of 45 questions raised by the Congress and answered by the US Department of State.

Some direct contradictions to the statements made by the UPA from the letter are :

  • "The US Govt. will not assist India in the design, construction and or operation of sensitive nuclear technologies through the transfer of dual-use items whether under the agreement or outside the agreement"
  • "Should India detonate a nuclear explosive device, the United States has the right to cease all nuclear cooperation with India immediately, including the supply of fuel, as well as to request the return of any item transferred from the United States, including fresh fuel."
There is further ambiguity in the contents of the text of 123 agreement with phrases like "corrective measures", "strategic reserves", "appropriate verification measures" which are not properly defined.

This deal has nearly resulted in the fall of the Indian Govt. The parliament was transformed into the Great Indian MP Bazaar, with scandals that irreversibily tainted the world's largest democracy.

Is the Nuclear Deal really worth? Are the Left's opinion really valid? What about our indigenious research in Thorium based reactors? What about the investments of $ 200 billion that are required to build these uranium reactors? Is India's strategic interests going to be compromised? Questions remain open for debate.....

4 comments:

  1. I wouldn't say the deal has to be stalled , though certain phrases in the actual text have been interpreted differently by both the Indians and the Americans and clarifications on the same have to be made before the deal is put in force ..
    But think of this .
    1.India nuclear power capacity will touch 54000MW from the paltry 4100MW by 2020..
    2.Although the Americans may not transfer sensitive technology , the deal gives Indian companies the right to nuclear commerce with the worlds ..
    3.As far as the Indian political system is concerned , few ministers would actually know what the deal stands for altogether ( remember laloo's comments >>??)
    And if the govt. did fall , the BJP would just have presented the old wine in a new bottle !!!

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  2. Hi..
    There are 3 hurdles to 'Nuclear Emancipation' for india...Out of which, we have crossed 2..The India-specific IAEA safeguards agreement, and then the NSG waiver. this means that we can do nuclear commerce with the world. the 123 agreement is our bilateral agreement with US. How it goes through in the US Congress is to be seen. Anyway, Mr.Bush has made it clear in his Congress address yesterday, that it is NOT LEGALLY BINDING ON US TO ENSURE UNINTERRUPTED FUEL SUPPLIES TO INDIA .
    Anyway thanks to the US we have sailed past the first two of the hurdles. India has already started drafted agreements with Russia and France for nuclear commerce.
    But do you think that the US would have taken all this pain, string pulling, just to ensure that we can do nuclear commerce with the world??

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  3. True , the US has not taken the pains just to help India fulfill its energy requirements .It rather wants to establish India as a major ally in the future ,in the Great Game for Asia by neutralizing China ....and the deal will only hasten it ...
    But ever heard of a country that lends a similar "help " without clauses attached ?? Did India liberate Bangladesh just to save its people ?
    Best India can do is to take the best deal available ...and then then try preventing the Americans from interfering with its foreign policies..something Israel has been pretty successful at .

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  4. True, no country offers 'similar help' without strings attached.
    Anyway the Indian Govt, has repudiated the US request to not to go ahead with any other bilateral nuclear coopearation agreements until the 123 agreement is cleared.

    Hopefully, the nuclear energy (Uranium) will positively augment the energy production in our country.

    But what about our indigenious development of Thorium based reactors? We have got the largest reserves in the world, and definitely the NSG with the US, has tried and is trying to thwart our thorium based programme by diverting our attention to uranium based energy.

    The bilateral Indo-US Agreement has already begun establishing US hegemony. It has made India a partner in Anti-Iran matters. India has dissaproved (on US pressure) the right of Iran to develop nuclear technology for energy needs even though Iran is a signatory of the NPT.

    Also why is the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline deal is stalled? while Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline deal has been finalized? India claims that the IPI pipeline deal is fraught with security risks. But wont the TAPI pipeline deal be riskier, as the pipeline travels through lawless Afghan territory and Pakistan?.

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