Sandeep Pandey writes about the problems with the Indo-US nuclear deal – its implications in India and internationally. This article first appeared in The News International

India is celebrating its recently concluded nuclear deal with the US
without realising the trap it is falling into. This is not the first
time that India has embarked upon an ambitious nuclear power project.
The father of the India nuclear programme Homi Bhabha had dreamt of
India producing a significant share of its power from nuclear energy,
at the time of Independence.

However, the ensuing decades witnessed what can only be described as
a failed project, with ultimately India being able to produce less
than 10 per cent of the projected target and all its nuclear power
plants having run into some problem or the other. In fact, in one of
the years in 80s the power required to keep these plants running was
more than what was being produced by these plants.

Some people conjecture that testing of the nuclear weapons in 1998
had more to do with saving the Department of Atomic Energy than to
add to the military might of the country. If we go by the fact that
there was an instant increase in budget of DAE by 68 per cent after
the weapons' testing it may not be difficult to believe this, given
the sorry state of affairs of nuclear power production.

If we have had a very poor performance in running our nuclear power
programme why are we suddenly enthusiastic about another grand
nuclear dream? The enthusiasm has less to do with the possibility of
acquiring nuclear technology than the fact that US has recognised our
status as a 'responsible' nuclear state and we're a step closer to
capturing a seat in the Security Council.

While the Indian president, taking a cue from the Indo-US deal, has
laid emphasis on 'energy security' as a priority for the country, we
are not even able to provide the most basic 'food security'. The
country has just passed its first employment guarantee Act, which is
only a guarantee in the name. People continue to live under
conditions of malnourishment and extreme poverty. The nuclear weapons
or/and energy programme is not going to make these people, who will
easily outnumber the class which will use electricity from the
nuclear power, any more secure.

We should ask ourselves the question why countries which are no
longer investing in the nuclear power programme in their own lands
are warming up to India to undertake this very expensive and unsafe
method of power production. The US itself, Canada, England, Germany
have not installed any new nuclear power plant in their country for
the last 25 years. Australia, the biggest producer of Uranium,
doesn't have a nuclear power programme at all.

Except for France, Japan and a few smaller countries, which have
adopted nuclear power programmes more because of lack of any viable
alternatives, the general understanding among scientists worldwide is
that nuclear energy is unsafe. Nobody has the answer to the problem
of nuclear waste disposal.

There are now concrete evidences of radiation having caused
devastating effects in lives of people, mostly poor and tribals, who
are exposed to radiation, right from Uranium mining sites to the
vicinity of nuclear power plants.

Anybody who needs a proof needs to only pay a visit to the Uranium
mining sites in Jadugoda near Jamshedpur. The scientists and leaders,
whose careers have benefited from nuclear weapons or power
programmes, who choose not to talk about the dangers associated with
exposure to nuclear radiation, are committing a serious crime against
humanity, for it is the numerous generations to come who'll pay the
price for their tinkering with Uranium buried underground.

George Bush in one of his speeches has already very explicitly
stated the truth behind the US encouraging India to go in the
direction of more nuclear power. Bush has said that India must adopt
nuclear power to lessen the burden over petroleum resources. India
with its big population stakes claim to a big chunk of petroleum
resources. If India were to use other ways of power production it
would free up some of petroleum for more developed countries for some
more time.

And what other method could be better than nuclear, whose technology
and raw material, needs to be disposed off by the rich countries.

A technology which they have tried and rejected. The big market that
India opens up to them provides them an opportunity to make quick big
money. Even a more moderate state like Canada doesn't have qualms in
giving up its principled stand of not selling any nuclear material to
India after India went ahead with its first testing in 1974,
essentially using the technology provided by Canada and US for
its 'atoms for peace' programme to develop the potential for making a
bomb.

The Indo-US nuclear deal is also a major setback to the Indo-Pak
peace process. The people of the sub-continent have lot of
expectations from Manmohan Singh and Pervez Musharraf in terms of
delivering peace. But disarmament initiatives must accompany any
honest process of creating peace.

The potential of making use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes
for developing bombs will make anybody suspicious. India, Pakistan
and Israel, the three major countries that are guilty of not having
signed on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, have done this in the
past.

We must accept the basic truth that India has used its 'atoms for
peace' or peaceful use of nuclear energy programme to make a bomb and
hence there is no such thing as a 'responsible' nuclear state. The
act of making nuclear weapons or even nuclear power is a highly
irresponsible one.

They will only fuel another round of arms race with Pakistan. If US
has for the time being chosen to cohort India instead of Pakistan as
its ally in the region it is not because of any ideological reasons
but because it sees the potential of exploiting the big Indian market.

India, by giving up its policy of maintaining a respectable distance
from the US, until the last Congress government before BJP came to
power at the centre, is submitting its sovereignty to the only super
power in the world. It is ominous for the Indian people. They now
have to worry about defending themselves against nuclear radiation.

Dr Sandeep Pandey

E-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com

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