21 July 2005

Nuclear = Unclear

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the United States has raised a lot of questions on the civilian nuclear deal. Fine pieces in the Hindu and Asian Age are questioning the costs/compromises involved. Most newspapers and TV channels are too busy quoting the prime minister and gushing over his visit's apparent success to even take a solid look at the details. Brajesh Mishra, former National Security Adviser and the (first) father of the N-policy after the nuclear tests in 1998, says this deal means a stop to diverting nuclear material for weapons use from civilian use.
The coming parliament session will likely witness a big furore on the issue. Much of the media, when it finishes gushing and taking stenographic notes, will report next on the walkouts and the noise.
Facts will still go missing, one suspects.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

I agree about the furore in the parliament. But I wonder how much of opposition's stand will be rhetorical and how much will be genuinely well thought out.

The problem is that NDA hasn't quite figured out where they went wrong. All there in-fightings and ideology war is a result of that, I think.

To be honest, I think if the deal genuinely means increasing electricity supply manifold, then it is a risk worth taking. It is crazy that we call ourselves a nuclear power, and at the same time there are villages, towns and cities that don't even have basic amenities like water and electricity.

If we have to take a few hard knocks for that, then so be it.

Chetna