My thoughts on Indo-US Nuclear Deal……

A lot has been written & said about this deal from both the countries & from people of different opinion…. -- a case of the elephant and the blind men!.....Few days back I was having a discussion with a friend about this deal & I decided to scribble down my thoughts on it….I’ll begin with some question that came to my mind…

Why do we need international cooperation in nuclear power, and what would be the bargain?

How will it actually affect a common man?

Do we have any alternative, or do we actually need this?

Does this agreement jeopardize our national security? & if it does then is it wise to compromise on our National Security just because we would have access to nuclear power trade and international cooperation?

We all know how deficient the country is in terms of Nuclear Energy, currently only 3% of our total energy is Nuclear but if we see China they are behind us & they have only 2% Nuclear energy, although they have rapidly started building up on their Nuclear Power Base & from almost Zero are targeting 40,000MW of electricity by 2020. India too had ambitiously declared their target of achieving 20,000MW of nuclear power by 2020, but our indigenous uranium reserves can support, at best, a capacity of only 10,000MW! Our Ex President Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam suggested an alternative in Thorium, which is abundantly available in India but in its normal state it is not Feasible & our Scientists have still not been able to develop a cost effective method to convert Thorium into a feasible state to be used for Nuclear Power generation. So this clearly indicates that we will need to import fuel for decades till the fast-breeder reactors are able to take over.

Our Oil & Gas reserves are not something to boast of. We do have a large quantity of coal but it has a very high content of ash and is a serious environmental problem. Currently India imports better quality Coal from Australia for Coal based thermal Power generation. There are some costly (patented) technologies like IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) but the unit cost of energy would be too high.

With this back ground if we look at the Nuclear Deal it appears very “cool” because it would help economy to grow, reduce poverty and build national comprehensive power as nuclear power is the most economical, most environmental friendly and most reliable form of energy among various types available for commercial use. Even our opposition party BJP who are now opposing this deal had included 'nuclear energy' as the first item for cooperation with the United States under the NSSP (Next Steps in Strategic Partnership) which was orchestrated by their Prime Minister Vajpayee & then National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra.

Now if we talk about the flip side of the deal the biggest concern/objection is that we will have to separate our civil and military nuclear facilities in a 'phased manner' and 'voluntarily' place them under IAEA inspections also we will be required to sign and adhere to an additional protocol with IAEA covering our civilian nuclear facilities. Does this mean that we would be undermining our nuclear defense capability? The answer is “NO”.

In my opinion if only our civil nuclear reactors are going to be under IAEA inspection and we would also get uninterrupted supply to fuel these reactors then it is crazy to claim that this is jeopardizing our security & that to with US having already acknowledged India as a Nuclear Weapon State.

Hold On………..if it is that good for India then what’s in it for US!!!!

The answer lies in the recent trend of Global Power shift from West to East, with China racing towards being a rising Superpower…..that makes sense….. A successful and prosperous India would be a natural balance to China…..may be this is why they would like India rise to global power status….may be this is why the Communist parties in India are opposing it so badly….may be!!!!!!

Is the World coming to an end......

World War 3.....ever since the world war 2 ended & things started settling down in Europe there was this big question in everybody’s mind When, where & How is the third one going to take place?.....late 70's & most part of 80's we were very close to experiencing it but it just couldn’t gather enough 'heat' & ended as a COLD war.....in 90's we saw Gulf taking the center stage but US of A was too powerful for Iraq.....early 2000's the focus was again on the Gulf.

All this while Scientists around the world kept working on more disastrous weapons like the Laser Weapons, Gamma Rays, Hydrogen Bombs, Biological & of course the Nuclear .......WW3 obviously seems a possibility in foreseeable future. Albert Einstein once said

"I don't know how man will fight World War III, but I do know how they will fight World War IV; with sticks and stones."

Not so recently came the 'Turning Point' 9/11....as some News channels said " The World will never be the same again".

"So does that mean this is the beginning of the end?"

I am here....