Nuclear Deal --- How to understand?

DARK DAYS ARE AHEAD
Dark days are ahead for democracy in India. The Prime Minister is ranting like a possessed person:
“we will sign this agreement at any cost.” The cost is not merely the Ministry. That is a cost to the Congress
Party only. It is, in reality, a cost to the People of India. Being tied to the US is the last thing that a sensible
people can wish for. Born in sin, brought up in sin, living in sin, the ruling American politics is one of the
violence and terrorism. The Indo US 123 Agreement is symbolic of the acceptance of the status of a subordinate
ally, so that a few more Indians can become billionaires.
The argument that India is facing an energy crisis which cannot be solved without Nuclear Energy and if
not solved it will decelerate economic growth and defeat our efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger is
totally wrong.
First: Economic growth alone will not eradicate poverty. We had 8-9% economic growth for the past
one decade. It has not reduced the poverty in Bihar or Orissa, in Jharkhand or Chattisgarh, in UP or MP.
Second: Economic growth and energy are not directly co relatable Economic growth without increase in
gross national welfare and per capita, electrical energy consumption of the richer half are almost linearly
connected. We want economic growth with justice and equity.
Third: there is no energy crisis in India. There is only an energy shortage, about 8-10%.
Fourth: this shortage can be overcome in the short run, - five to ten years - through conservation and
management. In the meanwhile more coal burning thermal stations, which are totally indigenous, can be built.
In the long and very long run we have to take resource to wind and solar energy, both of which have almost
become commercially competitive.
Fifth: Nuclear energy cannot ease the shortage neither in the short run nor in the long run. World over
its share is expected to come down and not to go up. The maximum that India can hope for by 2030 is only
8% nuclear share.
Sixth: Even the hope for 48,000 MW by 2030 is virtually unrealizable. About 30,000 MW are to come
from Fast Breeder Reactors whose technology is yet to mature and unlikely to do so in the near future.
Seventh: These are elemental facts which can be understood by Dr. Manmohan Singh and his colleagues.
Even the pronuclear scientists lobby will not controvert this. So, it has to be suspected that the frenzy for
signing the 123 Agreement has even more sinister motives behind it.
The pity is the fact that the Indian middle class is viewing the tussle between the Left and the Congress
as if they are viewing the Euro football tournament without getting involved in it. They have remained as
spectators for too long. They have to enter the field and start playing. That is the meaning of democracy, a
government BY the people.
Their hesitance to get involved in the play is ominous for democracy in India. It will allow the Executive,
the bureaucracy, to over ride the Parliament, the People and their elected bodies. If the government signs this
treaty without the informed consent of the Parliament, then Indian democracy is dead, the greatest democracy
in the world is dead. This we shall not be allowed to happen.