Opinion Whos keeping us safe?
An article in CPM weekly Peoples Democracy raises questions about the safety of Indias nuclear plants.
Whos keeping us safe?
An article in CPM weekly Peoples Democracy raises questions about the safety of Indias nuclear plants. It also called for a separation of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) from the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to make it a truly independent body,reporting directly to Parliament.Although the government has promised a full safety audit of the existing reactors,it asks who would do this audit. The AERB draws its personnel and reports to the Atomic Energy Commission and is,in fact,located in the headquarters of the AEC,it argues,saying that this is no way to run a critical safety regulatory function.
In no country with a large nuclear energy programme is the nuclear regulator a part of the body it is supposed to regulate, it says. If India is indeed serious about a nuclear energy programme,it needs to create a proper safety organisation in this area instead of the current AERB,which has become a virtual rubber stamp for the Atomic Energy Commission. A safety audit without an independent regulatory body is of little value, the article notes.
It observes that one of the points that the countrys nuclear establishment has made repeatedly is that pressurised heavy-water reactors the bulk of the Indian reactors are much safer than light-water reactors. It is in this context that we have to look at the controversial Jaitapur project. India should halt all import of reactors,particularly of untested and unproven designs from Areva,GE or Westinghouse and focus on creating a proper safety infrastructure for nuclear energy,and till then,there should be a moratorium on all imported reactors including Jaitapur and Kudankulam. All existing plants should be reviewed by creating a taskforce including independent members outside DAE,says the article.
The state of West Bengal
The CPIs deputy general secretary,S. Sudhakar Reddy,has written an article in the partys journal New Age about the forthcoming assembly elections in five states. Referring to West Bengal,he says that some mistakes might have been committed and that long innings in power attract all sections including some undesirable elements. Lapses and mistakes to a certain extent have been identified.
He reiterates the Lefts attack on the Trinamool Congress for joining hands with the Maoists. The prime minister has been continuously carrying on the campaign that Left extremism is the biggest enemy of the nation. For him,cross-border terrorism,unprecedented price rise,unemployment and hundreds of billions of rupees of black money are not the main problems but Maoism is the biggest. But his party joins Mamata,and willingly accepts the support of Maoists to realise its dream of wresting power in West Bengal, he says. He says the CPI and the Left recognised that Maoism was a socio-economic problem which needs a political solution. It is the Congress government,which wants to solve the problem through the barrel of the gun, he says.
He also says the Maoists,in their blind anti-Left attitude in Bengal,are unable to understand the dirty game of Congress and the Trinamool. Maoists may realise later who their real friends are and who their enemies are,but it may then be too late to rectify the political blunder they are committing now, he says.
The truth dribbles out
The editorial in Peoples Democracy says the WikiLeaks exposures suggest the active involvement of sections of the BJP,with specific reference to the son-in-law of former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee,besides bringing out the role of a close associate of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi,considered to be a very close family friend of Sonia Gandhi.
Thus,both the ruling and the principal opposition parties would have been very embarrassed if the investigations proceeded properly. Does this explain why the recommendations of the parliamentary committee were not implemented in right earnest by the UPA government? it asks.
The CPM journal notes that the WikiLeaks cables make explicit the link between Indias vote against Iran at the IAEA and American pressure on the fate of the India-US nuclear deal. The cables reveal that while India had no illusions about Irans nuclear ambitions or its capabilities for nuclear weaponisation or its support to terrorism,it,however,subordinated these to pursue a pro-US policy. On the cabinet reshuffle,it says: That the USA was not merely interfering but directly influencing vital decisions of the Indian government becomes all the more apparent in the exposures contained in the cables. The editorial predicts that Americas role in snaring non-Left allies to support the UPA in cementing the nuclear deal will be exposed in future revelations.
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