Nuclear or Not Clear. Review on Ministry Of Power

Yes it’s a deal which can be contentious, but could have been dealt with more astutely than just hitting back like a ping pong for two good months. Just because of a deal which is still long way to go, can we accept a Government to be dissolved and pay for the whole Election Process yet again?  It looks like both the parties to it wanted the other side to budge and end of the day; we are left with no time to negotiate when the IAEA is just here to negotiate the safeguards with regards to the Nuclear deal.

The last gunshot has come from both the Right and the left with no salvo.Sonia Gandhi, ” All those opposing the deal are anti development mob and are our enemies.

Prakash Karat, ” We need not surrender our vital interests on the “we-need-electricity” plea. The left has decided not to attend the IAEA come what may.

Karat and only stick

Prakash Karat being a strong Communist and ideologist to the core has preferred to show the stick to the nuclear deal not even wanting to know what the Carrot in it is. For the first time, a Government is going to fall not on the floor of the parliament but by a non parliamentarian who is staunch in his ways and for the first time, one man is going to be the pivot of a falling Government.

Nuclear is not clear (to many)

Many are under the impression that Nuclear is dangerous. For that matter any form of energy is, if not used in constructive way and if not used for the right purposes. Nuclear Energy has become very safe since the days of Chernobyl with the changing scenario post WANO. There is no doubting the credibility of most nations in their efforts to make it one of the safest (safer than chemical) and most efficient source of Energy.

The second aspect for the negative from many quarters is that India has abundant source of other Energy like Tidal and Coal. It is true that India is not using even 20% of its Water resource into Tidal energy for generation of Electricity. However the major impediment is that the resource is mostly found in North East with abundance of rainfall, where the infrastructure is not developed enough to reach and tap the energy. Moreover in India we are always fire fighting with Water trying to recover from flash floods when there is still enough and more scarcity elsewhere.

Coming to the efficacy of using Nuclear power, history stands in front of us in the form of Tarapur Nuclear Reactor which is the brain child of Homi Baba. A leading Economist Rosenstein Rodin remarked at that time, ” When man is hungry, he will buy a loaf of Bread and not a bakery. Today India is not in such a bad shape not to afford Nuclear Energy when we have successfully run a reactor for forty years which has the shelf life of another forty. Succeeding Nuclear Reactors have taught us a lot in terms of viability of Nuclear Energy and India has the manpower to safely implement Nuclear options.

The third contentious issue is that should we go begging to US for our Nuclear needs. We should clearly understand what Foreign policy is in this regard and not just look as a sovereign independent state.The world has changed. Man would still be a Stone Age man if he did not know to move to other places and learn the art of living. Today the world has become flatter and global economy dictates individual Country’s economy and we cannot alienate from the world and not merely boast off self sufficiency. When we say, foreign policy, we have to look at it with greedy perspective. Any Country would like to look at another only for its economic, social and cultural growth and not in the reverse. The changing scenario of India in world economy stems from the fact that India is also a very important Business hub in Asia for the west. The important reason for going ahead with the Nuclear deal is that

1.       The cost of Uranium from inside is more than double compared to the prices worldwide

2.       Nuclear Energy is amongst the cheapest source of Electrical Energy apart from Hydel Energy. The earlier reactors have the costing of 160-190 paise/kwh while the newer ones of Tarapur 3 & 4 at 250 paise/Kwh.

3.       The biggest advantage of Nuclear power is the energy sufficiency for another 50 years based on two factors-It consumes least fuel (20% of the total cost) compared to other at 70% of the cost. Imagine what will be fuel prices down the lane. The second trivial factor is the longevity of Nuclear reactors and the descending cost curve.

4.       Japan and Korea imports Nuclear energy while France depends on 70% Nuclear energy for electricity and their cost of electricity generation is the lowest in the world.

5.       If US has outsourced millions of Indians to do their jobs in India at lesser cost, what is wrong in outsourcing Nuclear power and technology from US.

6.       India will be a major power in Nuclear generation for constructive purpose in 10 years.

7.       India has the most shortfall or Electricity among most developing Countries and it is fair to say that Electricity is vital for every aspect of Growth (Throwing light and more)

8.       India is not part of Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and yet has the advantage of other Countries looking at India in favour of Nuclear deal with amendments.

I am not guinea pig of Uncle Sam and am against many of the Big Brother’s policies. But in the case of Nuclear deal, it outweighs the negatives for the long term benefits of the Country. Communism as an ideology has failed and the so called communists are bringing lots of FDI into their state to prevent from getting backward. Even China a staunch Communist country is investing heavily on Nuclear Energy.

I am neither a supporter of Congress which is still dragging the Nation for more than 40 years. Its fledglings like Rahul or Scindia remain the new hope.

As far as this deal is concerned it would be appropriate to leave it to the experts and economists under the auspices of Dr A.K.J.Abdual Kalaam to arrive at the right course rather than mere politicking and brick batting left and right. The net result will be another political fallout and a repeat exercise of Elections.

Madam Curie dedicated her life pioneering Nuclear activity. The same Nuclear activity might one day destroy the whole world. Till then let us use it for constructive purposes.

(My views may be differing from yours, so please comment even if you have something different to say)

Thanks for reading