Pipeline matters

The latest issue of People’s Democracy suggests that the government is dragging its feet on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas...

The latest issue of People’s Democracy suggests that the government is dragging its feet on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline under pressure from America. It paints the project as an alternative to attain energy security.

The article links the 123 Agreement with the slow progress in negotiations on the gas pipeline project, saying that “one cannot escape the obvious connection between the India-US nuclear deal and the reluctance to proceed and concretise the gas pipeline which is widely accepted to be both economical as well as important to augment our energy requirements.”

“The 123 Agreement is deeply anchored in the Hyde Act, which clearly states that the US expects India to toe its line vis-a-vis Iran and expects New Delhi to follow a foreign policy that is congruent with the US policy,” it says, while asking the government to clinch the deal to negate the perception that New Delhi is succumbing to Washington’s pressures. “If this concern for our energy security is so paramount, why is the Indo-Iranian gas pipeline not seeing the light of day?….This is of utmost importance for India’s energy security at the cheapest available option,” it notes.

Gag order

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Another article titled ‘The nuclear deal: gag orders and uranium shortage’, questions the government’s claims of uranium shortage in nuclear power plants but admits that there is an immediate short supply. It talks about an alleged gag order that the US administration has imposed on the foreign affairs committee on its answers to their questions on the nuclear deal.

It says the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs had sent in a set of over 40 questions last October to the state department seeking clarification on the deal in the wake of perceived ‘contradictions’ in the opinions of the two countries on the implications of the 123 Agreement.

While the US side has held that the 123 Agreement was in full conformity with the Hyde Act, the Indian side has argued that the Hyde Act is not relevant to India-US nuclear trade and only the 123 Agreement is, it says.

It quotes a report in The Washington Post on May 9 which says that, “the US state department has asked lawmakers to keep secret its answers to their queries about the agreement, fearing that public disclosure may torpedo the deal.”

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“The only interpretation of the gag order is that if made public, it would contradict what the Indian government’s spokespersons have been saying and buttress what the Left has stated all along — the 123 Agreement is in full conformity with the Hyde Act and the Hyde Act provisions are built into the various clauses of the 123 Agreement. That is the only explanation for this unusual gag order,” it says.

PSU is best

Another article titled ‘Public Sector Dominance Continues’ hails the performance of public sector insurance companies year after year to argue that in spite of such a good performance, there is a campaign that the public sector has faltered and its performance is not satisfactory for the year 2007-08.

“These critics had expected the public sector to wilt under the pressure of competition. Today, they are silent as the good performance of public sector is not just related to the new premiums under-written but also in terms of innovation skills and setting very high standards of servicing. This motivated campaign is aimed to malign and discredit the public sector”, it says.