The bomb and the bombast

• You are correct when you say that the BJP and Left are looking at the nuclear issue in context of their respective agendas. But sadl...

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• You are correct when you say that the BJP and Left are looking at the nuclear issue in context of their respective agendas. But sadly, its the political system that is to blame. Why should parties bother to have a definite stand on this issue? It won’t swing votes the way caste equations do!
You have fleetingly touched upon a very important issue, something which no journalist or public speaker seems willing to take up. That is the ignorance, apathy and absence of the general public on the nuclear issue!
How can we be considered a responsible nuclear power when we don’t have the basics in place? How many of us (including the press) have raised the following questions which any democratic nuclear power answers to its citizens?
• Which cities could be under threat in case of a strike?
• What safety measures will be taken to save the populations in case of a nuclear war?
• What safeguards are there to prevent an accidental launch?
• How should our foreign policy change, given this new leverage that we have?
Amitabh Singh

• Haven’t seen a better piece on the ‘so called’ ambiguous nuclear policy of India and all this criticism which Manmohan Singh has drawn for his joint statement recently. Keep it up sir!
I guess it is time that all the political parties of our country sit down and decide the nuances of the command and control structure along with deciding the number of nuclear arsenals we are about to have.
Nitin Srivastava

• Inspite of leading the NAM movement for many decades, India tilted towards the USSR, which ticked off the US then. We are critical of US foreign policies and of global financial and political institutions that it dominates. The question we need to ask is whether we are jumping into a marriage of convenience with the new Indo-US talks? Aren’t US enemies going to be our enemies too in the long run? Will this help establish peace in South Asia?
Makarand Bakore

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• It is a painful fact that by and large our politicians fail to see beyond their tainted vested vision. No wonder therefore that the BJP or the CPM have found serious dangers to the national sovereignty in the latest Indo-US deal on nuclear technology. They fail to perceive the whole development in the long-term national perspective.
For one thing Dr Manmohan Singh has driven home to the Western leadership that despite possessing nuclear power India has behaved in the most responsible manner. Can Pakistan protect its nuclear weapons from falling in the jihadi hands? This is the question that must be taxing President Bush as well as Tony Blair.
No doubt the democrats will oppose the exceptionalism for India being adopted by the Bush administration but the US is conscious that any global war on terrorism needs strategic cooperation from India. Again it is also in the interest of the growth and stability of our economy that the US sanctions on nuclear technology and the supply of enriched uranium should be relaxed. Don’t we realise that an unchecked emergence of China in the global trade and economy will neither suit Indian interests not the US. Hence to maintain a proper balance of power, particularly in Asia, Indo-US cooperation is essential.
Ved Guliani

• If Mr Shekar Gupta had visited the Control Room of one of our nuclear power plants he would have seen the actual results of the sanctions and would not have cast aspersions on our Nuclear Power Corporation’s capabilities. The instrumentation and control systems which are the heart of the power plants had to be indigenous with third generation technologies, and but for the excellent training and capabilities of the operation and maintenance personnel of the Nuclear Power Corporation we would have had a few Chernobyls!
The reason for the seven to eight year time from conception to commissioning is the non-availability of vital materials and components easily due to the sanctions. Now that due to the Iran-Pak-India pipeline strategy, India has succeeded in getting the US President promising to lift the sanctions and co-operate on civil nuclear power, India is bound to attain the 20,000 MW by 2020 while it failed to achieve 10,000 MW by 2000 due to the sanctions. Congratulations to those who thought of the Iran-Pak-India gas pipeline which would have become an impossible task to execute and maintain due to the Islamic terrorist route, but paved the way for nuclear co-operation!
S.N. Balakrishnan