For whom the 123 agreement matters!

I received a forwarded mail this afternoon from my colleague Gajanan and it touched of a chain reaction (not nuclear!) and I wrote the text below, straight from my heart, without consulting any papers / news etc... Straight as it came from within me. I may not have all the facts right and the 123 agreement may be useless to India, ultimately. However, it is the pretentious ideology behind that mail which started me off. Sometimes, I do feel that India is too democratic and we should sometimes be like Iran / Pakistan / Cuba or China.One does not realize the value of freedom unless one sees also the opposite. I have been in Russia, Libya , Middle East, Europe and lived in India. I can and do appreciate the freedom we have in India, though I also see it misused unlike in Europe! I have spent an hour in writing this and most would not have the patience to read it. If you are one of those who read it even partially, leave a comment. Don't worry , if it is against my views, so far as it is logical.

The writer of the appended mail used a PC with electric power to write the article, probably in an air-conditioned multi storied office with lifts and all lights on during day light hours also.

So, to begin with, the writers of so called "don't sell India to US" articles should try not to use power. We can save billions f Rupees and forget about the Nuclear treaty !

Hydro Power: Clean, cheap to produce: To start a Hydel Power project, you have to submerge large areas of forest or land. Authors need not think about the displaced persons or the displaced animals and destroyed biosphere?

Thermal Power Again cheap. Have u ever been around a thermal power plant operated with coal? Have ever been near a coal mine? Is there any pollution around those places? Have you noticed the safety standards of the mines and the health condition of the workers in those two places?

Solar power: Currently almost all producers of photovoltaic cells are in the west, though Moser Baer (Another capitalist MNC in the eyes of liberals in India) and Webel SL energy are trying to manufacture it in India, but the total production can be counted on a single hand.

Wind Energy: Again, clean and nice. To provide for even 1% of Indian energy needs of 2010, we will need windmills all over India!

There are some more: Energy from waves, energy from biofuels etc… as a matter of fact, if India start to produce energy from Cow Dung, that might make more energy than wind, Sun and Waves put together.

Why are we afraid of any International agency or even US looking into our Civilian Nuclear Production facilities??? Are we hiding something the US does not know? Or are we planning to make war heads from those facilities? But I thought we were opposed to nuclear war heads, testing and war etc…? If it is open to Russia or China, will we be happier?

The fact is that Nuclear facilities all around the world are the most closely monitored facilities ever and have the lowest accident rates and best safety records in the industry.

The fact is that China, Pakistan and Iran are the only countries who do not want India to enter into the nuclear era in its full sense. Because, after ratifying the deal, India becomes the youngest member of the elite Nuclear Group of countries. Being the youngest member, we have to learn and we have to have more restraint. Therefore, it is not so unusual to be listening to the senior members. Remember, Russia and France are there too.

Now why are we so friendly with Iran suddenly? What favour has Iran done to India that we should be grateful to Iran? Do you know that Pakistan has contributed to the Iranian Nuclear program heavily so that Pakistan may have a proprietary right Iran's bomb and who will be the target in case of a conflict? (This is not even to suggest that Pakistan and India will go to a war or should. I am against all wars and especially wish to see India and Pakistan living happily together – at least for the beautiful ghazals of Mehdi Hassan and the beautiful actresses Pak has and for their cricketers). So, other than the fact that Iran is anti-US, there is nothing for us to support Iran.

Let us try to learn humility. India is not equal to US (at least, not yet), we would like to be or even want to overtake US one day. Look at Japan. They were decimated by the US. Today, they own the US – financially. Take any major business house in the US. It's majority shares will be with the Japanese! We are also on line to achieving something similar. Our young professionals have almost taken over US IT Majors; they are advancing at a good pace, unless we stop them by rhetoric. Let us be a little accommodative so that our professionals get a chance to take India to the top.

Coming back to the deal: The deal is not about bowing in front of US or any other country. (For that matter many of our liberals want us to bow – in front of China, Russia, all except the US of A)The deal is about opening doors for India and to open doors in India. All those who lecture from the comfort of the AC offices, do they imagine that poverty can be eliminated by preaching or by supporting Iran where there is no freedom of speech even? Do they know how much behind India is in infrastructure and how much Investment India needs to have a good infrastructure? If people still die of poverty, lack of food, clothes medicines and a roof above their heads after 60 years of socialism, something must be wrong, isn't it? If 20 million people were supposed to have died in Russia in the last years of communism, leading way to perestroika, there is something wrong there, isn't it? If after so many years under Communist rule, China had to allow hire and fire labour policy to attract FDI to China and still practice slavery and murder, something should be wrong?

Nuclear deal is about shifting the view point. It is about alignment. India should and will eventually shift from the view that every one equally rich is better than every one equally poor. Look at some of the European Countries ruled by Left Liberals / socialists. A Labour Blair was more supportive of Bush than a Tory Thatcher. A Socialist France want to attack Iran. A left Italy and Spain sided shamelessly with the US. Because, there the labour class is also rich and they did not simply achieve it by stopping all reforms, but using the reforms. Not by always opposing, but by actively participating, criticizing constructively and not by black mailing.

The deal is also about Electric power. I am not an expert about the fine print of the deal and I am not very interested to be one. Nuclear power, with all its negatives is still something we need. Because, we need energy – we do not have enough oil, do not have enough gas, Coal is polluting and killing, water is scarce and fast disappearing, hydel projects disrupt large population and area, solar, wind and wave power is far too insignificant while under international supervision, the nuclear plants are far more efficient and safe than any other industrial plant. As stated above, Electric Power is only one use of the agreement. More cooperation means more investments, more jobs and more development. Sure, it cannot alleviate poverty over night. But, it sure is better than the socialism we practiced for 60 years! There was more development in the last 10 years than the 50 years before that put together! I still remember my 12 year wait for that first Chetak!

Ideally, we should be able to do all these by our self. But, as you know, there is a certain gap between Ideology and Practicality.

China is in the nuclear club. It is only evident that they do not want India there. Pakistan is not there, but through China, they are practically there. So they don't want India to go there. The Middle East countries still do not trust India with a nationalist BJP still having some teeth. (By the way, they all want India to side with Arab World and support their cause. But have you thought of the millions of Indian workers practically doing slavery in these countries? Why don’t our liberals try and preach a little sermon in these parts of the world? And, most of such liberals, once in the Gulf does not mind doing slavery to US MNCs!)

Let us face it friends, Let us be pragmatic. National pride, honour, bowing your head etc… are only in speeches given by the learned politicians with full stomach, enjoying all comforts of a modern life, made often for an audience outside India. The fact is only growth powered by infusion of funds, development of infrastructure can help increase jobs, increase wage levels, increase standards of life to the poor people of India. Earlier, labours from Tamil Nadu used to come to Kerala for work and they were favoured because in Kerala, it was difficult to find manual labour and the daily rate was Rs300 / 8 hr. Tamil Nadu workers charged 200 and they were plenty. Now even they have increased their rates and now it is Bihari / Bangladeshi workers who do manual work in Kerala! Such situation was not brought about by socialism, but petro dollars! Educational and financial empowerment of the common people!

Let us face it friends: There are only four major parties interested in stopping the deal and they are all in India: BJP – though they want it badly themselves, they cannot allow Congress to steal the show and earn the grace marks with Bush. There is the left who has to play to the galleries in India showing them even the mighty Bush could not bend them and to show their masters abroad, There are the trimurthies of Laloo, Karuna and Pawar who cannot allow the government to fall because they will not see the parliament again and loose a lot of moolah. And, sadly enough, there is you, my friend, who with the best motives in your heart playing right into the hands of the above three….

So, please check your premises when making such national issues that would be of the least importance to a man / woman or child who cannot find food, clothes or shelter! Don’t stop yourself from growing up, on pure ideology issues which ultimately is useless, if you do not have the body to take care of the brain. So my message is this: Let us first stand on our feet, we will think of kicking some ass after that J

(And as far as my memory goes, Manmohan Singh did not dream up this entire nuclear issue by himself. The NDA government actually started the ball rolling by declaring the moratorium and being cozy to the US.)

One last note: Recently, there was a big noise from the left that some news papers received aid from US / CIA: Do you know that the communist parties received and are probably receiving large amounts of money from Russia and China???

The mail I received:

Please circulate to your friends & colleagues!...


There are lot of talks about 1 2 3 Agreement between India & USA and
it
almost led to the topple of Central Government. In this mail I am
trying
to explain the commercial & technical aspects relating to this
Agreement
which I have read and sharing with you.

What is 123 Agreement?

This is called 123 Agreement because this comes under USA's Atomic
Power
Act Section 123.
Let's see how India's (Indians?) Sovereinty & Independence are
pledged...

(1) After this Agreement USA will supply all fuel, machinery /
equipment
& technology to India for producing Nuclear Power.

(2) All these days from about 22 Nuclear Power Plants, India is
producing power as well as Atom. It's a high security / secret that
from where which is produced, how much is produced, where it is
supplied, what research is being done with that, etc. to anybody.
But
if we sign this Agreement, we have to disclose these secrets and
also
agree to 14 of our Nuclear Power Plants to be under the scanner of
International Atomic Power Organisation.

(3) The fuel utilised to produce Atomic Power can be recycled for
reuse
and this plant will be under direct supervision of IAPO.

If India does nuclear test, this agreement gets cancelled. But

(1) USA will take back all the machinery / equipments / technology
supplied to India thus far.

(2) Those 14 plants will continue to be under scanner irrespective
of
the status of the agreement.

On the other hand, if any of the commitments given by USA is breached
by
them, then there is no clause for cancelling this agreement.

The agreement is apparently like this... USA can either hug India or
slap India. India will not ask why are we hugged or why are we
slapped.
On the other hand, India cannot hug or slap USA for breach of
agreement.

This is only capsule so that easy to read and digest.

Subject: India Pledged.... Part 2

Requirement of Power

The most important requirement for India's Economic Growth in the
coming
years will be the power & infrastructure. The argument put forth
favouring the 123 Agreement says that we need Nuclear Power
Production
to be increased to meet the demand.

Power Production in India

Presently following are the figures:

Thermal Power 66%

Hydel Power 26%

Solar & Wind Power 5% - Presently Rs.600 Crores are spent for
producing
this power.

Nuclear Power 3% - If this is to be increased to 6%, it
requires additional Rs.50,000 Crores.

Naturally it will be wise to increase other 3 modes of power
production
rather than the expensive & dangerous Nuclear Power. Isn't??

URANIUM

We used to import Uranium from various other countries. After the
Pokran Test, we are not getting it. To augment the supply, we need
to
sign the 123 Agreement to get Uranium from USA. But we will have to
declare to USA from which power plant India takes raw material for
producing Atom Bomb. Why should we disclose our internal secrets to
those rascals ? Will any one allow an outsider to continuously
monitor
what's happening in your Hall & Kitchen of your house? Other study
reveals that Uranium is available in India aplenty. Only hurdle is
the
acquisition of land. To produce Atomic Power & Bomb in the next 40
years, the requirement of Uranium is 25,000 MT whereas the
availability
is 78,000 MT across India.

PLUTONIUM

Presently 35% of Plutonium is used to produce Atomic Bombs. After
signing the Agreement, we will be allowed to use only 10%. Who are
those
rascals to restrict the usage of our natural resource ? That is
though
you are capable of cooking & eating 10 idlis as your breakfast, you
are
allowed only 3 idlis henceforth. How can it be? Why should we
accept
this?

THORIUM

As told by Dr.APJ, we have abundant Thorium. In fact we are the 2nd
largest producer of Thorium next only to Australia. India has to
explore this further for producing power. For your information, in
South India - particularly around Kanyakumari, the availability of
Thorium is abundant.

INDIA-IRAN-CHINA

USA does not like the amicable relationship between India-Iran and
also
India-China. If India-China relationship gets stronger, then both
these
can rule the Eastern Part of the Globe which USA wants to break as
per
their divide & rule.

By signing this agreement, USA wants India to depend on it for
producing
power which is going to be a crucial factor in future. There is a
talk
of bringing Natural Gas from Iran to India with a big pipeline
project.
USA doesn't like this proposal.

Atomic Power Technology

Whether power is produced or Bomb is produced, using Atomic power
without spoiling the infrastructure and without allowing the
radiation
is always under threat. Moreover preserving the wastes coming out of
Atomic Power Plants is expensive & unsafe.

There was an accident in Three Miles Island in USA. To close this
plant
nearly USD 200 Crores spent with tons & tons of concrete but yet to
be
fully closed.

In an another accident at Soviet Union's Serbia Plant, even the next
generation child are affected due to the radiation.

It will be very very expensive to defuse & close down an Atomic
Power
Plant than its construction cost.

France

France has got 56 Nuclear Power stations producing 73% of the
country's
total power requirement. They are catching up the problem of
eliminating the wastes / emissions from out of those plants at the
same
time increase the power production capacity. Government of France
is
now thinking how to reduce the power consumption in the country.

Conclusion

In view of the above danger, rather than signing the agreement and
pledging India to USA, it will be prudent to increase the Solar &
Wind
Energy and more importantly Hyder Power Production can be increased
by
linking all rivers across India and by constructing DAMS. (Ofcourse
Dam
construction projects can be given to L&T's B&F Sector:-)

The whole process of this Agreement started in the year 2005 when
Manmohan visited USA. In a span of just 2 years a major decision of
signing this agreement has taken place with political motive. On
the
contrary, neither this Government nor any other earlier Central
Government could not amend the Constitution thereby nationalise the
rivers across the country thereby effectively utilise the water
resources for both Agriculture purpose and producing Hydel Power.
What
an irony?

Whenever someone is helping the needy, you can't expect the TERMS
AND
CONDITIONS BETWEEN THE needy and the helper to be EQUAL??? BUT

(1) the helper's ulterior motive should be seen with broad eye
because
he is capable of digging a grave behind you and

(2) better to be self-sufficient and explore new avenues with
available
resources.

INDIA-CHINA-USA

India is very rich in Culture, follow Religions, Value Ethics, Level
of
Education is Very Good.

China is also rich in Culture, follow Religion, better disciplined.

USA does not have Culture, does not have Ethics, only want power
over
others. Particularly wants a firm footing in South Asia. Remember
the
introduction EURO by European Countries and it is stronger than
Dollar?
So their "DAL" cannot be boiled at "EUROPE". They are trying in
India
as already Pakistan is in their clutches.

Feedback

Above is only a capsule of information. It will be easy & better to
have an interactive session in a Hall with good auidence on topics
such
as this.

Also look forward to your views on this subject.

Thanks to MR for having posted the article appeared in "The Hindu"
on
4.9.07.