IDPD condemns Indo-US nuclear deal

February 28, 2006

The meeting of the Central Council of the IDPD held under the Chairmanship of Dr L S Chawla-President IDPD, through a resolution decried the government’s move to sign deal with the US on nuclear energy. It is only the international nuclear lobby that is propagating this. India with its increasing energy requirement should not fall trap to their designs. The visit of George Bush to India is only to serve the interests of the nuclear lobby and to make India a permanent partner to their strategic interests. His visit is also aimed at justifying their position on the issue of Iran to which they have successfully involved our country.  This will have far reaching implications on the sovereign rights of the nations, security of the world and proliferation of nuclear weapons. Where as we are in very explicit terms opposed to the nuclear weapon proliferation in the world; we are of the strong opinion that this can not be thrust upon the non nuclear weapon states by those who themselves posses nuclear weapons. Only an honest global initiative in this regard with clear-cut focus on complete worldwide denuclearisation can stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Indian government’s stand that it is not in India’s interest to have a nuclear weapon state in the neighborhood does not carry any weight when we are ourselves possessing nuclear weapons. This stand of ours has already reduced our credibility as a champion for global nuclear disarmament.

The meeting reminded that the UPA government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in its common minimum programme promised that they would take a ‘leadership role’ in promoting nuclear disarmament and a nuclear weapon free world. But the objective of the proposed Indo US nuclear deal  is to elevate India to de-facto nuclear weapon state, which will sanctify Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and encourage their proliferation.  The resolution further said that the nuclear energy is neither safe nor cheap. Right from the mining of Uranium to its utilization it is fraught with dangers and hazards to human health. After having spent crores of rupees on the Department of Atomic Energy the power generation by this source is only to the tune of 3300 megawatts in our country while with wind energy it is 3600 megawatts. We have abundant of solar and bio mass energy which needs to be properly tapped and utilized. Moreover there can be no foolproof guarantee that the nuclear energy will never be utilized for the purpose of production of nuclear arms. The danger of its falling in the hands of non-state actors is also real and grave. The IDPD appeals to Indian government to phase out nuclear energy rather than strengthening it. The energy equation should be addressed in terms of energy efficiency, energy conservation and strengthening renewable non-conventional resources.

Dr Arun Mitra

General Secretary IDPD