Resources

Read the international call to fix the nuclear cooperation agreement with India

A Call to Action to Stop this Deal

A2000 U.S.-India Statement regarding the U.S.-India nuclear deal

NPT treaty

1995 NPT Review Conference

2000 NPT Review conference final document

UN Security Council Resolution 1172

Wrong Ends, Means, and Needs: Behind the U.S. Nuclear Deal With India by Zia Mian and M. V. Ramana

"Feeding potential for South Asia's nuclear fire" by Zia Mian, M.V. Ramana, Frank von Hippel

India's National Alliance of People's Movements statement against US-India nuclear deal 

Arms Control Today - special page on US-India deal  

An Ominous Deal
 
By Dr. Sandeep Pandey
 
( Dr Sandeep Pandey is recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award (2002) for
emergent leadership. He is  a former faculty member, IIT Kanpur, and did
his PhD from University of California, Berkeley. Presently he  heads
National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) in India. He can  be
contacted at: ashaashram @ yahoo.com)
 
India is celebrating nine years since it conducted it's first
successful nuclear tests on 11 May 1998, ironically on Buddha Purnima.

It has also recently concluded Nuclear deal with the US without
realizing the trap it is falling into. This is not the first time that
India has embarked upon an ambitious nuclear power project. The father
of the India nuclear programme Homi Bhabha had dreamt of India producing
a significant share of its power from nuclear energy, at the time of
Independence . However, the ensuing decades witnessed what can only be
described as a failed project, with ultimately India being able to
produce less than 10% of the projected target and all its nuclear power
plants having run into some problem or the other. In fact, in one of the
years in 80s the power required to keep these plants running was more
than what was being produced by these plants. Some people conjecture
that testing of the nuclear weapons in 1998 had more to do with saving
the Department of Atomic Energy than to add to the military might of the
country. If we go by the fact that there was an instant increase in
budget of DAE by 68% after the weapons' testing it may not be difficult
to believe this, given the sorry state of affairs of nuclear power
production.

If we have had a very poor performance in running our nuclear power
programme why are we suddenly enthusiastic about another grand nuclear
dream? The enthusiasm has less to do with the possibility of acquiring
nuclear technology than the fact the US has recognized our status as a
'responsible' nuclear state and we're a step closer to capturing a seat
in the Security Council. While the President, taking a cue from the
Indo-US deal, has laid emphasis on 'energy security' as a priority for
the country, we are not even able to provide the most basic 'food
security.' The country has just passed its first employment guarantee
Act, which is only a guarantee in the name. People continue to live
under conditions of malnourishment and extreme poverty. The nuclear
weapons or and energy programme is not going to make these people, who
will easily outnumber the class which will use electricity from the
nuclear power, any more secure.

We should ask ourselves the question why countries which are no longer
investing in nuclear power programme on their own lands are warming up
to India to undertake this very expensive and unsafe method of power
production. The US itself, Canada, England, Germany have not installed
any new nuclear power plant in their country for the last 25 years.
Australia, the biggest producer of Uranium, doesn't have a nuclear power
programme at all. Except for France, Japan and a few more smaller
countries, which have adopted nuclear power programmes more because of
lack of any viable alternatives, the general understanding among
scientists world wide is that nuclear energy is unsafe. Nobody has the
answer to the problem of nuclear waste disposal. There are now concrete
evidences of radiation having caused devastating effects in lives of
people, mostly poor and tribals, who are exposed to radiation, right
from Uranium mining sites to the vicinity of nuclear power plants.
Anybody who needs a proof needs to only pay a visit to the Uranium
mining sites in Jadugoda near Jamshedpur. The scientists and leaders,
whose careers have benefited from nuclear weapons or power programmes,
who choose not to talk about the dangers associated with exposure to
nuclear radiation, are committing a serious crime against humanity, for
it is the numerous generations to come who'll pay the price for their
tinkering with Uranium buried underground.

The truth behind the US encouraging India to go in the direction of more
nuclear power has already been very explicitly stated by George Bush in
one of his speeches. Bush has said that India must adopt nuclear power
to lessen the burden over petroleum resources. India with its big
population stakes claim to a big chunk of petroleum resources. If India
were to use other ways of power production it would free up some of
petroleum for more developed countries for some more time. And what
other method could be better than nuclear, whose technology and raw
material, needs to be disposed off by the rich countries. A technology
which they have tried and rejected. The big market that India opens up
to them provides them an opportunity to make quick big money. Even a
more moderate state like Canada doesn't have qualms in giving up its
principled stand of not selling any nuclear material to India after
India went ahead with its first testing in 1974, essentially using the
technology provided by Canada and US for its 'atoms for peace' programme
to develop the potential for making a bomb.

The Indo-US nuclear deal is also a major setback to the Indo-Pak peace
process. The people of the sub-continent have lot of expectations from
Manmohan Singh and Pervez Musharraf in terms of delivering peace. But
disarmament initiatives must accompany any honest process of creating
peace. The potential of making use of nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes for developing bombs will make anybody suspicious. India,
Pakistan and Israel, the three major countries which are guilty of not
having signed on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, have done this in
the past. We must accept the basic truth that India has used its 'atoms
for peace' or peaceful use of nuclear energy programme to make a bomb
and hence there is no such thing as a 'responsible' nuclear state. The
act of making nuclear weapons or even nuclear power are highly
irresponsible ones. They will only fuel another round of arms race with
Pakistan. If US has for the time being chosen to cohort India instead of
Pakistan as its ally in the region it is not because of any ideological
reasons but because it sees the potential of exploiting the big Indian
market. India, by giving up its policy of maintaining a respectable
distance from the US, is submitting its sovereignty to the only super
power in the world. It is ominous for the India people. They have to now
worry about more than defending themselves against nuclear radiation