Nuclear Energy Is 'Good and Clean'!

A Plain and Simple Speech Author(s): Shiv Visvanathan Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 17 (Apr. 25 - May 1, 1998), p. 951 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4406689 . Accessed: 13/03/2014 06:10
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Nuclear Energy Is 'Good and Clean'!

A Plain and Simple Speech
Shiv Visvanathan Anyone who thinks, as the minister /or power professed to at a recent seminlar in Delhi, that nuclear energy is 'good and clean' is profoundly illiterate and no technology mission can cure him. Nuclear energy is not economic. It is dangerous. And it does not fit the democratic fram1ework.
THEBJPgovernment hasjustassumedpower and it is customaryto allow it a politeness of 90 days before looking at it critically.But that politeness is to the cabinet as a collectivity.The BJPis, however, morethan BJP.It has in its fold a bunchof individuals who in search of power have traversedthe ideological canvas from left to right.There is ManekaGandhi whohidesherdepredations during the emergency by being kind to animals. There is George Fernandes who alleviates his allergy for the Congress by embracingany form of anti-Congressism. Thenthereis Rangarajan Kumaramangalam who has been made ministerfor power and it is his performancewhich is the focus of this essay. On March24. BulsinessIndliaalong with Timesconveneda seminar UNDP andVWoril at the HabitatCentre in Delhi. It was one of those up-market shows on the twin pillars of globalisation,the informationsociety and the role of private finance capital. The subliminalmessage was the witheringaway of the state. As customary in India, therewas a politician to inaugurate it.OriginallyManmohan Singh was slated to perform.One would have at leastgot some decenteconomics, if not some plaindecency. Singh's absence allowed the flavour of the month to take his place. Kumaramangalam was once Rangarajan minister of state for science. He is today ministerfor power.His speech was a classic elite beingknowledgeexampleof the Indian proof.Actually,afterliberalisationtherehas beensome thaw.They at leastparrot theright terms even if they don't understandthem. Ourfashionable elite will quoteAlvinToffler or Samuel Huntington without the remotest ideasaboutthe futureorof civilisation.They are affable about the latest fashions and therein lies the danger. Fashions are more dangerousthancliches. Cliches are,at least, tired truths. At the most they suffer from banality. Rangarajan Kumaramangalam is He talksabouthis lapinformation-friendly. top as one talkedearlierabouta lap-dog. He coos about his computer. It is part of the Chandrababu Naidu syndrome. These are politicianswho claim to love cyberspace.It is a friendliercountrythan the nation. It is also morepoliticallyuseful.AndhraPradesh, afterall,is thedarling of development experts. For many of them Andhrais India. In this antiseptic cyberspace there are no naxalite encounters or cotton farmers committing suicide. Rangarajan Kumaramangalam is another entrant. He talkedaffablyaboutcomputersandhis Family, complained about how his wife preferredsurfingto conversationwith him. I would too. He even warned about the computeras a threatto family conviviality. The speech sounded happy and Rotarian. You even thinkhe is smart,especially when he adds thathe is thinkingof privatisingthe energy distributionsystem. He adds 'every Indian thinkshe is sovereign'and'a sovereign is one who does not pay taxes or bills'. He thinks whatever belongs to the state is his. To the Indian,the stateis the only free lunch. Listeningto all this you areimpressed.Even more when he says that he is going to make citizens pay for energy. You thinkthis man is both smart and tough. Another Chidambaram. Well, almost. And then he says something that makes you realise that he is also sinisterand illiterate,Indianstyle, He keeps throwing the idea of virtual reality aroundlike confetti, even referring to 'virtual money players' and then our ministermakesa classic statement.He says, "nuclearpower is good and clean power" and adds "Chernobylhas been built out of shape". He adds "people don't know that thermalplantshave more accidentsand that nuclear energy is basically safe". You can't believe what you are hearing. Thesuitedexecutivesaround himlistenpoker faced.They would havebeen immobileeven if they had been told thatHitlerwas another (lecent housewife. And then you suddenly realise that the minister has made an eerie mistake. He has conflated energy with intormation.You can put them together as but not if you thinkthat energy-information
i(uclear energy reactor is a virtual reality,

which is the ambiencethe ministercreated. Maybe, it was a slip but it was a profound one. But I see it as an early warning about

the intentionsof a regimewhichby conflating concepts may turnthem into deathwarrants. Anyone who thinks nuclear energy 'is good and clean' is profoundlyilliterateand no technology mission can cure him. To even imply nuclear accidents are like car accidents is surreal. Even gothic. The eerieness deepens when he summons Murli Manohar Joshi to his side by saying the latter was 'a professorof physics'. Some physics. Anyway science, especially nuclearscience, is too importantto be left to scientists. Our minister even leavens his argumentwith a joke aboutnuclearenergy. He says everyone has it. 'The French have it. The Americans have it. The Japanese have it. Only our formercolonial mastersdon't."By thattime you don't know whetherit is energy or aids, he is talking about. It is a quick speech though he has trouble winding up. He wishes he could stay and take notes but he has to rush to parliament as "the BJP's claim to a majoritymay also be a virtual reality".Laughter.A good one though. A simple antiseptic speech by a wellbehavedminister. Theyoungestin thecabinet Butstupidand accordingto the introduction. sinister. It is time to state three facts. One, nuclearenergyis noteconomic.Two, nuclear energy is dangerous.Three, nuclearenergy does not fit the democratic framework. Finally, nuclear energy is on no accounts swadeshi.Nuclearenergycannotbejustified even if it is run by Indians. In this case it compounds the crime. In fact, it is as ridiculousas Muslimsjustifying the nuclear bombby sayingit is Islamic.Thereis nothing Islamic about the bomb. Period. Kumaramangalam's speech at the World Timiiesseminar should not be cursorily dismissed. It is a slip of the nucleartongue andshould be readas such andhereis where the media comes in. Politicianslet theirhair down in such speeches combining trivia with mattersof state.The mediashouldtrack thesedown andreport themto a widerpublic. The BJP did a brilliantjob by stealing the notions of history and secularism from armchairliberalism. But now it is time we rescuetheconceptof 'swadeshi',andthrough open debate. If the BJP wants to go for nuclearenergy and the bomb let them open the debate. Let them prove nuclear energy is clean, environment-friendly and democratic.The bombor its notionof history can't solve its problemof missile envy. Let the BJP prove that nuclearis the right form of energy. I wager they can't even with Ramannaand Menon to help them. If they have the guts and honesty, let them reopen the debate. Not Shiv Sena style but openly, candidly. Let them prove nuclearenergy is good for democracy or even for science. It is an open challenge andit is ourtaskto keep the open-ness alive.

Econonic and Political Weekly

April 25, 1998

951

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