Any fool would’ve realized by now that the Left’s opposition to the Indo-US Nuclear Deal has more to do with its Third World infantilism, rabid xenophobia of the United States and brotherly love for China than with India’s national interest.
All the nonsense that they’ve been babbling for the past few days is just a cover – that this deal will take away India’s sovereignty (like sovereignty is something that can be put in a plastic bag and carried away), that this deal will “suck” India into the “imperialist designs” of the United States, that India will be “used as a counterweight” to China etc.
The Left say that their opposition to the deal is in India’s national interest. But the following statement by Mr. Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had me stunned:
The major pitch being made for the nuclear cooperation agreement is that it will help India meet its energy needs. This ignores the very limited contribution that nuclear power makes to our overall energy generation which is just 3 per cent and which cannot exceed 7 per cent even if the ambitious plans for expansion are implemented in the next 25 years.
Note the rashness with which Mr. Karat dismisses nuclear energy’s contribution to India’s future energy mix as a “very limited contribution” and makes it a matter of mere numbers. I dont see any Indian national interest oozing out of that sentence. Mr. Karat’s I-care-a-damn attitude towards India’s longterm energy security is clearer than his white hair.
Yes, 7% is a very small number in absolute numbers. But when you look at it from an energy security point of view, especially if you are a planner, that’s a number that should make your mouth water. 7% is not exactly a “very limited contribution” if we consider India’s population and India’s mammoth future energy needs. Why?
The 7% that Mr. Karat talks about comes from the Planning Commissions’s Integrated Energy Policy report of the Expert Committee (August 2006.) These are the relevant lines:
… even if a 20-fold increase takes place in India’s nuclear power capacity by 2031-32, the contribution of nuclear energy to India’s energy mix is also, at best, expected to be 4.0-6.4%. If the recent agreement with the US translates into a removal of sanctions by the nuclear suppliers’ group, possibilities of imports of nuclear fuels as well as power plants should be actively considered so that nuclear development takes place at a faster pace.
Nuclear energy theoretically offers India the most potent means to longterm energy security. India has to succeed in realising the three-stage development process described in the main report and thereby tap its vast thorium resource to become truly energy independent beyond 2050. Continuing support to the three-stage development of India’s nuclear potential is essential. (page 23, link [PDF])
So, rather than ditching the deal because nuclear energy would form only 6.4% of India’s energy mix in 2031-32, the Planning Commission advises India to go for the Indo-US Nuclear Deal so that nuclear energy development is accelerated.
Contrast this Mr. Karat’s convoluted logic that India should ditch the deal because nuclear energy would meet only 7% of our needs after 25 years. Instead of going for the deal because it would help us in getting us our 6.4%, Mr. Karat wants to ditch it for the same reason!
If we fall for Mr. Karat’s sophistry, then we should stop improving our solar energy and wind energy base as they would make only a “very limited contribution” to India’s energy mix after 25 years. We should also stop the Multirole Combat Aircraft acquisition in its tracks as it would add just 126 new fighters to our Air Force, which already operates 1430 combat aircraft – a “very limited contribution” of 9%. See!
By 2031-32, India’s population will be roughly 1.5 billion. If we divide 100% among 1.5 billion, 7% comes to 105 million people. By no stretch of imagination is 105 million an insignificant number. Australia’s current population is 20 million!
By 2031-32, India would be generating nearly 800,000 MW of electrical power. 7% of that is 56,000 MW. To give you an idea of how much power that is, Delhi’s power demand in June 2005 was 3600 MW (link[PDF].) This means that with the “very limited contribution” of 7% i.e., 56000 MW, India can power up 15 Delhis – 15 major economic centers!
How many villages can 56000 MW power up? Imagine a village with 100 families with an average power demand of 2KW per family. The total demand of the village will be 2000 KW, which is 2 MW. 56,000 MW of power from nuclear plants can power up 28,000 such villages, which in turn comes to 2.8 million families.
No idiot would ever call that a “very limited contribution” except, of course, Mr. Karat and his band of fellow idiots from the Left.
This is what our nation has come to. A bunch of white haired old farts who dont have more than 5% of the popular vote are deciding what is good or bad for India and dictating its foreign policy. By dismissing nuclear energy’s contribution to India’s future energy mix as a “very limited contribution”, Mr. Karat is behaving as if this country and its people are his baap ka jaagir.
Sitaram Yechury, D. Raja, Jyoti Basu, Mr. and Mrs. Karat will be better off resigning from politics and spending the rest of their lives singing rhymes to their children instead. Or confine their goondagiri to their pet states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura and spare the rest of India.
India is going to need energy. Mr. Karat and his fellows will always be assured of their uninterrupted power for their tubelights and ceiling fans in their office rooms today or tomorrow but the people will be assured of energy only when India grabs all opportunities that come its way. Judging by India’s future needs, even a source which can contribute 0.1% should be pursued hard. 0.1% in 2031-32 would be 800MW, enough to power up 400 villages with 100 families each.
To maintain even 1% economic growth, India will need enormous amounts of energy. India shouldnt fall for the Left’s convoluted logic and endanger its future.
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August 21, 2007 at 11:49 pm
shashank[chaand]
You are right Atlantean. This is sophistry at its best. The likes of Mr. Karat have perfected the art of humbug and Hypocrisy. I am sure that Mr karat would lay down his life gladly in support of China’s right to produce every iota of nuclear energy that it requires to fulfill its growing energy needs. For the Indian leftists ideological father is more important than the motherland.
What if we extend Karat’s idiotic logic to the following two areas:
1] as the combined strength of left in the lok sabha is less than 10%, they are[in fact they are ..] of no use and should sit in the visitors gallery and let the government worry about the national interest.
2] Every policy aimed at welfare of muslims should be opposed strongly as muslims are only 12% of total population of India{ but Mr. Karat being ’saffron colour’ blind can only see muslims in India}.
I am sure that Mr. ‘kuchch nahin’ Karat will get apoplectic if he comes to read this. Now I understand why all leftists are so sentimental about China- simply because India as compared to china[in % ge as well as absolute terms]in every aspect-GDP, PPP,FDI e.t.c is insignificant; Just like the 7% share of nuclear energy.
August 22, 2007 at 4:23 am
Ashutosh
This is a great post. Nuclear energy promises one of the best sources of energy in every respect for the near future. Unlike wind and solar energy, it is completely non-polluting, space-saving, and the technology is already highly developed among other things.
This nonsense just proves yet again that “helping the people” is actually the last thing on the commies’ minds. Karat not only is misguided, but also seems to have failed maths many times during school.