Will India allow US to blackmail it?
If you were asked to point out one event in the past decade that has metamorphosised Indian image in the Global scene, what would your choice be? I would like to choose India becoming a Nuclear Power. The reason would be very simple. People bully you, if they find you to be weak. But when you show them what you can be capable of, they start noticing you. This was very well understood by Indian scientists and politicians who decided to make India a Nuclear state.
First Blood
The fact that there was a cold war between India and Pakistan back then, definitely created flutters with the World not willing to view another Hiroshima/Nagasaki. The sanctions imposed in 1998 are still in place, with the major military related organisations still considered illegal. With India unwilling to sign the unfair Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it showed the World it was no longer going to show the other cheek.
Technological Progress
From then on, Research has been going on nuclear reactors, both civilian and military ones. Of special note would be the unique Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam. Uranium not being abundant in India, and sanctions disallowing Legal import of Uranium deposits, there had to be a method of continuing the research. Thorium was abundant in the country and the Fast Breeder Reactor utilises this element to generate nuclear energy.
The "Agreement"
In 2004, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visited the U.S and the media suddenly announced the signing of a Ground breaking agreement between the Indians and the US. The details of it were not disclosed. It was only told that India would have to separate its military and civilian facilities and put the Civilian facilities under the scanner of International Atomic Energy Association(IAEA). As a civilian, people like myself had no idea what the role of US was. All that the Bush Government said was "We will try our best to mend our rules".
U-turn?
It is understandable that India wishes to get rid of the sanctions so that more research can be done on this source of energy that could be the only saviour in the ever-increasing energy needs of developing India. For that to happen, it does need access to Uranium deposits. But when it accepts to put itself on the IAEA scrutiny, it also asks to be treated just like any other Nuclear state.
So the question is, in acceding to the demands of US, is India losing out on the original motive of emerging as a power centre in the global scene? Lets face it, being under IAEA scanner means being under the nose of US Spies. We are not only exposing our nuclear prowess, but also our years of research. The US, obviously, has asked India to put the Kalpakkam Nuclear Plant under the civilian category.
The Iran, Syria angle
It appears that from the recent talks, US has got peeved at the unflinching stance of India and has started to blackmail India. India's earlier vote against Iran came quite as a shock and now US has become so bold as to say that if ONGC takes a stake in Syrian Oil company then it can forget about the agreement. So it remains to be asked... "Will India allow US to blackmail it?"
First Blood
The fact that there was a cold war between India and Pakistan back then, definitely created flutters with the World not willing to view another Hiroshima/Nagasaki. The sanctions imposed in 1998 are still in place, with the major military related organisations still considered illegal. With India unwilling to sign the unfair Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it showed the World it was no longer going to show the other cheek.
Technological Progress
From then on, Research has been going on nuclear reactors, both civilian and military ones. Of special note would be the unique Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam. Uranium not being abundant in India, and sanctions disallowing Legal import of Uranium deposits, there had to be a method of continuing the research. Thorium was abundant in the country and the Fast Breeder Reactor utilises this element to generate nuclear energy.
The "Agreement"
In 2004, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visited the U.S and the media suddenly announced the signing of a Ground breaking agreement between the Indians and the US. The details of it were not disclosed. It was only told that India would have to separate its military and civilian facilities and put the Civilian facilities under the scanner of International Atomic Energy Association(IAEA). As a civilian, people like myself had no idea what the role of US was. All that the Bush Government said was "We will try our best to mend our rules".
U-turn?
It is understandable that India wishes to get rid of the sanctions so that more research can be done on this source of energy that could be the only saviour in the ever-increasing energy needs of developing India. For that to happen, it does need access to Uranium deposits. But when it accepts to put itself on the IAEA scrutiny, it also asks to be treated just like any other Nuclear state.
So the question is, in acceding to the demands of US, is India losing out on the original motive of emerging as a power centre in the global scene? Lets face it, being under IAEA scanner means being under the nose of US Spies. We are not only exposing our nuclear prowess, but also our years of research. The US, obviously, has asked India to put the Kalpakkam Nuclear Plant under the civilian category.
The Iran, Syria angle
It appears that from the recent talks, US has got peeved at the unflinching stance of India and has started to blackmail India. India's earlier vote against Iran came quite as a shock and now US has become so bold as to say that if ONGC takes a stake in Syrian Oil company then it can forget about the agreement. So it remains to be asked... "Will India allow US to blackmail it?"
posted by Sudhamshu | 10:15 PM
1 Comments:
hey sudhamshu... u seem to be the only contributor :-)
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