A debate is going on in the media and political circles on the 123 agreement. Some are very brave to support the 123 agreement. Some came out vehemently against it. Poor Indians are ignorant of what was/is going on here. The title of the Act is "Henry J.Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006" and was passed in July 26, 2006. This is the culmination of discussions (open and discreet) went on from 1974. Many Ministries came and gone in between. The critical discussion was in 2005 that ended with the signing a declaration on 18th July 2005 between PM of India and President of US which states "…..PM of India and President of US pledged to work to make the necessary changes in US law and in the international fora to allow full civilian nuclear energy cooperation with India" . We must know that there was a time when India was considered an 'outcaste' as far as nuclear technology was considered. It was due to the hard work of Indian Pioneers of nuclear technology, such as Homi J Bhaba and others that we could develop our nuclear know-how. It was when the so called Nuclear Powers put all sorts of impediments in our road to become a nuclear state. Finally we, in a surprising episode, tested the nuclear device in Pokran in 1974. WE WERE PROUD OF SUCH AN ACHIEVEMT. Indians living abroad were in jubilation on hearing this news. With this the 'self-esteem' of Indians shoot sky-high. People around saw Indians with due recognition. (contd)
RE:Nuclear Deal
by Gopal on Jul 02, 2008 11:35 PM Permalink
Indira Gandhi insisted this as a 'peaceful nuclear explosive'. But the nuclear powers never accepted this characterization. We have been moving fast in developing the know-how further. We have a programme to realize 'our goal', to harness our vast resources of Thorium for long term energy independence. With this we can be sure of generating nuclear energy without any 'major' external assistance. Further we are trying to develop the 'know-how' based on Plutonium which is the by product of Uranium which is used in the present reactors. Incidentally the 123 Agreement does not allow this to be taken up independently. In July 18,2005 the PM of India and President of US pledged to work to make the necessary changes in US law and in the international fora to allow full civilian nuclear energy cooperation with India. In a US document it states that "It will help India meet its exponentially growing energy demands without increasing its reliance on unstable foreign sources of oil and gas, such as nearby Iran". Another statement "The major aim of this endeavour is an attempt to plug loopholes such as those that had allowed India to produce its peaceful nuclear explosive ". The term 'peaceful nuclear explosive' was used by Indira Gandhi in 1974 after the first Indian Nuclear Test.
RE:RE:Nuclear Deal
by Gopal on Jul 02, 2008 11:36 PM Permalink
From the day of NPT (Nonproliferation treaty -1970) there have been direct and indirect attempts from vested interests to roll back all our strategic programmes in nuclear technology. Through out history we can find incidents where people (Indians holding high offices) are after en-cashing on 'our own achievements' for special interest. When we developed our technology they tried to sell it for their interests. The last in the series is the 123 agreement. Look at the wording of the declaration dated 18.7.2005. The PM agreed to change the US Law to suit their (US) interest. WE (INDIA) were not allowed to change our Law to protect our (India) interest. Why did not India wish to change our Law? (contd)
RE:RE:RE:Nuclear Deal
by Gopal on Jul 02, 2008 11:37 PM Permalink
Let us look at our Constitution. According to Article 246(1)- "Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List I in the Seventh Schedule" to the Constitution. Entry 14 in List I reads: "Entering into treaties and agreements with foreign countries and implementing of treaties, agreements and conventions with foreign countries." According to this provision we could have enacted a Law to protect our interest as per the 123 agreement. Instead of taking effort to protect our interest by enacting a Law, the Executive tried to get a free hand to negotiate the agreement. The result: 'This agreement, if and when operationalised, is going to impact upon, and influence in a very large measure, the economic, political, military, and foreign policies of our country apart from the energy sector. It may have more significant implications for our nation than the World Trade Organisation agreements, which we signed during the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations'. ( Dr.A.N.Prasad) Our Constitution does not visualize a "FREEHAND" to anybody in any field. Even the President of India can act, taking advice from the Cabinet. It is a failure on the part of executive in not taking steps to enact a Law. (contd)
RE:RE:RE:RE:Nuclear Deal
by Gopal on Jul 02, 2008 11:38 PM Permalink
Here the executive exercise their executive power circumventing the constitution. In a parliamentary democracy and particularly under our constitutional system, there is no sphere of activity of the executive in respect of which it is not accountable to Parliament. Parliament is entitled to review, scrutinize, modify or cancel every act of executive. There is nothing like a 'prerogative power' of the executive immune from parliament. In the past there was an effort to make an amendment to the constitution in this regard. Sri M.A.Baby gave a notice of his intention to introduce the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 1992 to amend Article 77 of the Constitution to the effect that every international treaty/agreement "of social, economic, political, financial or cultural nature and settlements relating to trade, tariff and patents shall be laid before each house of Parliament prior to the implementation of such agreement…" Note that this is an amendment for placing the agreement before the Parliament after negotiation and signature. The Government of India always tells Parliament that these are binding commitments undertaken by India and that Parliament ought to honour them. Naturally the Parliament approves the agreement which is signed and sealed. In my opinion this is not the right approach. The negotiators should be armed with the ' guide lines' within which they can move during the negotiations. Viewing it in this way the amendment proposed by Sri M.A.Baby can be termed as poli
RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Nuclear Deal
by Gopal on Jul 02, 2008 11:39 PM Permalink
We must appreciate him in his effort to point the finger to the missing Law. His notice came up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha in March 1997. Sri Pranab Mukherji opposed the move citing many practical difficulties. Nothing heard about it after this. The power to negotiate should be made available to "Individuals" who are patriotic. We seldom find such men for such tasks. Everyone is biased with political overtures. The alternative is to have a "Lekshmanaregha" for negotiations. At the present confusion we must insist the executive to place the document in the Parliament for debate. Let the MPs debate on this 'thread bare'. Let there be public debate in the media. If found not palpable let it be renegotiated, whatever be the consequences. Country's interest is paramount. Freedom to think and act according to our consciousness should not be surrendered.
RE:Nuclear Deal
by varghese on Jul 03, 2008 10:28 AM Permalink
Nice facts Gopal...
But the fact remains..our people have been fooled by our so called scientists every year...as the truth is we do not have Nuclear Fuel to run even our existing power plants..so this means we will not have processed material for making our weapons or even maintaing our existinf stock pile of weapons..as there is something called half life period..so on an daily basis we are loosing our stock pile...
Now we live in an Unipolar world..USA is right and might..they have the tech and their word is might..none will give us fuel..even third rate Australia..they give China but not India as china is USAs partner and pally...
about Thorium reactors..there is much Hype..kamini works only in lab conditions..its not practically possible to produce commercial energy from this Th run reactors...yes it could be possible but without American rush of massive tech and money it isnt even remotely possible..yes we have done lots of research on it..but this alone isnt enough..we are wasting money time and effort trying to re-invent the wheel,fire,steam...this is foolish..and not called national pride or feelings...this is stupidity at the cost of the nation... about nuke testing...without fuel this isnt remotely possible..about Hyde clause..its understood that during national call of duty..we neednt restrain ourselves..should we need to ask USA to attack China or Pakisthan after they nuke us..or we follow our own rules..how stupid people can be ...
