The other day MPs in Parliament reacted very strongly to the letter from US Senators to the PM on Iran issue. In Rediff site also I see angry postings by many on the subject.
There have been some resolutions in the UN on the Iran issue. India being a member of the UN is expected to honour such UN resolutions.
Indo-US energy agreement No.123 in under processing now. India's response to Iran resolutions, may have a bearing when it goes for approval. India badly needs fuels for its reactors for the power hungry nation. This should also be kept in mind, when we decide our response. The US Senators have only expressed their views. There is no compulsion that we should agree to whatever they have said in their letter.
Therefore it is India's responsibility to study the contents of the letter carefully, and take appropriate action IN THE INTEREST OF THE NATION and in accordance with our foreign policy.
Therefore let us come out of emotional outburst, and look into/study the matter carefully, and take appropriation action at the appropriate time.
RE:US letter to PM on Iran
by A Moin on May 04, 2007 02:57 PM Permalink
I agree. But what I have difficulty comprehending is why can't we settle for indegenous generation capacity of energy rather than import it for a costly price...? We have one of the best collection of brains worldwide, there's no denying of that.
Our nuclear scientists feel confident they can make us indegenously self sufficient, in terms of energy.
Or at least we can strike deals with non interfering countries like Russia.
THough we need energy, we also need LPG badly. As of now, we're importing it from Quatar at 4 times the price of what it would cost to import from Iran. I think we all know the LPG is a household staple in India, used by at least a few hundred million folks. We should keep their interests at heart too...
For now, the public sector is severely strained because it has to subsidize such an expensive commodity. The Iran deal will greatly free up this burden and give the cash strapped public sector treasury some much needed surplus revenue...
RE:US letter to PM on Iran
by Rajiv Alterego on May 04, 2007 09:54 PM Permalink
Moin, I agree with most of what you said. Here is something I found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States-India_Peaceful_Atomic_Energy_Cooperation_Act
It says "While India is self-sufficient in thorium, possessing 24% of the world's known and economically available thorium,[10] it possesses a meager 1% of the similarly calculated global uranium reserves.[11] Indian support for cooperation with the U.S. centers around the issue of obtaining a steady supply of sufficient energy to grow the economy. Indian opposition to the pact centers around the concessions that would need to be made, as well as the likely de-prioritization of research into a thorium fuel-cycle if uranium becomes highly available given the well understood utilization of uranium in a nuclear fuel-cycle"
We need the fuel. If we cannot get it from the US, we should at least be able to source it from others like Australia and France. That's what this deal is all about. Getting rid of road blocks.
