Monday, July 21, 2008

“More honest debate needed”

NEW DELHI: Noted academicians and intellectuals have appealed to parliamentarians to exert pressure on the government not to rush headlong into the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal.

In a statement here on Sunday, they favoured a “wider and more honest debate” on all relevant issues of the nuclear deal so that the people could properly decide what was good for the country and its future.

Maintaining that the high rate of inflation was causing great distress to the people, they said: “But while the government urges the nation to have patience with regard to inflation, it rushes impatiently to sign a nuclear deal. Keeping faith with President Bush obviously has greater priority for it than keeping faith with the people of the country.”
Minority support

They said that a major decision affecting the country’s future energy and foreign policies was being pushed through, despite enjoying only minority support, evidently in order to meet U.S. President George Bush’s time frame.

They said even if nuclear energy was to be given high priority, the role of imported technology would need careful examination.

“Indian nuclear scientists and engineers have painstakingly built up an indigenous nuclear industry over the years. Their effort must not be negated and our self-reliance undermined, through a deal that, by emphasising imported technology makes the country vulnerable in the long run,” they said.
Signatories

The statement was signed, among others, by the former Rajya Sabha member Ashok Mitra; the former Planning Commission member S.P. Shukla; the former Union Power Secretary E.A.S. Sarma; Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan; Professor Amiya Kumar Bagchi of the Institute for Development Studies; Professor Utsa Patnaik; Professor Prabhat Patnaik; Professor Kamal Chenoy; Professor Jayati Ghosh; Professor Anuradha Chenoy, Professor Mohan Rao, all from Jawahar Lal Nehru University, and Professor T. Jayaraman, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Dr. Archana Prasad of the Jamia Millia Islamia, and Dr. Tanmoy Bhattacharya of the Delhi University.

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