Japan's Fukushima disaster, have brought back the fears we all tried to bury after watching James Bridges's 1971 epic "The China Syndrome’s." It has reminded us the fragility of our planet's energy sources and the safety of our nuclear power plants. Fukushima crisis has prompted a re-examination of the safety net for nuclear power throughout the world. Germany has already announced the shutting down of its 7 old reactors and US is also reviewing some.The catastrophe resulting from the devastating earthquake has raised concerns over the safety of Indian atomic power generators - particularly the proposed Jaitapur which falls in a seismically sensitive area in Maharashtra and others which are mostly in coastline, making them prone to accidents in case tsunami hits India.
Fukushima holds a number of lessons for India as it embarks on a massive nuclear power expansion programme. If the present crisis is the fate of a country whose technological & managerial capabilities are world renowned, where standards are generally maintained strictly to norms, what would happen in a country like India where these are routinely thrown to the winds with a ‘chalta hai’ attitude. We have already witnessed a trailor of this attitude when the Delhi University callously disposed its hazardous equipment resulting in the death of a scrap dealer due to radiations. We have witnessed heated debates in Indian news rooms on the use fullness of the nuclear power generation the past weeks. A strong call has been given by the environmentalist on clean renewable energy. The same concerns were raised around the world after the BP spill was making huge headlines. Since the human memory is short, the BP spill has already been forgotten and the same will happen to Fukushima. The pattern repeats itself all too often: crisis, followed by a spike in consumer interest in renewable energy and a rapid return to normal, as we hop into our big cars and laze around our energy-guzzling homes. In fact, we live this pattern every time we are struck by disasters.
With the rising expectations of winning the cricket world cup and the news of military operations in Libya, the Fukushima story is already through its own catch-and-release consumer interest cycle. Reports of unsafe water and vegetables, resulting in empty racks of bottled water in Japanese superstores should make us question what our own country's plans for nuclear power could mean for our present and the safety of future generations? What did we really learn from Fukushima? We need to discard the hubristic “it-can’t-happen-here” approach and introspect into our own nuclear safety record. We urgently need an independent and credible safety audit of India’s nuclear programme, in which people outside the Department of Atomic Energy participate. There must be an immediate moratorium on further reactor construction, including the untested models like Areva’s European Pressurised Reactor that India is planning to install at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
Indian consumers also have a responsibility to understand the impact of their energy choices. Fukushima should move us to support suppliers and purchasers of clean, safe and renewable energy from the sun, wind and geothermal sources. This doesn't mean switching to 100 percent solar power, or ceasing all use of nuclear energy. It means balancing our nation's energy portfolio, hedging against risks, uncertainties and rising energy costs over time. We need to change consumer attitudes on renewable energy. The Fukushima crisis is a bad one. But we owe it to ourselves to learn from it and work towards a long-term energy solutions.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
BATTERED & BRUISED
Battered & Bruised
Manmohan Singh’s speech in the Parliament accepting "an error of judgment" in the appointment of the CVC has severely dented his image. He looks weak & meek and a Prime Minister loosing control. The soft spoken man looked helpless and compromised due to compulsions of coalition politics and corrupt and inefficient ministers. Here is a man whose strongest asset is his integrity but who during his six and half years in power has been badly bruised and wounded by political maneuverings of his own party as well as those of the opposition. Singh's low-key manner may have impressed President Obama, but his mild-mannered style is wearing thin at home, with many Indians arguing that the country needs a firmer hand. The PM is beginning to look out of his depth in the cut and thrust of coalition politics.
Just a few days back while addressing a rare press conference, the reticent Mr.Singh appeared confident and bothered by how India's image might have been damaged by the media coverage of the rising tide of corruption. He gave reassurances that the government was "dead serious" in bringing to book "all the wrongdoers regardless of the positions they occupy". But that confidence was severely dented by the CVC fiasco. The blame game is still on in fixing the accountability for missing out the vital information of the charge sheet against Mr. Thomas. The result as to where the buck will finally stop is still awaited. We Indians may be inured to corruption, but the recent spate of allegations in the CVC case has taken the common man’s breath away. The developments on the Thomas case and its fallout could have serious repercussions on the way relations between the Prime Minister and his party are going to evolve in the near future.
The confidence which the PM spoke about the need for a "spirit of rejuvenation, and a spirit of self confidence.” at his press conference needs to be rekindled by renovating the credible mechanism of his government. This spirit is beginning to be visible in the thrust which the CBI is marching in the 2G scam. The speed and scope of the current investigation, has been unrivalled by anything India has witnessed so far. The same Prime Minister whose silence and ambivalence on 2G was seen by the Opposition and the public at large as weakness and even complicity has pushed the Central Bureau of Investigation into summoning and questioning top industrialists like Anil Ambani, raiding Kalaingar TV, the business arm of a key political ally, the DMK, questioning Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, and sending A. Raja, who was Telecom Minister till some time ago, to the confines of Tihar Jail. These are extraordinary developments by any yardstick and government managers have let it be known that there is further excitement in the offing. Such demonstrable action - and not stirring words alone - will rejuvenate the spirit of a nation which lives in hope and despair simultaneously.
Manmohan Singh is not a traditional stereotype politician. But someone who knows which side his bread is buttered. He is conscious of his strengths despite his numerous weaknesses. Unfortunately the Nation has no other choice at present. The Government and the PM still has much time left to salvage its image and boost up the mood of the citizens. Let us hope that Manmohan Singh may have been battered and bruised by the scams but he is not yet over
Manmohan Singh’s speech in the Parliament accepting "an error of judgment" in the appointment of the CVC has severely dented his image. He looks weak & meek and a Prime Minister loosing control. The soft spoken man looked helpless and compromised due to compulsions of coalition politics and corrupt and inefficient ministers. Here is a man whose strongest asset is his integrity but who during his six and half years in power has been badly bruised and wounded by political maneuverings of his own party as well as those of the opposition. Singh's low-key manner may have impressed President Obama, but his mild-mannered style is wearing thin at home, with many Indians arguing that the country needs a firmer hand. The PM is beginning to look out of his depth in the cut and thrust of coalition politics.
Just a few days back while addressing a rare press conference, the reticent Mr.Singh appeared confident and bothered by how India's image might have been damaged by the media coverage of the rising tide of corruption. He gave reassurances that the government was "dead serious" in bringing to book "all the wrongdoers regardless of the positions they occupy". But that confidence was severely dented by the CVC fiasco. The blame game is still on in fixing the accountability for missing out the vital information of the charge sheet against Mr. Thomas. The result as to where the buck will finally stop is still awaited. We Indians may be inured to corruption, but the recent spate of allegations in the CVC case has taken the common man’s breath away. The developments on the Thomas case and its fallout could have serious repercussions on the way relations between the Prime Minister and his party are going to evolve in the near future.
The confidence which the PM spoke about the need for a "spirit of rejuvenation, and a spirit of self confidence.” at his press conference needs to be rekindled by renovating the credible mechanism of his government. This spirit is beginning to be visible in the thrust which the CBI is marching in the 2G scam. The speed and scope of the current investigation, has been unrivalled by anything India has witnessed so far. The same Prime Minister whose silence and ambivalence on 2G was seen by the Opposition and the public at large as weakness and even complicity has pushed the Central Bureau of Investigation into summoning and questioning top industrialists like Anil Ambani, raiding Kalaingar TV, the business arm of a key political ally, the DMK, questioning Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, and sending A. Raja, who was Telecom Minister till some time ago, to the confines of Tihar Jail. These are extraordinary developments by any yardstick and government managers have let it be known that there is further excitement in the offing. Such demonstrable action - and not stirring words alone - will rejuvenate the spirit of a nation which lives in hope and despair simultaneously.
Manmohan Singh is not a traditional stereotype politician. But someone who knows which side his bread is buttered. He is conscious of his strengths despite his numerous weaknesses. Unfortunately the Nation has no other choice at present. The Government and the PM still has much time left to salvage its image and boost up the mood of the citizens. Let us hope that Manmohan Singh may have been battered and bruised by the scams but he is not yet over
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Back to Business
Back to Business
Parliament finally returns to business after the complete washout of the winter session due to the stand-off over the 2G spectrum allocation issue. This was the longest shutdown ever. The Government has finally got a chance to explain in Parliament what it is doing about corruption and inflation- the two burning issues faced by the nation. However, the blame game for the loss of valuable 77 days of business and parliamentary practices continues.
Lament on the decline of Parliaments is not new. There is a sense of unease with the way the Parliament and the State legislatures are functioning. It is due to a decline in recent years in both the quantity and quality of work done by them. Over the years the number of days on which the houses sit to transact legislative and other business has come down very significantly. Even the relatively fewer days on which the houses meet are often marked by unseemly incidents, including use of force to intimidate opponents, shouting and shutting out of debate and discussion resulting in frequent adjournments. There is increasing concern about the decline of Parliament, falling standards of debate, erosion of the moral authority and prestige of the supreme tribune of the people. Corrective steps are urgently needed to strengthen Parliament's role as the authentic voice of the people as they struggle and suffer to realise the inspiring vision of a free and just society enshrined in the Constitution. Also, it is of the utmost importance for survival of democracy that Parliament continues to occupy a position of the highest esteem in the minds and hearts of the people.
The most important mechanism that diminishes Parliament is the diminishing individual legislator. An individual legislator is even more dependent upon the party hierarchy than in the past. No more than three or four leaders have any social base that allows them to be secure in the knowledge that they can stand their own ground against a party hierarchy. The individuality of MPs has also been effaced by the anti-defection law, which has made party whips ubiquitous. Parliament can do itself a great favour by endorsing the sensible bill introduced by Manish Tewari, restricting whips to only certain classes of issues. This will allow the individuality of voices to emerge, and MPs can be judged on their record rather than a party whip. Otherwise individual MPs will remain hostage to the phenomenon James Bryce’s in his Modern Democracies so colorfully described: “Moreover, the so-called ‘Party Machines’, which have been wont to nominate candidates, and on whose pleasure depends the political future of a large proportion of the members, prevented the will of the people from prevailing, making many members feel themselves responsible rather to it than to their constituencies.”
Parliament is taken seriously when leaders take it seriously; the House of Commons retains interest because the prime minister directly answers questions. We underestimate how much Nehru’s personal presence in Parliament elevated it. The second temptation is this: as the TRS legislators hinted, after the JPC episode, every party is now learning the lesson that blocking Parliament is an effective way of getting an obdurate government to respond.
Parliament finally returns to business after the complete washout of the winter session due to the stand-off over the 2G spectrum allocation issue. This was the longest shutdown ever. The Government has finally got a chance to explain in Parliament what it is doing about corruption and inflation- the two burning issues faced by the nation. However, the blame game for the loss of valuable 77 days of business and parliamentary practices continues.
Lament on the decline of Parliaments is not new. There is a sense of unease with the way the Parliament and the State legislatures are functioning. It is due to a decline in recent years in both the quantity and quality of work done by them. Over the years the number of days on which the houses sit to transact legislative and other business has come down very significantly. Even the relatively fewer days on which the houses meet are often marked by unseemly incidents, including use of force to intimidate opponents, shouting and shutting out of debate and discussion resulting in frequent adjournments. There is increasing concern about the decline of Parliament, falling standards of debate, erosion of the moral authority and prestige of the supreme tribune of the people. Corrective steps are urgently needed to strengthen Parliament's role as the authentic voice of the people as they struggle and suffer to realise the inspiring vision of a free and just society enshrined in the Constitution. Also, it is of the utmost importance for survival of democracy that Parliament continues to occupy a position of the highest esteem in the minds and hearts of the people.
The most important mechanism that diminishes Parliament is the diminishing individual legislator. An individual legislator is even more dependent upon the party hierarchy than in the past. No more than three or four leaders have any social base that allows them to be secure in the knowledge that they can stand their own ground against a party hierarchy. The individuality of MPs has also been effaced by the anti-defection law, which has made party whips ubiquitous. Parliament can do itself a great favour by endorsing the sensible bill introduced by Manish Tewari, restricting whips to only certain classes of issues. This will allow the individuality of voices to emerge, and MPs can be judged on their record rather than a party whip. Otherwise individual MPs will remain hostage to the phenomenon James Bryce’s in his Modern Democracies so colorfully described: “Moreover, the so-called ‘Party Machines’, which have been wont to nominate candidates, and on whose pleasure depends the political future of a large proportion of the members, prevented the will of the people from prevailing, making many members feel themselves responsible rather to it than to their constituencies.”
Parliament is taken seriously when leaders take it seriously; the House of Commons retains interest because the prime minister directly answers questions. We underestimate how much Nehru’s personal presence in Parliament elevated it. The second temptation is this: as the TRS legislators hinted, after the JPC episode, every party is now learning the lesson that blocking Parliament is an effective way of getting an obdurate government to respond.
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