The new team, work is exciting.  Lots to learn and so less time.  Things move very fast here unlike at my previous position.  Hardly have time to procastinate, which only leads to things getting escalated to the other people in the team.  Its been fun, but ya tiring at the same time too.

Blogging has taken a back seat as of now.  So much to write, but i find so little time.  Also realise that i havent checked my equity portfolio properly in a week.  The sad events in Japan have really shook up the markets not to speak of the Japanese people.  But am sure their resilience will come to the fore and Japan will once again rise from the ashes as it has always done.

Maybe the Japanese govt will finally open its door to the immigrants who will now be very much needed for the reconstruction work.  Nuclear plans will be on hold all over the world.  That would mean more reliance on fossil fuels.  Oil prices are sure to shoot up.  The previous record of $147 per barrel could be broken.

People (both pro and anti nuclear) will play out their agendas.  But lets keep it in mind that nuclear power for all that has happened in Chernobyl, Japan and the Three Mile island incident is still the cleanest way for us to produce electricity.  Lets face it, the other methods like wind or solar are no patch to the quantity and quality of electricity that can be produced through nuclear power.  Ya, its risky and a lot of checks and safeguards need to be in place.  Proper mechanism for disposing off the spent fuel rods must also be in place.

The commies and the jholawalas are sure to raise muck about the numerous nuclear power plants that are coming up around the country.  The chaddis as usual will try to fish in murky waters.  But let the rhetoric not make us take our eyes away from the goal.  That is clean power which is an absolute must if India is to grow above 9% per year.

Countries like France generate almost 75% of their electricity from nuclear power.  Japan also generates almost 30%.  Its easy to take the path of using dirty fuels (fossil fuels) to achieve our economic growth and end up with disastrous consequences as China’s environment has faced.

So lets take a step back, clear our mind of all the rhetoric and take a call.  What lies ahead is nothing but our future.  Let’s learn it from the experts who have done it and done it well.

Meanwhile my deepest condolences to the thousands of Japanese killed and the millions whose lives have been affected by this triple whammy of earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear accident.

+++

• Liberalizing the economy in the 90s as Finance Minister with Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

• Breaking the shackles of nuclear isolation in 2008

Its an envious stature for a person who was always mentioned as the “reluctant PM” unlike so many of his detractors and rivals who believe the PM’s post is god given for them.

Encyclopedias of data are around to stress either sides of the nuclear deal.  Only time will tell who was right or wrong. As of now, let’s see how this deal will affect India.

The deal with the US entails India to continue with its dual path of nuclear technology; for both military as well as civilian uses (energy, medical, space etc).  The nuclear reactors for civilian purposes will be open to IAEA inspections.  The reactors meant for military purposes will be out of bounds for the IAEA. India can buy / tie-up for nuclear material and technology from any country.   In fact, India has already signed a treaty with France that has given it unlimited access to technology as well as reprocessing of the spent fuel.  A similar deal with Russia is expected to be signed when the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev visits India in December. India can still pursue its nuclear weapons technology without any hindrance. In short, the world now, has the 6^th declared nuclear power in the form of India.

If India explodes a nuclear bomb (for testing purposes)

The US will stop all nuclear co-operation.  India will have to return all the fuel given to it till then.  There will be a one year cooling down period where both parties (India & USA) will talk, deliberate and break heads on how to go along or if not they should part.  During this one year period, if they reach a deal, they continue or else its all over between them.

How does this affect India’s deal with France (already signed, details yet to be released) or Russia (details of which will be available only after the December signing), will be only known in some time to come.

India’s position on nuclear testing

Soon after the nuclear testing in 1998, the Vajpayee led BJP government declared a unilateral moratorium over further testing.  The Vajpayee government assured the world, that it would keep its promise of keeping a lid on further testing.  So, that demolishes all the opposition that BJP has over testing.  The Congress government has merely reiterated what the BJP government had proclaimed in 1998.  Its an accepted fact that India no longer needs any more testing (according to scientists and the party in power in 1998).  Any more noise that the BJP makes over this issue is just plain politicking which can be ignored.

Economic benefits for India due to the nuclear deal

• The agreement could open up around $27 billion in investments in 18-20 nuclear plants over the next 15 years, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry.

• By 2030, the overall economic benefits that will accrue to India’s economy as a result of nuclear trade could touch $500 billion, says Imagindia Institute, an Indian lobby group.

• The deal is expected to double nuclear power’s share in India’s electricity supply to five to seven per cent in the next two decades.

• With nuclear fuel in short supply, India’s nuclear power plants are running at 55 per cent of their capacity of about 4,000 megawatts.

• India’s electricity supply, about 15 per cent short of demand in peak hours, will get a boost after the deal, but any new nuclear power plant may take a decade to be completed, leaving the country dependent of coal and liquid fuels.

• Indian media say the country’s monopoly Nuclear Power Corp has tentatively picked four suppliers, including US-based Westinghouse Electric and France’s Areva, for planned new projects. Westinghouse is a unit of Toshiba Corp. Areva said on Monday that it hoped to sign a contract with Indian authorities to deliver two advanced EPR reactors.

• India is also reported to be negotiating with General Electric, Hitachi and Russia’s atomic energy agency Rosatom.

• Russia is already building two 1,000 megawatt reactors at Kudankulam in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as part of a deal signed in 1988. Indian officials say the two countries will begin discussions on a multi-billion dollar agreement to build four more nuclear reactors in Kudankulam which has been delayed because of international restrictions against New Delhi. Russian nuclear reactors cost up to $2 billion each but India could expect to get a hefty discount on such a major deal, as Russia competes with the United States for influence in India.

Above info courtesy: IBNlive

This is not to count the approximate generation capacity of 60,000 MW of power by nuclear means by the year 2030 and the billions of dollars of technology exchange between India and the other countries in Space technology, Medicine, Science and other high tech industries.

Why is the Left against the deal?

Simply because their masters in China have paid them to behave that way.  The Left (CPI – CPM) never had any issues with China being a nuclear power or their nuclear testing. They sided with China during the 1962 war.  Its just natural that the mongrel is being faithful to the master.  The Commies have problems with everything US and when asked why they were not complaining against the Indian deal with France, they had no comments.  That simply shows how hollow their ideology is.  They love to oppose for the sake of opposing.

Why is BJP against the deal?

Because they just cant believe that a person who was so reluctant to be the Prime Minister has pulled off the deal.  Its a known fact that the BJP was on the verge of signing the NPT deal and giving away the nuclear sovereignty on a platter.  Even though the BJP was in power when the nuclear testing happened, its the Manmohan Singh government that has brought India out of a 34 year nuclear isolation.  They simply can’t accept the fact that their Iron man (sic) LK Advani, the perennial PM in waiting couldn’t get a chance to negotiate the deal.  Its a plain and simple case of the fox that didnt get the grapes and declared it sour.

Why the SP is in favour of this deal?

The Amar Singh – Mulayam Singh combo of Samajwadi Party needed someone to cling on to.  The Mayawati government was hot on the heels of the SP duo in UP fostering cases of corruption against them, hence the temporary deal with Congress.

So, will the Congress win the elections on this issue?

NO.  They wont.  The Indian electorate still loves mandir, masjid, gurudwara, church, SC, ST, OBC, hindutva, swadeshi, sycophancy, religion, region, family kinda politics.  And then they wonder why the country is so screwed up.

+++

So, its least surprising to know that inspite of the assurances given by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on their previous meeting, China used the non-proliferation supporters (Ireland, New Zealand, Netherlands etc) to torpedo the NSG waiver to India. It was only after a personal call from George Bush to Hu Jintao and his typical “My way or the highway” straight talk that the Chinese relented.

Under criticism from India on the nuclear waiver, China is on the defensive for its role at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna. But the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has denied that China tried to sabotage India’s chances at getting the NSG waiver.

India has reportedly registered its strong disappointment with Yang over the country’s role at the NSG meeting in Vienna.  Chinese President Hu Jintao had assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Beijing would do nothing to spoil India’s chances at the NSG.

But at the NSG, China relented only after a phone call from US President George W Bush, apparently disregarding India’s own missives in that regard. China, which had earlier given to India signals of positive cooperation in the NSG came out openly with reservations at the Vienna NSG meet last week joining some ‘hold out’ countries virtually threatening to stall the move for NSG waiver to New Delhi.

The Chinese Ambassador in Delhi was reportedly summoned to the External Affiars Ministry in the early on Saturday to convey the Indian government’s unhappiness over Beijing’s role. In Monday’s statement, China welcomed the NSG granting a waiver but hoped this cooperation should be “conducive” to safeguarding the global nuclear non-proliferation efforts.

“China hopes that the decision will contribute to peaceful use of nuclear energy and international cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation,” the statement said.

Beijing’s statement is being seen as a move to assuage New Delhi which has conveyed its unhappiness over the Chinese position at the NSG meet. The tough negotiations in Vienna went down to the wire after China, which had sounded positive in the run-up to the NSG  meeting, took a different line creating problems for a consensus on the waiver.

Full news report here.

+++