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Journalism of Courage
The government and media have chosen to highlight the “complete identity of views” between Russia and India as the major outcome of Prime Minister Vajpayee’s Moscow visit. This is understandable. But what may be far more significant is the progress on issues like cooperation in the sectors of energy and space. As regards the latter, cooperation in the fabrication and launch of satellites and the joint development of the space programme has a futuristic ring to it. On the other hand, cooperation in energy impinges immediately and directly on the quality of life in an energy deficient country like ours. As things are, our import dependency will only grow in the future with attendant risks to economic growth and human development. Nuclear energy, therefore, is a key option for us in improving the availability and security of energy supplies in the future. The two Russian supplied 1,000 MWe nuclear reactors are already under construction at Koondankulam in Tamil Nadu. What we need is to go well beyond that.
Unfortunately the ad-hoc denial regime under the 1993 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines comes in the way of future access to nuclear technology, materials and even capital for both power generation as well as for safety. High-level discussions between Moscow and New Delhi have been taking place, including on the eve of the prime minister’s recent visit to Russia. Moscow would be willing to supply nuclear power reactors in future, but in spite of the fact that nuclear power facilities built with external assistance would be under international inspection, NSG guidelines currently come in the way. As in many other issues, the attitude of the United States is critical in opening India’s access to nuclear power technology. Nuclear non-proliferation regimes are already under a cloud and the US would need to be more discriminating in how it plans to deal with states that in practice support its goals and those that do not.
It is in this context that the recent joint report of two of the most influential American think tanks, the Council for Foreign Relations, and the Asian Society, entitled ‘New Priorities for South Asia’, is interesting. It has called for the further easing of restrictions on exports of sensitive “dual-use” technology to India. India’s incentive to cooperate with the US would be greater if it receives access to technology and trade related to nuclear power generation which does not undermine US interests in any way but furthers India’s own socio-economic development. This would, in turn, open up greater trade opportunities for the US in an expanding market of a billion people.
