“Safety will be the sturdy child of terror, and survival the twin brother of annihilation.”
(Winston Churchill)
Darkness was always necessary to nourish the nuclear program of India. Delusions if the world and most Indians are unaware of the risks may be because they have always kept in the dark about the disturbing image of India. By publishingINDIA’S NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS KEEP DYING MYSTERIOUSLY, Joseph Cox has opened the window of a long room and let the sunlight stream in safe. This shows that when things go wrong with this kind of inherently dangerous technologies, it is not the destination, but human fallibility and arrogance that they are guilty of.
The nuclear establishment in India has always gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal the information on one over another matter. However, little known and much discussed example is Pakistan whose nuclear industry is within the possibilities, however, remains under continuous wave of nefarious propaganda, but nobody cares what is actually happening in the nuclear industry of India.There are, of course, many other lies – such as the nuclear industry is safe, economical, clean, provides many jobs and so on. How is it that we believe that this fraud? These incidents depict that elites in Indian government are playing well in order to keep the public misinformed and are also ill-equipped to investigate such situations which is costing human lives on its hegemonic agenda of the nuclear state.
Along with that the most precarious lie is, that India has a strong track record of nuclear safety, to materialise these nuclear deals. Ever since the India-US nuclear deal has taken place, India has signed civil nuclear deals with six other countries and is in the process of negotiating one with Japan. There are numerous hazardous nuclear installations in India that could lead to a major disaster with extraordinary bearing on the lives of large populations around these facilities. There are reported cases of the abduction of nuclear scientists from these areas, which is a very disturbing situation with respect to the safety and security of nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile the fears of Kudankulam’s residents are well-founded. M. V. Ramana a physicist and visiting research scholar affiliated with the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy and the Program on Science and Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International affairs (WWSPIa), Princeton University noted that the new Russian reactors, called VVER-1000, are of a design that has displayed persistent problems of a kind that can cause a severe accident. Even more worrisome, earlier this year Russian prosecutors arrested three officers that had allegedly provided defective equipment for several nuclear reactors, including those in Kudankulam.
Also the radiation problem is a concern for the nuclear industry in India that is costing human lives. Cancer, goiter, infertility, mental retardation is common radiation problems in the areas of nuclear site in India. Also in 2010, 100 cases of cancer were found among TAPS employees. Cases of mental retardation, including Down’s syndrome, autoimmune, arthritis, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, were found in villagers around the Kalpakkam nuclear site.
So frequently spelling out negative hypothetical scenarios against Pakistan and to roll-back the country’s nuclear weapon programme without taking into account India’s fatting military muscle and security concerns is mischievous. Together, we have taken steps to create a secure world that will not live under the fear of nuclear terrorist attacks but there are huge nuclear security issues in India because it is prone to insurgent groups and separatist rebels. According to the Daily Mail’s reports, most of India’s top nuclear facilities are located in exceedingly Naxal terrorist struck districts of India or in the “Red Corridor”.
Hence India has to take numerous steps to ensure the safety of its scientists and its nuclear program as workers and scientists are overexposed to radiation and serial killings. Above all, India needs a reaffirmation of political commitment at the highest level to reduce the hazards resulting from both existing nuclear weapons and increased proliferation.