The Hindu : National : A suspect deal: Krishna Iyer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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A suspect deal: Krishna Iyer

New Delhi: The former Supreme Court judge, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, has termed the civilian nuclear deal with the United States as “suspect” and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to investigate with profound care its “perilous possibilities.”

In a letter to the Prime Minister, he asked Dr. Singh to consider with “anxiety” the dependence on nuclear power as a major source of energy.

“From the government’s angle, kindly enquire and discover the grave human hazards of radiation before you finalise on a policy of borrowing from the U.S. raw material for building up our energy estate,” he said said.

Mr. Iyer contended that the potential of wind energy and tidal power had not been exploited. He noted that the hydro-electric energy source was enormous.

Among the grave dangers of the deal, according to Mr. Iyer, are American inspections (of India’s nuclear facilities), accessibility of dual use technology and the impact on independent foreign policy.

“... freedom of action and non-aligned judgement as a sovereign nation are intangible to superficial observers but latently terrible for those who know Big Power stratagems.” — PTI

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