Photo: Harsha 24/7
As Agni-V soared in the blue expanse from Wheeler Island off the Odisha Coast at 8.07 am on April 17, 2012 India entered the International Ballistic Missile Club.
In so doing, it joined the illustrious group of the US, the UK, Russia, China and France in visibly displaying its nuclear prowess.
But India is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): no nation wants discrimination and the Treaty, in India’s view, favours only a few countries to retain nuclear power.
The launch of Agni-V came just a few months after the Australian Parliament’s vote to lift Australia’s long standing ban on exporting uranium to India. You would think India would allay the possible Aussie and global fears about transparency and honesty in dealings, about using uranium for peaceful purposes, looking after safety and health needs, and ensuring the availability of a well laid out system, technology, and infra-structure.
Australia, the world’s third largest exporter with 40 per cent of economically extractable uranium, would then cease to have qualms about its decision.
India, the largest democracy in the world, should stop sticking out like a sore thumb on the transparency-honesty horizon, for if the Transparency International index is any guide, India stands at the bottom of the list.
And why not? There are too many recent examples of instances when the country has failed to uphold the ideals of an honest democracy.
Let’s start with the massive corruption highlighted by the likes of Anna Hazare, where the corrupt practices in all walks of life – like the granting of tenders in the sensitive defence sector – came to the fore.
Or the many reported and unreported cases of bribes and numerous scandals such as Telecoms Licences, the Army Bribery Row, WikiLeaks ‘Cash for Votes’, the furore over the Commonwealth Games, the Maharashtra Widows and the mining scandals, to name but just a few.
Corruption permeates the layers of bureaucracy, judiciary and the legislature.
There is just no scope for a repeat of what happened in ‘80s Bhopal Gas tragedy, or to continue ignoring the silent deaths caused by the asbestos imported from Canada.
Just as uranium exports will benefit the Australian economy, its import will augment India’s energy needs.
The burgeoning population of India, under constant pressure from overcrowding, resources and the environment, can at best meet its skeletal 3 per cent power needs. If it fails to get uranium, its energy needs will suffer and its expensive equipment and infra-structure will deteriorate endangering the safety of its people.
India should tap its ancient wisdom and give truth to the US response to the Agni-V launch: “India has a solid non-proliferation record”.
