nuclear india
This week the economist magazine published an article on the increasingly good US-India relation, and how George Bush is quite ready to allow India into the “Nuclear club”, as it is commonly known. Not that this does not also apply to George Bush, but in my opinion India should be focusing on getting the millions that live in “bustees”, off the streets. Providing jobs for unemployed, medicine for the poor etc… should be a priority in a country where 6million people live on the street. Prime Minister Singh, is it really more important to have a nuclear bomb than it is to provide a decent living environment for your people, which would in turn help tourism and development in many areas??
Nick, I disagree with your ideas here. India, with the largest population in the world, obviously has a problem with development, as it not only has a billion and ‘a bit’ mouths to feed, but this number increases every day by an increasing rate!
Setting this long term goal to develop through nuclear power apart, nuclear power is probably, however ironic this may sound to treehuggers, the most efficient energy source there is. This means that India can have good power value for the cost of money, which is reduced. In this way, India can get cheap, semi-clean energy and provide it to its people, because, heres the bomb, there are other people other than the poor in India. These people need basic ameneties as much as poor people do, only they have the means to pay for it. One cannot shun the well-off in order to help the poor, for in the end all you do is damage to your own country.
Finally, the nuclear bomb issue. Although it may seem a bad idea, I think a nuclear weapon is one of the most important things India could possibly have. Firstly, beacuse of the issue in Kashmir. Kashmir, traditionally Indian land is now ‘disputed’ and acts of terrorism perpetrated by islamic pakistanis are common. There is very little from keeping Musharaf from entering India, and that little is precisely the nuclear bomb.
India needs the nuclear bomb and nuclear power. Although helping the poor is a priority, and beleive it or not, the ‘evil capitalist’ Prime minister IS actualyl doing somethign about it, having a means of self defense in a volatile and dangerous situation is crucial, and this is not interchangeable with internal development. Think of it in this way: If India did not have the bomb, there would simply be all out war provoked by the pakistanis. Basic protection from agression ensures the most basic quality of life, which is living in the first place.
Comment by Adrian Cachinero — July 23, 2005 @ 1:31 am