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print versionDear friends:
The Government of India and the Department of Atomic Energy refuse to take the Fukushima nuclear disaster seriously. In a typical ritualistic manner, the Indian prime minister has called for a review of the safety procedures in the nuclear power plants (as though their "review" would make the plants much safer.) The DAE chief Srikumar Banerjee has dismissed the Fukushima radiation claims in a press meet in Mumbai and claimed that "all of it was not factually correct." The NPCIL chief S. K. Jain has claimed that all the Indian nuclear power plants are 2,000 kms away from earthquake-prone areas. The Koodankulam project director Kasinath Balaji claims that the Koodankulam reactors are 60 meters above the sea level (which is not factually correct, to use their own language).
This recklessness and callousness is, to say the least, very troubling. It simply shows that they attach only that much importance to the lives of "ordinary Indians". They are desperate to make profits for GE, Areva, Atomstroyexport and other companies, create job opportunities for Americans, Russians and the French, and generate electricity for the corporate masters in India. You and I and millions and millions of Indians do not figure anywhere in this picture.
We, dogs, may bark but the corporate caravan passes on. After Fukushima, instead of pausing and pondering (like the Germans, the Chinese and others around the world are doing), the Indian government and the nukedom try to go faster so that we cannot preempt their big "development" plans and projects.
They do expect us to take their vague and empty promises seriously and fall in line. None of our political "leaders" talk about this issue because they know very little about people’s issues anyway. They are good only at calculating commissions and counting money. Our bureaucrats follow the rules strictly and there is hardly any creativity or originality or human sensitivity in their thinking and acting. Our business houses and leaders are frantically trying to reap huge profits and make it to the Forbes top. Most of the Indian NGOs are as corrupt and self-seeking as the GOs. Most of the religious bodies and "gurus" in India are stuck in sex, lies and videotapes. Of course, their unholy mantra is "Praise the Lord and Pass the Loot." Who is left to defend "the Indian"? The poor, ill-informed and hapless "aam aadmi" has to go the farmers’ way: taking one’s own life.
Sorry if my analysis sounds cynical and pessimistic. In fact, we try to be possibilistic. Some of us in the southern tip of India have been doing what we possibly can to challenge this madness, this crime against humanity. We have been organizing a series of events:
March 14: Press Release to the Press at Nagercoil, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi
CPF Press Meet with Medha Patkar in Chennai
March 17: Silent procession at Nagercoil
March 23: All Religion Prayer Meeting in front of the Kanyakumari Collector’s office
March 23: Press Meet in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
March 24: Public demonstration, street posters, and meeting in Thiruvananthapuram
March 26: Procession and public meeting at Koodankulam
We need to tell our establishment that Indian lives have worth and sanctity. We are not dispensable people. As the citizens of the largest democracy in the world, we decide what we want for our better future. We are not for electricity; electricity is for us.
We need to spread this anti-nuclear movement all over the country. We need to retake India. We need to protect our land, air, water, sea and seafood, crops and cattle, birds and animals, and mountains and forests. We ought to defend the interests of our children and grandchildren and all our collective futures.
For a nuclear-free India!
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy
