Kudankulam stalemate over, PM to discuss N-safety at Korea summit next week

HYDERABAD

20 MARCH 2012

Echoes of Kudankulam would be felt in distant Seoul next week when heads of state or

government from about 50 countries gather in the South Korean capital for the second

edition of the nuclear safety summit.

On their agenda will not only be nuclear safety but also the future of nuclear as an

energy source, post the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011.

While there is a strong popular sentiment against nuclear energy in Japan and a host of

other Asian nations, South Korea and India stand out as an exception where

governments have signalled their intention to pursue the nuclear power path.

The March 26-27 summit, which will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,

Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama, among others, can be

expected to discuss issues such as guidelines for nuclear safety.

The US hosted the inaugural nuclear safety summit in 2010.

A week before Dr Singh leaves for Seoul, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa ended

the eight-month-long uncertainty over the future of the Kudankulam nuclear power project

by giving her go ahead.

Work at the site had been affected by the protests by locals spearheaded by a People's

Movement Against Nuclear Energy, which feared a Fukushima-like catastrophe in

Kudankulam.

The decision to restart work at Kudankulam coincides with China's decision to resume

construction of nuclear power plants. China currently has 13 nuclear power plants with

varied capacities.

China suspended approving new nuclear power projects and launched nationwide safety

inspections at nuclear power stations and facilities in operation and under construction

over safety concerns after the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

According to state-run Beijing Review, China at present has approved 43 nuclear power

plants, with a planned capacity of 200 million KW. These plants are located in 16

provinces, including eight in inland areas.

Incidentally, South Korea is one country where Prime Minister should find himself at

ease. In a poll conducted by worldpublicopinion.org a few years ago, Dr Singh was voted

among the most popular "regional" leaders in South Korea with 47 per cent South Korean

nationals saying they trusted him more than others.

In the 20-country poll, 30 per cent of Chinese leaned positively towards Dr Singh

although the Chinese views of him had become more negative as compared to the

previous poll. He also enjoyed an overwhelming support (83 per cent) among Indians.

In contrast, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari fared poorly on the confidence index. Only

34 per cent of the Pakistanis had confidence in him.

Dinesh Trivedi calls for a national railway policy, lays stress on beefing up infrastructure along China border

Hyderabad

14 March 2012

Dinesh Trivedi made an impassioned plea for augmenting rail infrastructure in the border areas, in an implicit reference to China building a network of rails and roads in areas bordering India's north-eastern states.

In the same breath, he pitched for evolving a national policy for Railways, so that there is continuity of policy across successive governments and policies can be executed without them falling a victim to partisan politics.

"... the time has come to think of a national policy for Railways, just as we have one for defence and for external affairs," Mr Trivedi said Wednesday in his budget speech in the Lok Sabha.

Uncharacteristically for a railway minister, Mr Trivedi spoke about how the geopolitical situation on borders arising out of building of state-of-art road and rail network by neighbouring countries "requires a matching response."

The Railways, he continued, must remain in a state of preparedness to move men and machines to border areas.

Mr Trivedi sought to impress upon the relevant ministries of the government, not least of all the ministry of finance, that it was therefore necessary to undertake projects of national importance on priority and to ensure adequate funding.

Similarly, he argued for liberal funds for connecting the remote and backward areas in Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern states, without worrying about the return on investment or such other factors.

He warned that the projects in J&K and in the north-east, which required more than Rs 4,000 crore for the current year, may get delayed for want of adequate funding.

"The budgetary support to Indian Railways has been pegged at a modest level of Rs 24,000 crore as against a projected requirement of Rs 45,000 crore. The national projects in Kashmir and northeast region have also to be funded out of this," he said.

In his speech, Mr Trivedi also dwelled on how the Indian Railways was contributing its bit for improving India's relations with her neighbours. He cited the proposed Tripura-Bangladesh railway link, and the new Jogbani-Biratnagar line and Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas to provide connectivity to Nepal as a case in point.

PM to skip SCO Summit next week

New Delhi

8 Augut 2007

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not represent India at the

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit for the third year in a row. The 2007

SCO Summit will be held at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan next week.

Sources told this newspaper that Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee can be

expected to stand in for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the August 16 summit. New

Delhi has not made an official announcement yet.

The SCO was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and

Uzbekistan. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status in the SCO. The US

applied for observer status but its request was turned down.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora travelled to Shanghai for the

2006 Summit. The then minister of external affairs Natwar Singh represented India at the

2005 Summit at Astana in Kazakhstan.

India's low-key representation continued when Union Minister of State in the Prime

Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan was deputed to attend the SCO Heads of Government

(Prime Minister-level) Meeting held at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September last year.

New Delhi has been advancing the logic that there was no need for the Prime Minister to

attend the Summit because India was only an observer. Certain analysts, however, have

pointed out that all the other observer states were represented by their heads of state

and/or government at the Summit last year. The analysts said that New Delhi's thinking

was dictated by a desire to be seen as close to the US, especially at a time when both

sides were negotiating the proposed bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

According to reports, the presidents of Iran and Mongolia are expected to attend the

Bishkek Summit. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the last Summit at

Shanghai. Pakistan is likely to be represented by its Foreign Minister Khurshid

Mehmood Kasuri. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov will be a

special guest.

Incidentally, Japan, an ally of the US, has realised the importance of Central Asia and

begun engaging the counties of the region, bilaterally and multilaterally. It formed the

Central Asia Plus Japan initiative in August 2004. All the five Central Asian countries are

involved in this dialogue. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit India later this

month. He is expected to address both Houses of Parliament on August 22. Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the Japanese Diet (Parliament) in December last

year.