That mushroom cloud Gopalkrishna Gandhi Published 23.07.2 https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/that-mushroom-cloud-some-thoughts-on-the-25th-anniversary-of-pokhran-ii/cid/1953898
Today, one does not hear voices from civil society talking of the nuclear threat or, for that matter, of biological and chemical threats to the world. Disarmament is a piety in conference agendas
Today, one does not hear voices from civil society talking of the nuclear threat or, for that matter, of biological and chemical threats to the world. Disarmament is a piety in conference agendas. And, of course, there is no voice from the world of scientists and physicists anywhere near that of J.R. Oppenheimer, Kenneth Bainbridge, Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein or Joseph Rotblat, the leading light of the Pugwash Movement, who warned the world of the peril of a nuclear pile-up, in the great Russell-Einstein Manifesto of July 5, 1955. (The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs sought to work to reduce the danger of armed conflict.)
On this twenty-fifth anniversary of Pokhran II, some contrarians amongst us might think why today, when the risks of mass extinction are far, far greater, the moral compasses amidst us to warn of those are so much fewer. Why should we have Pokhran after Pokhran in India but not one Pugwash?
Nuclear, biological, chemical and cyber weapons further fortified by the as yet only dimly perceived risks of Artificial Intelligence can unleash misery upon us.
Grim as this prognosis is, the Buddha at Birla Mandir saying through a curious smile ‘... some will strive...’ makes me believe that individuals... will pioneer an initiative towards comprehensive disarmament.
Shankar Sharma in an open reponse/letter spoke about nuclear power...... there is another dimension to nuclear radiation related costs/ risks to our people in the form of an ever growing number of nuclear power plants, which are coming up in various states in the country. ... nuclear power plants ... are the costliest, riskiest and slowest of the available technologies to meet the growing
electricity needs of the country. ..
Whereas the authorities and vested interests in nuclear industry may argue that nuclear weapons are under adequate control to prevent unintended
nuclear radiation consequences, the same cannot be said about the nuclear disasters associated with nuclear power plants. But we know that nuclear power plants and the associated infrastructure, such as nuclear ore mining, processing, transportation, waste disposal etc. also can have massive consequences to the project affected communities in particular, but to the larger population in general as well.
.. Multiple and detailed representations highlighting the costs/ risks/ consequences of nuclear radiation leaks to our people, and the techno-economically attractive options available to our country to replace nuclear power plants, seem to have had no effect on the centre's obsession to continue with building more of nuclear power plants.