Our socialist Parliament has just passed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill 2010. Two curious facts: The liability limit was trebled because of the Opposition. Chacha would have preferred to sell our lives cheaper. Second, read this:
The Lower House cleared the Bill after science and technology minister Prithviraj Chavan dropped the word “intent” from the legislation. The proposal had limited the liability by wording it as “act of supplier or his employees, done with the intent to cause nuclear damage”, which meant that the government would have to prove motive.
Mischievous people, our ministers. Torts always apply to unintended damages. But then, we in socialist India have no relief in torts. There is no "Rule of Law" here; there is only Legislation, as in this case. And Legislation is NOT Law.
I also found this section of the news report interesting:
Rejecting the Opposition’s allegations that the Bill was aimed at benefiting US companies, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: “I categorically state that the Bill is a completion of a journey to end the nuclear apartheid which the world had imposed on India... To say that this has been brought to promote American interests, to promote American corporations, I think, this is far from the truth.”
“Nuclear power is an option we should simply not ignore,” Singh added, explaining that it was the most cost effective option to increase power generation capacity.
Supporting the Bill, Congress member of Parliament Manish Tewari said nuclear power was essential to achieve the targeted 9% growth in the gross domestic product. Almost 40% of Indian households are still without electricity and the government sees nuclear power as a viable option to meet the growing energy needs of the world’s second fastest growing major economy.
Yeah, nuclear power is cost effective ONLY if liability for damages is limited by this legislation. The news report quotes a nuclear industry lobbyist saying, “globally, there is no insurance coverage available for suppliers in the nuclear business."
Further, these nuclear power plants are all going to be run by The State. Mixed-up economy blues continue to play. They want to expand the Role of The State in every which way they can. They refuse to privatize electricity - in which case hundreds of private businessmen would set up power plants using gas, which is cheap. And safe.
Ultimately, it all boils down to PRINCIPLES. Socialists have never possessed principles of any kind. After all, their strategy is to use "education" as propaganda. Chacha uses the word "truth." Actually, he is an enemy of truth. An enemy of reason.
So let us turn away from Chacha and look towards a man of truth: Frederic Bastiat. His biographer, George Charles Roche III, reports that his last words were: "The Truth." And this is what he said about PRINCIPLES:
...only principles have the power to satisfy men's minds, to win their hearts, and to gain the consent of their consciences.
What do we do now? I suggest local communities rise to throw out any nuclear power plant coming up in their area - for it is they who will die first. This is the NIMBY theory: Not In My Back Yard.
And where is the biggest nuclear power plant coming up? According to this report, the biggest one is coming up in Ratnagiri, on the Konkan coast, quite close to Goa. Ratnagiri is where the world's best mangoes come from - the legendary Alphonso. If there is an accident, there will be no Alphonsoes for the next 200 generations. And no amount of fiat paper money can compensate for such a loss.
Song of the Day: Michael Jackson's "All I Wanna Say Is That They Don't Really Care About Us."
Here is the video.
Why was the word "intent" even included in the first place. The initial liability was too low too. Was it a ploy to give some bargaining ground to the opposition. Me thinks the BJP and Congress are together in this treason
ReplyDelete