There is nothing to worry about the proposed N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: NPCIL

Farmers protest public hearing for proposed N-plant

Counterview Desk
In a reply to R Sreedhar of the Environics Trust, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has suggested that top activist-scientist’s objections to the proposed N-plant at Mithi Virdi in Gujarat are misplaced. In a statement forwarded to www.counterview.net, NPCIL has sought to provide a point by point rebuttal to Sreedhar’s queries to the N-plant.
Query: The location of the site with 78 per cent of double cropped land for the plant not only indicates the lack of sensitivity in the choice of area for acquisition but also that the state and the NPClL are putting more people to risk, as settlements would be also too close for nuclear plant and the need for some exclusion zone need not be over-emphasised after the recent accidents and increased concern on nuclear disasters.
NPCIL response: The Mithivirdi site is offered by government of Gujarat and was evaluated by the site selection committee {SSC} appointed by Government of India comprising members from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), department of atomic energy (DAE), and NPCIL. The SSC has recommended Mithivirdi as the suitable site for establishing the nuclear power plant (6 X 1000 MW capacities light water reactor). The site selection committee has considered various site selection criteria as specified by AERB/MoEF such as location, land availability, transportation accessibility, source of cooling water, meteorology, population, seismic zones, flood analysis, sustainability of the project, other environmental aspects etc. before recommending the suitability of the site for establishing nuclear power plant (NPP). Based on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies, it is clarified that agriculture (double cropped) in the region will not be affected due to the project as the emission of conventional pollutants from the project will be negligible and radiation close will be a small fraction of the AERB dose limit. While acquiring the land for the project, the affected-people will be compensated in line with the state Government resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy.
The proposed AP1000 at Mithlvirdì is a generation-III pressurized water reactor (PWR). The technology is evolved by Westinghouse based on AP600 the successfully operating power plants. The technology is licensed by the USNRC regulating authorities and is under implementation in many countries.
The AP1000 design has the inner containment steel lined and designed to withstand accidental pressures and temperatures and an outer hardened concrete shell enveloping the inner one and protecting it against external hazards such as aircraft crashes and pressure wave, etc.. The reactor design follows the latest international standards and guidelines. lt incorporates a large number of diverse and redundant safety features. The low -level radioactive waste generated by NPP will be having a robust treatment and disposal system in line with AERB requirements.
Query: One of the issues clearly pointed out in the terms of reference (TOR) and is fundamental to any dialogue with Public is to know the project affected people and the R&R plan. The point number (xiv) in the TOR sates "Application of resettlement and rehabilitation policy may be described. Project affected persons should be identified and rehabilitation and resettlement plan should be prepared." The section on R&R in the EIA report is totally hypothetical and does not even say how many households would be affected.
NPCIL response: As per the Khasara map, there is no physical displacement of any of the villages. However, the land going to be acquired for the project belongs to the Jasapara, Mandava and Khadadpar-Mithivirdi villages. On this land there are some scattered houses which will be surveyed and confirmed by the district administration. The affected families will be compensated as per R&R Policy of Govt. of Gujarat.
Query: EIL does not have necessary accreditation to conduct EIA for nuclear power plants.
NPCIL response: Accreditation of Engineers India Ltd (EIL) for nuclear sector is under active considerations by NABET since March 15, 2010. As the requirements for accreditation in this sector are being discussed with the experts in the field and are not yet finalized by NABET, EIL has not provided in the EIA report valid NABET accreditation certificate for nuclear sector. Also, it is submitted that M/s EIL has carried out the updated EIA for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project unit 3 to 6 (KKNPP 3 to 6) in the year 2011-12, which was reviewed by CRZ Expert Appraisal Committee, MoEF and based on their recommendations, MOEF granted CRZ clearance for KKNPP 3 to 6. Considering their overall capabilities in the field of EIA, NABET has suggested to EIL to carry out the EIA study for nuclear power projects in consultation with AERB/ BARC/ NPCIL.

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Girl child education: 20 major states 'score' better than Gujarat, says GoI report

By Rajiv Shah
A Government of India report, released last month, has suggested that “model” Gujarat has failed to make any progress vis-à-vis other states in ensuring that girls continue to remain enrolled after they leave primary schools. The report finds that, in the age group 14-17, Gujarat’s 71% girls are enrolled at the secondary and higher secondary level, which is worse than 20 out of 22 major states for which data have been made available.

Savarkar in Ahmedabad "declared support" to two-nation theory in 1937, followed by Jinnah three years later

By Our Representative
One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Congress 'promises' cancellation of Adani power project: Jharkhand elections

Counterview Desk
Pointing out that people's issues take a backseat in Jharkhand's 2019 assembly elections, the state's civil rights organization, the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a coalition of activists and people’s organisations, has said that political parties have largely ignored in their electoral manifestos the need to implement the fifth schedule of the Constitution in a predominantly tribal district.

Hindutva founders 'borrowed' Nazi, fascist idea of one flag, one leader, one ideology

By Shamsul Islam*
With the unleashing of the reign of terror by the RSS/BJP rulers against working-class, peasant organizations, women organizations, student movements, intellectuals, writers, poets and progressive social/political activists, India also witnessed a series of resistance programmes organized by the pro-people cultural organizations in different parts of the country. My address in some of these programmes is reproduced here...
*** Before sharing my views on the tasks of artists-writers-intellectuals in the times of fascism, let me briefly define fascism and how it is different from totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is political concept, a dictatorship of an individual, family or group which prohibits opposition in any form, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is also described as authoritarianism.
Whereas fascism, while retaining all these repressive characteristics, also believes in god-ordained superiority of race, cultur…

Ex-World Bank chief economist doubts spurt in India's ease of doing business rank

By Rajiv Shah
This is in continuation of my previous blog where I had quoted from a commentary which top economist Prof Kaushik Basu had written in the New York Times (NYT) a little less than a month ago, on November 6, to be exact. He recalled this article through a tweet on November 29, soon after it was made known that India's growth rate had slumped (officially!) to 4.5%.

With RSS around, does India need foreign enemy to undo its democratic-secular fabric?

By Shamsul Islam*
Many well-meaning liberal and secular political analysts are highly perturbed by sectarian policy decisions of RSS/BJP rulers led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially after starting his second inning. They are vocal in red-flagging lynching incidents, policies of the Modi government on Kashmir, the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the demand for 'Bharat Ratna' to Savarkar who submitted 6-7 mercy petitions to the British masters (getting remission of 40 years out of 50 years' sentence), and the murder of constitutional norms in Goa, Karnataka and now in Maharashtra.

Post-Balakot, danger that events might spiral out of control is 'greater, not less'

By Tapan Bose*
The fear of war in South Asia is increasing. Tensions are escalating between India and Pakistan after the Indian defence minister's announcement in August this year that India may revoke its current commitment to only use nuclear weapons in retaliation for a nuclear attack, known as ‘no first use’. According to some experts who are watching the situation the risk of a conflict between the two countries has never been greater since they both tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

Rushdie, Pamuk, 260 writers tell Modi: Aatish episode casts chill on public discourse

Counterview Desk
As many as 260 writers, journalists, artists, academics and activists across the world, including Salman Rushdie, British Indian novelist, Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature, and Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet and novelist, have called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the decision to strip British Indian writer Aatish Taseer of his overseas Indian citizenship.

Worrying signs in BJP: Modi, Shah begin 'cold-shouldering' Gujarat CM, party chief

By RK Misra*
The political developments in neighbouring Maharashtra where a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government assumed office has had a trickle down effect in Gujarat with both the ruling BJP and the Congress opposition going into revamp mode.

'Favouring' tribals and ignoring Adivasis? Behind coercion of India's aborigines

By Mohan Guruswamy*
Tribal people account for 8.2% of India’s population. They are spread over all of India’s States and Union Territories. Even so they can be broadly classified into three groupings. The first grouping consists of populations who predate the Indo-Aryan migrations. These are termed by many anthropologists as the Austro-Asiatic-speaking Australoid people.

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