While Modi is in US, back home in Gujarat villagers plan anti-nuclear protest at proposed Mithi Virdi site

Villagers' protest public hearing on N-plant in March 2013

By Our Representative
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the US and his supporting NRIs are chanting “Modi, Modi”, back home in Gujarat, tens of villages surrounding the proposed site for the 6,000 MW nuclear power plant are set to stage a major protest rally. To be held in the Mithi-Virdi-Jaspara region of Bhavnagar district of Gujarat on April 28, during the protest, when Modi will have intense discussions in the White House, the anti-nuclear campaigners are likely to insist that the Early Works Agreement signed in 2012 between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NCPCIL) and Westinghouse Electric Corporation for the project be scrapped.
Available details say, the issue of solidifying the agreement, which was reached under the previous UPA government, is on agenda during Modi’s talks in the White House, and Modi’s team frantically wants to tackle certain ticklish “administrative issues” for implementing the Early Works Agreement with the US company, which had agreed to supply six 1000 MW (AP 1000) nuclear reactors for the Gujarat plant.
The protest will take place at a time when government authorities have cracked down on anti-nuclear protesters of Tamil Nadu’s Kudankulam, imposing sedition charges against them. One of the leading protesters, SP Udayakumar, convener of the People's Movement against Nuclear Energy, was recently refused permission to embark plane for Kathmandu to attend a UN-sponsored human rights conference on the ground that criminal sedition charges have been leveled against him. So far, however, there has not been any such extreme step in Gujarat.
This will be the second major protest this year against the proposed nuclear plant. Top environmentalist Rohit Prajapati of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, in the forefront of the anti-nuclear campaign in Gujarat, believes that in all 152 villages with a population of more than 200,000 in 30 km radius of the proposed nuclear power plant will be “adversely affected” because of the project. “The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture. The rich alluvial soil here supports crops like groundnut, wheat, bajra, and cotton, and fruits like mango, chikoos and coconut”, Prajapati said in a statement.
Quoting sources in the agriculture department, Prajapati says, the area also “grows and supplies” vegetables like onion, brinjal, gourd, tomatoes, and drumsticks on a regular basis to other parts of the state, and the climate and the soil are suitable for cashew nuts. “Following the footsteps of the previous UPA Government, Modi’s US visit is all set to mortgage the environment and dilute the Nuclear Liability Act, so that private profits are safeguarded even as Fukushima exemplified all over again how risky nuclear power plants are”, Prajapati insisted.
The earlier protest was on March 9, 2014, when the gram panchayats of five most-affected villages passed a resolution declaring the entire Mithi Virdi-Jaspara region as nuclear free zone, sending its copy to President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, chief minister Modi, and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. The resolution declared, “At a time when Special Investment Region has become the most lobbied term in the state of Gujarat, this region too should be announced as SAR (special agricultural region) for agricultural purpose.”
In all 777 hectares (ha) of land in Jaspara, Mithivirdi, Khadarpa, and Mandva villages will be affected for the proposed nuclear power plant, and the state government has declared its intention to invoke the “public purpose” clause of the new land acquisition Act -- Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 -- for acquiring land. The application of the public purpose clause would mean that the state government would not need to seek the consent of 70 per cent of the affected villagers for acquiring land.
The reason being forwarded for the people of so several villages feeling uncomfortable is not far to seek: While the terms of Reference for the Ministry of Environment and Forests claimed an area of 10 km radius was under the direct influence of the proposed nuclear power plant, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study of the N-plant said 30 km of radius would need to be studied on possible impact of radioactivity. The word has spread about this, and the villagers are angry. There is also another fear: the site of the project is just about five km from a top lignite mining site, while Asia’s biggest ship-braking yard Alang is only 20 km away.
Environmentalists have already taken strong exception to the EIA report, which was put up for public hearing in March 2013, saying the consultants, Engineers India Ltd (EIL), are not accredited for preparing a report on the proposed N-plant. In fact, NPCIL sources say, no agency in India is accredited to assess nuclear power projects by National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET). EIL had applied (to NABET) for accreditation in 2010. “NABET gave permission to EIL to carry out EIA. Besides, all NPCIL’s projects are assessed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) as far as radioactive emissions is concerned,” an NCPIL executive has been quoted as saying.

Comments

US govt funding 'dubious PR firm' to discredit anti-GM, anti-pesticide activists

By Our Representative The Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) has vocally condemned the financial support provided by the US Government to questionable public relations firms aimed at undermining the efforts of activists opposed to pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in India.

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

By Rajiv Shah Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication.

Bayer's business model: 'Monopoly control over chemicals, seeds'

By Bharat Dogra* The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has rendered a great public service by very recently publishing a report titled ‘Bayer’s Toxic Trails’ which reveals how the German agrochemical giant Bayer has been lobbying hard to promote glyphosate and GMOs, or trying to “capture public policy to pursue its private interests.” This report, written by Joao Camargo and Hans Van Scharen, follows Bayer’s toxic trail as “it maintains monopolistic control of the seed and pesticides markets, fights off regulatory challenges to its toxic products, tries to limit legal liability, and exercises political influence.”

105,000 sign protest petition, allege Nestlé’s 'double standard' over added sugar in baby food

By Kritischer Konsum* 105,000 people have signed a petition calling on Nestlé to stop adding sugar to its baby food products marketed in lower-income countries. It was handed over today at the multinational’s headquarters in Vevey, where the NGOs Public Eye, IBFAN and EKO dumped the symbolic equivalent of 10 million sugar cubes, representing the added sugar consumed each day by babies fed with Cerelac cereals. In Switzerland, such products are sold with no added sugar. The leading baby food corporation must put an end to this harmful double standard.

Militants, with ten times number of arms compared to those in J&K, 'roaming freely' in Manipur

By Sandeep Pandey* The violence which shows no sign of abating in the ongoing Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur is a matter of concern. The alienation of the two communities and hatred generated for each other is unprecedented. The Meiteis cannot leave Manipur by road because the next district North on the way to Kohima in Nagaland is Kangpokpi, a Kuki dominated area where the young Kuki men and women are guarding the district borders and would not let any Meitei pass through the national highway.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded reaction in the form of a link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Can voting truly resolve the Kashmir issue? Past experience suggests optimism may be misplaced

By Raqif Makhdoomi* In the politically charged atmosphere of Jammu and Kashmir, election slogans resonated deeply: "Jail Ka Badla, Vote Sa" (Jail’s Revenge, Vote) and "Article 370 Ka Badla, Vote Sa" (Article 370’s Revenge, Vote). These catchphrases dominated the assembly election campaigns, particularly across Kashmir.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Edgar Snow's objective view of Chinese revolution 'avoided' uncritical support for Maoism

By Harsh Thakor* As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, it is essential to reflect on the legacy of Edgar Snow, the first journalist to enter the northwest region known as Red China in 1936. His groundbreaking work brought the narratives of Mao Zedong and his followers to the global stage. A prominent figure in China, Snow was an American journalist celebrated for his 1937 book , "Red Star Over China."

Search This Blog