L E T T E R S    T O    T H E    E D I T O R

It’s the best possible nuclear deal

The nuclear deal in the present form may not meet India’s every demand, but it certainly is the best deal possible after months of deliberations. It will help India generate more power without burning the environment-polluting fossil fuels and improve our infrastructure, which we desperately need to.

As the non-civilian reactors are kept out of this deal and India is not even required to join the NPT before getting the deal operational, we all should be supporting it whole-heartedly without reservations.

It has been very interesting to watch the reaction of certain political parties and leaders in this respect. They complain about the rise in petrol and diesel prices, but do not suggest an alternative on how to control something imported from foreign countries.

We are at the mercy of OPEC regarding the price of oil in the global market.The only way to blunt that monopoly is by shifting to other forms of fuels. The nuclear deal provides that opportunity. Akali leaders have given a variety of reasons to oppose the deal ranging from “not having been consulted” to “it’s bad for border states”. Punjab does not need to have nuclear plants set up in the state, but can get power through the national electricity grid.

Akali leaders should look at the bigger picture and see the sorry state of power supply in Punjab today. If any leader is still worth his salt, he/she should never oppose any means to generate more power, especially if it is non-polluting. The stand of the communists in this regard has been totally unethical. The only reason to oppose the deal in their eyes has been the party on the other side of the table. One wonders if they are getting their talking points from China, which does not want India to improve its infrastructure and compete with the Chinese economy.

Neither would the Chinese like India and the US to be strategic partners. If that is indeed the reason for the stand that the communists have taken, it is unpatriotic. But I hope the reason is other than that.

ANUPREET SINGH, Huntsville, AL (USA)

II

The article “Why nuclear power” by V.S. Arunachalam and others (July 21) is enlightening, but I wonder if most of our M.P.s are aware of the issues at stake. If we want greater development and industrialisation, we need more energy, which can only be provided by nuclear production. It is going to be the energy source of future till we are able to economically harness solar energy.  

The CPM (should it be rechristened as the Chinese Party Mistress?), which had welcomed the Chinese army in the 1962 war, certainly would not like anything pro-American and pro-development as it would bring prosperity to the masses and deprive them of their vote bank.

The rest who are opposing the nuclear agreement see in this fight an opportunity to strike deals or grab power by toppling the government — sheer opportunism.

I am sure all right-thinking Indians must have been disgusted to see the behaviour our so-called leaders in Parliament. They are proving what Churchill had said about our leaders in the pre-Independence period. 

Nothing will improve till either all parties agree to field only principled and untainted candidates in the elections or the electorate get the right to recall the maverick MPs/MLAs.

Dr. O.N.Bhargava, Panchkula

Sex and Swedes

The news item “Swedes coming for sex lessons…” (July 16, 17) made an interesting reading. I am a little confounded that even the promiscuous and prurient West has to look Eastward for lessons on perfect sex, while we in a conservative India, perhaps, thought otherwise!

After all, ours is a land of sadhus, gurus, babas and godmen masquerading as divine agents, most of whom “tut-tut” at the very mention of sex but practise it on the sly, exploit and even rape gullible women in the name of God and religion.

Sex for a majority of us Indians is a “dushkaram” or “kukritya” (a reprehensible and sinful act) — as the vernacular press often describes it — thanks largely to Hindu fundamentalists and semi-literate priests.

They have distorted, reduced and stifled our once rich and liberal ancient culture to an orthodox, ritualistic and insular package of “paap” and “punya” and do’s and don’ts and suppressed women, who once enjoyed liberty and high esteem in our society.

It is that old and rich culture that we owe our Kamasutra and Khajurahos to and not to the present-day merchants and “thekedars” of religion.

The Swedes, who want to set up shop here for lessons in “perfect sex”, should be welcome if they are able to imbibe and inculcate the sacredness, divinity and bliss associated with sex — as Osho Rajneesh once spoke of — in the true ancient Indian way and not debase and demean it by corrupting it with flesh trade, drugs and unbridled commerce.

As for Kamasutra or Kamashastra, it may be a good source for some erotic reading pleasure but of hardly any use in the practical sense; some of the postures and positions suggested in the treatise are bizarre, ludicrous and even impossible! So good luck and happy learning, you Swedes!

Subhash C. Sharma, Palampur