wOrD pLAy...

This has nothing to do with the word games on the facebook or any other such analogy. As mentioned this is pertinent with our respected parliamentarians playing with words in the parliament, stakes: Millions of lives.

Whenever I talk about the proceedings of the parliament the first image that comes to the mind are a bunch of white clad people shouting, jumping, (sometimes throwing stuff) and approaching the chair the minute the speaker says ‘Settle down’. So it is hard to imagine them playing with words when they play with voices.

I will get to the heart of the matter in a moment. As an engineer there are certain areas that have an inherent alluring: one of them being the NUCLEAR DEAL, and some areas abhorrent: politics. However this was a case when the two of them met and what I found was that politics is not a dirty game; it is precipitous, clandestine and involves using a lot of grey matter. It is the execution that makes it dirty or not.

My inherent alluring to the Nuclear deal stemmed form the fact that India’s energy security, which for now seems bad will turn worse and eventually destitute in a couple of decades. The fossil fuels are ending and no matter what we do, we cannot protract the time when the drilling machines will hit rock bottom of an oil well and: Its Over, Its dry.

Moreover I as an engineer (budding i.e.) understand the need for energy resources not just for advancement but for mere existence in the form we are. I have lived in the energy crisis era of Uttar Pradesh where even in the capital city the cutoff for power supply was eight hours, that too in the scorching summers.

For me the Nuclear Deal for a country like India, a non-signatory to NPT or CTBT, a nuclear test few years back, building a stockpile of nuclear warheads (thanks to the border issues) it was a landmark. A remarkable achievement of the government, technical and diplomatic advisory to walk with such a deal right under the nose of the world as it was sniffing for weapons in IRAQ and destroying similar power plants in IRAN!!

But that time and euphoria has passed.

Now we came to the drafting part, which was important because not only had the rules be made such that they attract foreign investors, but also safeguard the people of the Republic of India.

But the onus for the genesis of this stringent took a back seat and the people perturbed as the government played its word games. Though the incumbent government is similar as the previous one, a paradigm shift of policies and work is starkly visible.

Purporting the liability bill was also of paramount importance as we still have pretensions for justice in Bhopal Gas tragedy. And the government made a conundrum out of it.

It began with the insertion of the word ‘and’ between the clauses 17(a) and (b) which was pointed out by THE HINDU. While there is absolutely no margin of error when you are drafting the possible fates of millions of people, but we can give this one to the government.

But another irretrievable event was the insertion of the word intent in the bill. While safeguarding the manufacturer from any lawful or vindictive suit from the sufferer, i.e. the people, it made it mandatory for the operator (Indian Agencies in this case) to prove an intent before filing of any suit.

To prove intent is proving the existence of God, just a lot more difficult. How can anyone in their right minds assume that intent of an action can be proven? Had it been that easy to prove intent the judiciary would have dispensed some quickest verdicts. Even in simple life we find ourselves hurting people without intending to. And sometimes good comes calling from our darkest intents and viscious plans.

The final form of the bill has dissents but is much more acceptable to us. But all through the process the nuclear deal has been one rollercoaster ride for India. With the trials for the ride over, with their portion of hitches, its time for the real time execution.

But having secured our Energy needs fifty years from now, we need to ponder on the remaining forty years, to reach 2050.

A word before signing off,

Amitabh Bachchan in Namak Halal said, “English is a very funny language.”

So it turned out to be!!