Christians were initially uneasy with such academic scrutiny. The Vatican only dropped its objections to critical scholarship after the second world war; Pope Benedict XVI, for example, might challenge the scholars’ conclusions but he would not object to their method.
Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today described India as the “dirtiest and filthiest” country in the world where people with mobile phones go out to answer the “call of nature”.
“In one area in which India can claim success in the social sector is education. We can’t say the same thing in health, we can’t say the same thing in nutrition, we certainly can’t say the same thing in sanitation because we do remain the dirtiest and filthiest country,” he said.
He said around 65 per cent of rural houses had been provided with toilets but didn’t use them. “Today, if you go to many parts of India, you have women with a mobile phone going out to answer the call of nature. I mean it is paradoxical,” the minister, who also holds charge of sanitation, said at an event here.
I do not know why Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh used such harsh words to make a point. A healthy topic of sanitation is now going to be lost amidst the din of controversial remarks. Why do responsible persons use extreme superlatives, when soft-spoken words can accomplish better results? And why single out women? These remarks are insensitive, brash, and regrettable.
"He, however, made it clear that there is no option before India but to go out to produce nuclear power because it is the cleanest and greenest form of energy."
"The plant is completely modern and safe. I can vouch for that. India is a power hungry nation and 2000 megawatt of power would be produced at the Tamil Nadu plant. We need it".
"We have no option but to switch to alternative sources of energy,like solar energy, nuclear energy and bio energy" Kalam added.
1. I am unable to understand how the superlatives like "cleanest" and "greenest" form of Energy can be attributed to Nuclear Energy, ignoring the 800-lb gorilla of recycling nuclear waste.
2. However noble a person Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is, still, nuclear safety and Energy Policy are issues that need to be redressed by a neutral Nuclear Energy Regulatory Authority. Till date, India does not have one and a fledgling bill is before the Indian Parliament.
3. I agree, nuclear as one amongst the other alternative sources of energy like solar, biomass, wind, etc. However, to tout nuclear as "cleanest" and "greenest" is ersatz at best.
If the great Chola emperor Raja Raja Chola I had believed for a moment that his monumental structure would be brought down in an earthquake, would we have got the magnificent Brihadeeswara Temple?
Or, if Homi Bhabha had decided that radiation is too harmful for citizens, would the country be running a safe and successful atomic power programme for the last 40 years, producing 4,700 megawatt of nuclear power?
Hyperbole and rhetoric. Sad. Even the Bhopal victims cannot buy these arguments. Nuclear-safety is a very important topic when a country is ready to formulate its Energy policy investing billions of dollars and millions of lives. India does not even have a neutral Nuclear Regulatory Authority as USA or other developed nations.
Instead of rhetoric, why can't science and technology engage in a meaningful discourse?
On Germany's decision to give up nuclear power by 2022, he said it was a power surplus developed nation, which could afford to lose a few plants. “More importantly, Germany has completely exhausted its nuclear resources. Thus, nuclear energy never fits into their goal of energy independence.
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has been dismissive of the tough decision Germany had to take in wake of the Fukushima accident by implying it as a Hobson's choice. Truth is not as Manichean as he states. With this tough decision to curtail its nuclear fleet, Germany will be compelled to rely on fossil-fuels, which will make its aggressive goals to cut down Greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020, very tough. To Germans that is more of a discomfiting problem than operating their nuclear fleet. Yet, Germany took this hard decision in wake of Fukushima. Global decisions on important matters such as nuclear-safety are taken after significant evaluation of those countries' necessities and often reasons are not as simplistic as the sound-bytes are.
Randomized Zooms (for eyes that are mine and yours only)
