A hot deal. Or is it?

I read about the civil nuclear liability bill being passed a couple weeks ago. This is supposed to be a big step for India. Many papers and publications described the passing of the bill as "landmark" and/or "revolutionary."

I agree. It is both landmark and revolutionary. After all...

How often does the government of a country basically open its borders to allow its citizens to (in effect) become guinea pigs for technology that has the potential to destroy entire cities should something go wrong?

Note: The USA has not built a single new nuclear reactor for 3 decades. All of a sudden they want to 'export cutting edge technology' to us? I read: experiment on us. Even if their motives are benign and only limited to the financial gain. It says something that they havent built a reactor within their own borders for 3 decades but want to help us build several dozen.

How often does it basically absolve one of the primary offending parties (foreign suppliers) of any wrongdoing for a paltry maximum liability of Rs 500 cr (approx $110 million) vs $10.5 BILLION in the USA and assume all other liability on "itself"?

Note: To be clear... the bill does not say that the total liability for an accident will be limited to Rs. 500 cr. It just says that any foreign suppliers (who will build the reactor and supply the fuel) will only be liable for Rs 500 cr (approx $110 million ) in damages for basically any kind of accident. The rest will be paid by the operators (NPCIL) i.e. the Government.... i.e. the people of India... i.e. you and me.

Dont get me wrong. I am all for nuclear power. But only if its ensured to be safe and if the parties responsible for accidents will be held liable and pay ADEQUATE reparations. Heck BP spent many times more money cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf than what the government is proposing that a foreign supplier might have to pay if a nuclear plant explodes (exaggeration... hopefully...).

Meh... I bet a lot of money changed hands in Delhi (and elsewhere) that day... but even so... this level of liability for anyone doing anything involving nuclear materials with potential for widespread contamination in one of the most densely populated countries in the world, home to 1/6th of mankind... is a farce...

I would go on about India's poor civil nuclear safety record, but ssh! Lets not scare too many people. If reports by foreign agencies are to be believed.... and even if only 10% of them are true... I would not advocate living anywhere within 200km of the active nuclear reactors in India.

Over to you people.

Video Killed the Radio Star

In case you dont know... the title of the post is also the title of a very popular song by a band called... (oddly enough) "The Buggles"...

But thats not what this post is going to be talking about... heck I didnt know that "The Buggles" even existed until I googled the song... which I have heard a number of times in a number of places... argh! I digress again...

I wanted to talk about the death of Indipop and the role of Bollywood... but theres other more qualified people to do that... and frankly... I am not in the mood to start a rant which will probably include several death threats and wild accusations of "ALLEGED" plagiarism... Then there will be my usual lamentation about remixes and how the music videos that they make these days take the concept of 'Sex Sells' a little too seriously... I mean... have some god damned pride in your own music for f***s sake... (Please excuse the profanity)...

But... to celebrate the short lived golden era of Indipop (read: The 90's)... heres a few numbers you might enjoy....

K.K. - Aap Ki Dua

Bombay Vikings - Kya Soorat Hai

Agosh - Paisa

Silk Route - Dooba Dooba

Lucky Ali - Oh Sanam

Euphoria - Mantra

Despite my defeatist outlook in this matter... artists like Kailash Kher and Atif are giving me hope... even their music videos dont have too many (or any) half naked woman cavorting in a vulgar manner...