While going through my daily dose of news, I came across this article “Japan keen on nuclear cooperation with India: Montek Ahluwalia”that talked about the ongoing talks on civil nuclear cooperation. There are a lot of nitty-gritty’s involved in the whole of nuclear power cooperation, however my main concern is simple – “Is Nuclear Energy as important for India as it is portrayed to be?”

Prior to the Fukushima disaster, Japan got about 30% of its electric power from nuclear sources. However, since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Japan has not been able to avail energy from all its reactors till date and earlier this year it survived well with even zero nuclear power. If a developed and advanced nation like Japan can survive without nuclear power, certainly it becomes very apparent that nuclear power is not “essential” for India.

Recently, the Japanese government has made a proposal for demonstrating alternative energy solutions such as solar power for industrial parks in India. This government-to-government technical aid offer has been approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), yet it lies mired in bureaucracy at Department of Economic Affairs of Ministry of Finance. In my opinion, the current need of the hour is to take the alternative route rather than simply taking what corporate Japan is offering us in a platter. I believe the alternatives to nuclear power should be investigated first lest we invite disasters such as the Bhopal gas tragedy or Chernobyl in our country. Our track record with road and railroad safety is ample indication of the low priority assigned to safety in our country. India has even started wearing the “jugaad” mentality as a symbol of pride!

Japanese government’s Energy and Environment Council has set a 28-year target for a nuclear-free Japan. Not only Japan, even Germany is also getting rid of nuclear and is venturing into the realms of wind and solar energy without even having sunshine like India.

It’s very similar to the scenario of Europe’s Airbus trying to convince us to buy airplanes because that is what they make. There is nothing wrong with the seller’s attitude. Is Japan trying to sell us its nuclear technology or is it merely their business lobby pressurizing our leaders to go ahead with it? The onus right now lies on the purchasing side to make the right decision. Indian leaders have been questioned a lot too many times for their weak decisions, be it the Bofors scandal,the Air Force land scam or even recently the Coalgate scandal.

Taking cue from countries like Germany and Japan itself, Government of India (GoI) must avoid rushing to accept big business’s proposals. They should well research all the available options or else there will be strong suspicion of a corruption once again. Irrespective of the money involved in the deal, we should consider alternatives of renewable energy in a better way rather than simply rushing into something that the whole world is getting rid of.