LOKAYAT PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES: Second lecture
INVITATION to talk by Dr. SURENDRA GADEKAR
Lokayat is organising the second of its public lectures on the topic:
Nuclear Energy for whose benefit: People or America?
Speaker: Dr. Surendra GadekarDate: Saturday, August 23, 2008Time: 6 pmVenue: Lokayat Hall, 3rd Floor, Opp. Syndicate Bank, Near Nal Stop, Law College Road, Pune-4The talk would be followed by an interaction with Dr. Surendra Gadekar.About Dr. Surendra GadekarSurendra Gadekar is a renowned Gandhian anti-nuclear activist from Vedchhi, Surat. He did his Ph.D from IIT-Kanpur and then was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Iowa State University, USA from 1979 to 1981. Subsequently, he joined the faculty of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Dr. Gadekar left his job in 1986 to work with the famed Gandhian Institute, Sampoorna Kranti Vidyalaya, in Vedchhi, Surat. The institute was started by the renowned Gandhian activist Narayan Desai. Here the emphasis is to live a life commensurate with one's beliefs. The activists here have been trying to attain self-sufficiency in food, clothing and shelter through manual work. They have also done immense work on renewable energy, including work on various kinds of solar cookers, biogas and micro-hydro systems. Dr. Surendra Gadekar is best known for his anti-nuclear work. He is famed as the editor of South Asia's most reputed anti-nuclear magazine, ANUMUKTI.Do join us for this talk on a very important subject, considering the hype that is being built around nuclear energy.
In solidarity.
Our website http://www.lokayat.org.in
Our blog http://pune-lokayat.blogspot.com
I am against Nuclear energy either for power or weapons. BUT there was an interesting point that I came across being discussed on TV in a country in Europe.
ReplyDelete2 main government parties and people are going through the same 'to be or not to be nuclear' question. The anchor sat with the women representatives of both parties on either side. The discussion went as it always does for about half an hour. What grabbed my attention was the last 20 minutes.
The woman speaking against Nuclear energy said that she would first like to see and make sure everything else related to nuclear use is in perfect control and planned to the T, including plan B and C. She continued putting this into detail in a few points
1.Are we able to transport/use nuclear material at the highest level of safety to every single living being and property in our country and our neighbours?
2.Are we at a position where we can confidently share with our citizens plans that will prevent any contamination however minor to however major to both people and property in our country and our neighbours?
3.Are we certain we have every single other need for every single person in our country in control - good schooling, health, jobs, higher education, good lifestyle for the old and disabled?
She then said 'If and only if we are able to answer these questions with concrete action, then can the debate of using or not using nuclear energy is worth getting into and if not its a waste of time. And nuclear energy will always remain for the benefit of a minuscule group of individuals either in our country or another country'.
I think that is the stand we must take. That of all discussions, the discussion against, is the only one important for the whole country, until we actually fulfil all other vital, key and basic issues, for eg. education, health, etc. Having done that we will be ready to look at the 'for nuclear power' discussions much more relevantly.