[sacw] Sky High War Games & India's Mad Scientist

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch - for South Asians Against Nukes
6 Jan 2000
_____________________
#1. Democracy of Science
#2. India designing star-wars system, says Kalam
_____________________
#1.
Times of India
7 January 2000
Op-Ed.

DEMOCRACY OF SCIENCE

Those Indian women who currently trudge for miles every day in order to
bring home some firewood and one fragile matka [pitcher] of water must have
greeted the news of their country's ability to make a US-style
anti-ballistic missile system with boundless pride and joy.

The revelation of India's capabilities in this vital field was made by
the former scientific adviser to the government, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam,
in a speech to the Indian Science Congress in Pune earlier this week.
Along with an ABM system, delegates were told that India could even
pursue a full- fledged intercontinental ballistic missile programme --
capable of hitting distant enemies like Nauru and Vanuatu (`because
they're there', Mallory might have added) -- provided adequate funds
were made available for the project. Other goodies in the pipeline for
the rural woman: supersonic unmanned aircraft, lunar flights and space
tourism. Three cheers for Indian science! While there is no denying the
tremendous advances Indian scientists have registered in various fields,
especially defence and space -- and while it is nobody's case that
research in cutting-edge technologies should not be undertaken until
poverty is eliminated -- triumphalist claims of the sort Dr Kalam and
his colleagues routinely indulge in do sound a wee bit jarring given the
present state of affairs in the country. Here is a nation that cannot
even get its escalators and railway tracks right. Forget about unmanned
flights, regular aeroplanes are unable to land at our northern airports
in the winter because we do not have the wherewithal for low visibility
touchdowns and takeoffs.

Despite half a century of freedom, the scientific revolution and temper
that Nehru spoke about has yet to touch the lives of the majority. India
is a country with two toes of one foot in the nuclear age and the rest
of its extremities firmly planted in the early industrial and even
mediaeval ages. Thanks to the government's insouciance towards the
plight of ordinary people, our scientists and technologists have been
unable to come up with creative and cost-effective solutions to the
problems which plague common citizens. Science which does not contribute
towards the enhancement of our understanding of the world or the
improvement of life is a luxury this country can ill afford. In the case
of defence technologies, an ABM system is the last thing that India shou
ld be concentrating on. Such systems are not only expensive and
unreliable but also profoundly destabilising. At a global level,
Washington's insistence on proceeding with missile defence is likely to
trigger a new arms race. In South Asia, Indian research on ABMs will
only encourage Pakistan and China to increase the size and penetrative
abilities of their nuclear arsenals and make nonsense of the concept of
`minimum deterrence' enunciated in the draft Indian nuclear doctrine. In
a democracy, scientists -- and especially weapons scientists -- should
not be allowed to dictate the security or even science policies of the
country. The independence and autonomy of science must be respected but
the government has to make a conscious effort to channelise research in
the direction of projects which serve the interests of the people and
improve their standard of living.
________________
#2.
India Network News Digest - Jan. 6, 2000 Volume 12 Issue 4

INDIA DESIGNING STAR-WARS SYSTEM, SAYS KALAM
=46rom K Manjula, PUNE, Dec 5 (DHNS)

India is designing a state-of-the-art anti-ballistic missile system like
the star-wars system of the United States, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said here
today. He was addressing the plenary session of the 87th Indian Space
Congress here last evening.

Dr Kalam said that the country`s first light combat aircraft would be
tested before January-end and that efforts were on to operationalise
within two or three years all missiles. ''The country can pursue an ICBM
programme if funds are made available,`` Dr Kalam said.

Dr Kalam said that within five to ten years an ummanned supersonic fighter
aircraft would be developed in the country. The aircraft would combine
critical technologies used in missiles and satellites. In case of a
nuclear attack by the enemy, the aircraft would be automatically activated
to neutralise the weapons, he said.

He said the prime minister`s vision of making India a developed nation
within two decades would be possible only if the country became
technologically advanced. The hypersonic plane carrying 15 times the
current orbital load now being developed by ISRO was a step in that
direction.

At the same time, he said, the country had to increase per capita power
consumption at least ten times. The country had to double its nuclear
power generation to 40,000 MW, he said. Dr Kalam said that India was
preparing for a lunar flight.

India, Dr Kalam said, was forced to explode nuclear devices a second time
to tell China and Pakistan that it did not lag behind in technology. The
first one in 1974 was done to warn the US and the USSR, which had
stockpiled 10,000 nuclear warheads each.

Atomic Energy Commission Chairman R Chidambaram said that the nuclear
option was the only way for meeting India`s power needs. All the ten
nuclear power plants now operational in the country were working with 78
per cent average capacity and had not been affected by the Y2K bug.

By 2020, the country`s nuclear power generation would go up to 20,000 MW
against the 1840 MW now. Two more plants of Kaiga-2 and RAPP-3 had gone
critical recently while two more were expected to go critical next year.
The Central Electricity Authority has projected India`s power requirement
at 240 GW by 2020.

India will set up two 1000 MW light water reactors in Tamil Nadu in
collaboration with Russia. At the same time, a 500 MW pressurised heavy
water reactor (PHWR) would also be opened at Tarapur, he said.

Indian industry, he said, was now fully equipped to meet the spare parts
needs of the nuclear programme. The fact that several reactors had
undergone changes in designs over the years vindicated this aspect.

One of the major achievements of research in atomic energy department, Dr
Chidambaram said, was the development of desalination plants while efforts
were underway to develop ''fission- fusion hybridisation.``

ISRO Chairman Kasturirangan talked about future space programmes which, he
said, included development of mass transport systems carrying several
tonnes of payloads, space exploration and national information
infrastructure.

Indian scientists have developed a geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle
(GSLV) that can carry a six-tonne payload into lunar orbit, Kasturirangan
announced. The testing of the vehicle, needed for ISRO`s proposed lunar
expedition, would be conducted soon, he said.