ZK Pahrii Pou
BTC, Pfutsero
Introduction:
We live in an age of neo-liberal globalisation where the ferocious force of global capitalism, in various forms, is attacking almost all spheres of life including socio, religious, economic and political life. The spirit of capitalism which emphasis on ‘survival of the fittest’ has been thrust deep into the mindset of the people forcing them to think that ‘there is no alternative’ to global capitalism and that everyone has to follow suit. What is happening in India today is like a classic David-Goliath fight between the ‘ordinary citizens’ of India and the powerful Indian government supported by the rich and Indian capitalists, MNCs, imperial powers and the global nuclear mafia. Millions of people are displaced majority of whom are tribals and adivasis. Mega-dams, large irrigation projects, extension of airport and highways, coal and other mines, industries, atomic and nuclear plants, etc. have resulted to the loss of life and livelihoods of the dalits, the tribals, the adivasis, women, fisherfolks, and people working in unorganised sectors. Those who fight back against the state to protect their life and livelihood are termed as ‘terrorists’, ‘naxalites,’ ‘extremists’, or as someone who is against the ‘growth’ and ‘security’ of nation.
In the name of ‘development’ and ‘growth’ (accumulation of capital) the state ruthlessly promotes and protects the interest of the few capitalist/corporates at the expense of the subaltern classes. The state, which is controlled and run by elites, in collaboration with the corporates (MNCs and TNCs) has time and again offended the right to life and livelihood of the indigenous communities. The state uses its coercive forces to suppress people’s movements. However, the victims of modern development and of neo-liberal globalisation continue to confront the oppressive state and global forces in different parts of the country such as NBA in Narmada Valley, movement against uranium mining in Odisha (Orissa) and Meghalaya, CMM movement in Chhattisgarh, and various people’s movements against nuclear plants in India. People’s Movements Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) fights against Kudankulam nuclear power plant. This movement shows how the state follows dominant development paradigm and employed various ‘dirty tactics’ to ensure its project being established by breaking the unity of the protestors. This non-violent movement shows how a consolidated voice of subaltern classes can effectively challenge and survive the onslaught of neo-liberal globalisation. This Movement challenged Christians to think whether we serve the interest of mammon (global capitalism that destroys life) or God (that procreates and protects life) - whether we are part of destruction of life or part of saving life. It is in this context, this paper looks into the struggle of people affected by Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamilnadu who represent the voices of those in the margins, their force of resistance and the task of Christians to protect and proclaim life.
I. What is Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant(KKNPP) In 1987, Soviet Union announces plan to build Nuclear Plant in India. In 20 November 1988, Rajiv Gandhi and Mikhail Gorbachev signed an Inter-governmental Agreement for building two 1000 MV VVER-1000 nuclear reactors. The Plant is planned to build in Kudankulam often referred to as KKNPP (Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant) in Tamil Nadu. Nuclear energy is supposed to provide power for heavy industries and electricity. Hence it is often said that such plant is only for ‘civilian use’, but it also comes with the added threat of nuclear weapons. It is a front of nuclear weapons. This is the reason why the protest against the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam started long time back as part of anti-war, anti-nuclear weapons in 1987. Nuclear reactors such as the one in KKNPP are meant to be used for peaceful purposes but have potential to manufacture nuclear weapons with the so-called spent fuel either by Indian government or by the Soviet Union. There is no guarantee that these countries will not use the spent fuel for the production of nuclear weapons.
II. Is India’s Nuclear programme a success? India’s Nuclear programme has been a colossal failure. It took 35 years to build the first reactor and out of Rs. 5,600 crores spent on the first reactor, as per the report produced by Controller and Auditor General, the total energy produced was NIL. Till today, nuclear energy constitutes just 0.7% of primary energy while the Bio-Mass constitutes 31%. Only 28-30% of the nuclear energy is converted into electricity and the rest are dissipated as heat which affects the environment too. The decommissioning of the nuclear power plant is very expensive and the effect of radioactive decay of the nuclear waste would last for more than 25,000 years. Why then this obsession with nuclear energy at all costs? Why this completely imbalanced investment and resource flows to the department of atomic energy and not the Ministry of Renewable Energy? It is ironic indeed that it is the Russians, French and Americans who seem to be dictating our national interests and priorities in many fields including that our energy options. Nuclear energy is the gateway to prosperity of the rich countries, MNCs, rich people and the politicians at the expense of the vast majority of the poor people.
III. Are people properly informed about Kudankulam Reactors? The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process was introduced as part of the 1994 EIA Notification with the purpose of identifying/evaluating the potential benefit and adverse impacts of developmental projects on the environment. This was never properly done in the case of Kudankulam reactors. Survey shows that about 75 per cent of the population in the Kudankulam neighbourhoods are totally ignorant of the nuclear plant. None of them seems to have an iota of an idea what dangers nuclear plants pose to humanity. At the initial stage, the villagers hence enthusiastically welcomed the power project and demanded in one voice immediate construction of the work in the site.
The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process was introduced as part of the 1994 EIA Notification with the purpose of identifying/evaluating the potential benefit and adverse impacts of developmental projects on the environment. This was never properly done in the case of Kudankulam reactors. Survey shows that about 75 per cent of the population in the Kudankulam neighbourhoods are totally ignorant of the nuclear plant. None of them seems to have an iota of an idea what dangers nuclear plants pose to humanity. At the initial stage, the villagers hence enthusiastically welcomed the power project and demanded in one voice immediate construction of the work in the site.
The Central expert group did not answer to many issues raised by the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) lead by S. P. Udayakumar which include volcanic eruption near the reactor, potential for tsunami, shoreline instability, etc. There is also the issue of the rise of sea water temperature and its implication for marine life, including fish and prawns. The dangers could be immense when all the six 1,000 MWe reactors begin operations. The discharge of hot water into the sea everyday by each reactor could change the temperature of sea water and upset the marine ecology beyond redemption, threatening the livelihood of the fisherfolk. Besides, there is the question of the chemical and radiological composition of effluents.
IV. Is Nuclear Power Plant really safe? Former President APJ Abdul Kalam said that nuclear plant at Kudankulam is ‘100% safe and secure’. This invites strong criticism from many activists saying that if such nuclear plants are safe then why Government of India and Government of Madhya Pradesh failed to prevent the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984. Also if the nuclear vendors are 100% sure about their safety, why can’t they take 100% liability? The Chernobyl accident has contaminated around 1 lakh sq miles of area. Because of radiation, more than 2 million people have died in the past 20 years. In Fukushima around 200 kms area have got affected and almost 10 lakh people are expected to get cancer in next 10 years. If Abdul Kalam and Co. believes that nuclear reactors are 100% safe, then why are they not ready to stake their financial health? The latest accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has drawn attention to the limitations of technology and the greed of the powerful. If Nuclear Power were safe, then why not store the spent fuel rods in the Capital or in the building premises of the industrialists.
The Report of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study revealed stunning facts about the 1,100 MW nuclear plant at Sizewell (Britain) in case accident occurred at the site. The harmful radioactive release will cause damage to public health and property downwind upto 170km. In case of an accident, the report says that the residents will have to be forcibly evacuated within six hours upto 16 km, 12 hours upto 25 km, 24 hours upto 75 km and 48 hours upto 140 km. …only after intensive de-contamination will people be able to reoccupy their houses. Those within 77 km from the reactor will be able to come back only after 20 years, within 115 after five years and within 140 km distance after one year of their evacuation. …the social costs of damage would be about Rs 250 crore for housing and rehabilitation, Rs 300 crore for non-agricultural products, Rs. 500 crore for farm products, Rs 1,200 crore for cleaning expenses and Rs 1,500 crore for making alternative arrangements for power supply.
Hence if accident occurred in Kudankulam nuclear plant, its effect would be disastrous reaching as far as 140 km belt. S. P. Udayakumar has lamentably said thus, “When our sweet land, water, air, sea, fish, crops, cattle, children and grandchildren are all caught up in a radioactive danger, we would have been gone. Our physically challenged, mentally retarded and cancer afflicted descendants will be roaming around.” These radioactive substances are discharged into the air and water by several ways and they enter into the environment consisting of air, water and soil and foods like vegetables, fishes, prawns and they ultimately get into human beings and produce cancers and birth defects in generations of people for many decades to come.
V. How will KKNPP affect the life and livelihoods of the people? Loss of livelihood is the most frightening spectre that haunts the residents in and around kudankulam. They fear once the nuclear plant starts, they will lose their traditional fishing ground. There will be a 3km security cordon around the plant. Fisher folk often go fishing at odd hours, at dawn, late at night. Certainly it will be difficult for them to venture into sea near the plant due to security reason.
There is also the danger of contamination of the fishing grounds that will slowly kill marine life and of the air. Nuclear plants accident such as Chernobyl-1986 and the recent one in Fukushima added more fuel to the protest movement against KKNPP. The siting of the two 1,000 MW nuclear plants at Koodunkulam will undoubtedly result in the immediate eviction of the people of Koodunkulam village itself, which is barely three km from the proposed reactor site, plus the people of the nearby villages. EPW has estimated that over 100,000 persons may face eviction once the construction of the two nuclear plants starts and the livelihood of over 500,000 person is going to be threatened seriously. The protestors have demanded that their concerns over issues of safety, environmental hazards and procedural violations of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) be fully and properly addressed. That their life and livelihood concerns should have been so casually ignored by a government that has even resorted to allegations of ‘foreign manipulation’ of what is an indigenous mass movement is extremely disturbing.
VI. Who are the protestors and how do they protest? The protesters comprised of people coming from different communities of different districts of Tamil Nadu, supported by many people’s movements, intellectuals, scientists, activists and others who stood against nuclear plants. Majority of them came from the fishing community, the Nadar community, the Dalit community, the Muslim community and others. Interestingly majority of the protestors are women and girls. The Movement is supported by people of every faith with prayers and support coming in from the many Hindu shrines, the imams and masjids as well as the churches. The state’s employed various ‘dirty tactics’ but failed to break the unity of the protestors. The struggle in Kudankulam stands out for the sustained participation of large numbers of women, men, young and old willing to leave home, hearth and protest against the destructive plan of the state. Conscientisation on the risk of nuclear and coal plants; on alternatives available in renewables; on struggles in other parts of India; their own history, the relevance of Ambedkar and Gandhi in their struggle, and the rapidly eroding coastline environment and their endangered occupation of fishing keeps burning the oil of protest.
VII. What are the tactical ploys of the state to suppress the Movement? The state employed different tactics to break people’s movement against KKNPP. Former President Abdul Kalam’s assurance of 200 crore rupees worth for welfare measures to the Kundakulam people was a tactical ploy of bribing the local people and keeps them away from protest movement. In order to silence the voices on the margins, the state charged the protestors as working against the national security and that the Movement is run with aid from foreign countries especially from US. When that tactic didn’t work, many of the protestors were termed as ‘Naxalites’. Dr Subramanian Swamy has gone to the extreme. He has ‘discovered’ that the anti-KKNPP agitation has been financed by anti-national, foreign inspired Christian Missionaries, aided by the LTTE left-overs. Proponents of KKNPP unleashed the communal bogey of fisherfolks versus non-fisherfolk and Christians versus Hindus. Dr. Abdul Kalam went to the extent of terming the protesters as ‘fools’. The issue of Pechiparai dam was brought in to divide the protestors from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The police have registered 85 false cases against the leaders of this movement including 3015 fisher-folks and its leader S.P. Udayakumar under various Indian Penal Code. The charge against the protestors include serious charges such as “waging war against the state” and of “sedition.” The findings of the Jury on the Public Hearing on Koodankulam and State Suppression of Democratic Rights says that there is restriction on freedom of speech, freedom of movement, denial of information and registration of criminal cases and arrests against the protesters as on 14th May 2012. Hence, they are denied of their right to life. What is happening in Kudankulam is only an iceberg of various tactics adopted by the state to suppress people’s movement at the same time protects and promotes the welfare of the corporates.
VIII. Are there alternative sources of energy to Nuclear Energy? We need energy for development but it should be for the benefit of the poorest of the poor and certainly for not the corporations. We need development that will help nature to grow, ecologically viable and sustain agricultural activities. Instead of going for nuclear energy which puts the lives and livelihood of the people and nature in danger, it is much more advisable to go for other alternatives like tidal waves, wind energy, biomass and other. This can be done through smaller projects, for instance, check dams – which can be used both for lighting and irrigation. Scientist Soumya Dutta sees the possibility of providing electricity to vast majority of the population through renewable energy resources. He said that from a thinly populated area of more 1 lakh sq km in Rajasthan, 17000MV of electricity can be generated through solar panels. He feels that government has to increase the subsidy for renewable energy resources so that it is cheaper, cleaner, environment friendly and safer than nuclear energy. Shri M.G. Devasahayam of Citizens Alliance for Sustainable Living, Chennai feels that the combined energy of wind, solar, biomass and tidal can provide hybrid-power which can be drawn for 24 hours. India has 150GW of renewable energy potential, about half in the form of small hydropower, biomass, and wind and half in solar, cogeneration, and waste-to-energy. Proper investment in developing renewable can help India increase its energy security, reduce the adverse impact on the local environment, lower its carbon intensity, contribute to more balanced regional development, and realise its aspirations for leadership in high-technology industries. The present government at the Centre was willing to palm off $100 billion (Rs 5 lakh crore) to multinational companies abroad under the Indo-US nuclear deal to import nuclear plants, but was unwilling to spend a fraction of it towards indigenous renewable and efficiency alternatives. This policy must change. Nuclear plants are expensive. Therefore, before any accident takes place at the nuclear site, the cost of construction and maintenance, environmental degradation, loss of livelihood of the people has already taken its own toll. Waiting for the accident to happen and saying that it is ‘100% safe and secure’ does not hold much water and in fact a myopic comment.
IX. A Christian Response: The present global capitalism system, however powerful and destructive, is human constructs. It can and must be changed according to principles of justice safe-guarding and promoting the life of all humans and creation. We, as worshippers God of life, must listen to the voices on the margins - and show our solidarity in their struggle for life. They are protecting not only the life of human beings but also the life of the earth without which life in any form would not be possible at all. The well-being of the dalits, the adivasis, the tribals and women are sacrificed at the altar of ‘growth’ pursued actively by the state. This ‘growth’ has led to the growth of less jobs, environmental degradation, and social exclusion. We must raise our voice to protect the life of the most threatened members of the community. If they can live, all can live.
Christians should develop strategies of resistance against the power of death and destruction. Driven by the spirit of capitalism (mammon), life today, for people and nature, is endangered. We must redeem it. The church has so far looked on with concern but could not really bring change while the poor were exploited and robbed, and while wealth and corruptness increased among the strong. The Church must join in people’s movement as effective carriers of people’s craving for freedom, justice and new community. The church must respond in faith to resist the threats to life and affirm life over against the powers of death.
Women are always the first to suffer the destructive consequences of modern development. The Gospel for the poor can only really be understood and practised if women, as the margin of the margins, are the starting-point because patriarchy and imperialism are the foundations of neo-liberal globalisation. Those who herald God’s great reshaping of the world at the birth of Jesus the Messiah are women- Mary and Elizabeth. Jesus also did not neglect the contribution of children in the establishment of kingdom of God (Mark 10:14f). People’s movement can be sustained and its goal achieved only through collective action of women, men and children.
In Israel, it was Yahweh who heard the cries of the slaves, oppressed and poor, and liberated them from the salve-owner, the oppressor and the rich. This Yahweh is a god of life, unmasking and challenging the gods legitimising power and wealth and revealing them to be idols calling for human sacrifice. Yahweh does not reveal in the mind of an intellectual nor in the court or temple of Pharaoh but in the desert to Moses, the representative of an exploited, oppressed group of slaves (Exodus 3). Prophet Elijah stays in the home of a poor widow. Prophet Amos worked with the movements of peasants who are under the threat and facing poverty. Jesus is present among the victims of the Roman empire and its local collaborators, radiating healed, comforted, courageous new life. In other word, Jesus played the same role as Yahweh who listened to the voice of the ‘crying people’ and liberated them. The life of Jesus is a great challenge for all Christians even today. He raised the powerless and lives with them as an alternative to the existing order. Coming as he from a poor manual worker’s background in the periphery area of Galilee, he deliberately lived among the poor and excluded. By being one of them, he brings them ‘good news’ making them felt a sense of freedom and solidarity. He listened to them and they know his voice. Do we hear the voices, the cries of those in the margins? Where are we today? Whose interest do we serve- God or mammon? Should a Christian remain silent in the face of destructive project such as nuclear power plant that threatens to annihilate the whole of God’s good creation? God is the creator of the whole universe. We are given the responsibility to protect this earth- the only inhabitable planet of the Universe- from any destructive force.
