Suresh Naresh
Trusted Member
CIA activities in India: Past, Current and Possibly Future
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CIA activities in India
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Suresh Naresh
Trusted Member
- Thread starter
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Did the CIA mastermind Purulia arms drop?
By IANS English
Updated: Monday, March 9, 2015, 12:32 [IST]
On December 17, 1995, an ageing Russian AN 26 transport plane took off from Karachi ostensibly for Dhaka. After refuelling at Varanasi, it made a course diversion over Gaya, Bihar. When it was over Purulia in West Bengal, the plane flew dangerously low and dropped, amid darkness, four tonnes of deadly arms and ammunition, for the Ananda Marg, a semi-secret cult. It was, as author Chandan Nandy rightly points out, "one of the most bizarre and, admittedly, a spectacular operation to breach India's security".
On board were eight men: Niels Christian Nielsen alias Kim Davy from Denmark and the operational mastermind, Peter Bleach, a British arms dealer and part-time source for British intelligence, Deepak Manikan, a Singaporean of Indian descent, and five Russian-speaking Latvian crew.
Mission over, the plane returned to its original flight corridor, coolly landed at Kolkata's Dum Dum airport, re-fuelled and took off for Phuket in Thailand.
Early the next morning, villagers over a wide area were startled to find in their fields and open ground all sorts of strange weapons. What rained from the skies was lethality: 10 RPG-7 rocket launchers, 300 AK-47s, 25 9-mm pistols, two 7.62 sniper rifles, two night vision binoculors, 100 grenades, 23,800 rounds of 7.62 ammunition, 6,000 rounds of 9-mm ammunition, 100 anti-tank grenades as well as 10 telescopic sights for rocket launchers. Purulia, which housed the Ananda Marg headquarters, had seen nothing like this. The cargo weighed 4,375 kg!
Unfortunately for the audacious conspirators, things went wrong when they decided to fly back to Karachi via India even after knowing that the operation had blundered and that Indian security forces - not Ananda Marg -- were picking up the weapons. Nandy exposes in the book, most comprehensively for the first time, the "Neolithic incompetence" of the Indian security setup, before and after Purulia.
The irony is that RAW, India's external intelligence agency, had been tipped off about the Purulia arms drop by Britain's MI5. On November 25, 1995, RAW had officially alerted the Intelligence Bureau, the Cabinet Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Defence Secretary, mentioning, near accurately, where the arms delivery would be made. Yet, a full three weeks later, not only did the plane enter India, refuel in Varanasi, drop the cargo in Purulia, refuel (!) in Kolkata and then, from Phuket, flew to Chennai, for more fuel! That's when the plane's luck ran out.
After it took off from Chennai, Indian authorities ordered it to land in Mumbai. But even as it landed, more of plain stupidity on the part of Indian officialdom was in full display. There were no security personnel to apprehend them! Those Indian officials who approached the plane initially were more curious to know why the plane had landed! Amid the confusion, Kim Davy escaped!
Nandy, who reported the story for The Telegraph and later the Hindustan Times, has come out with what is undoubtedly the most gripping and authoritative account of a story whose many aspects are still shrouded in mystery. He rips through the "collective paralysis" that gripped the Indian security establishment after the RAW tip off. And this in a country that had battled Pakistan-sponsored terror in Punjab and Kashmir for years, and four years after losing a former prime minister to a foreign suicide bomber.
Nandy is certain - as are most of his sources - that Kim Davy must have been a front for a Western intelligence agency, in all probability the CIA. This is why the Danish authorities went out of their way to shield him even after the man, wanted by Interpol, surfaced in Denmark in late 1999 or early 2000. In 2009, almost mocking India, Kim Davy opened a Facebook page! By then, the Danes had stonewalled not just the pace of likely criminal proceedings but created a maze of bureaucratic red tape to prevent the man's extradition to India.
Nandy is convinced that Denmark's refusal to act against Kim Davy "was the result of pressure from a powerful Western state" (read the US). Even British intelligence became sullen after the Purulia airdrop. Kim Davy, Nandy says, was surprisingly able to visit the US four times before the arms drop despite being wanted in that country for two federal crimes. One RAW officer tells the author that only Kim Davy's links with the CIA could have led to the unabashed protection the Danish authorities provided him. And a Pakistani company that serviced the AN-26 in Karachi airport was said to have links with a CIA front aviation company. As they shared with Nandy all that they had uncovered, officers from the Indian intelligence wondered if Kim Davy was a CIA 'dirty asset'.
At the end of the "immensely vexing, extraordinarily complex and tangled" story, Nandy feels that the Narendra Modi government must revive the case, pursue every available means to bring Kim Davy to justice in India, and hunt down the Ananda Marg monks wanted in the case but who are still on the run. The UPA government had taken some unusually strong steps against Denmark; clearly more is needed.
Book title: The Night it Rained Guns: Unravelling the Purulia Arms Drop Conspiracy; Author: Chandan Nandy; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 272; Price: Rs.295
IANS
By IANS English
Updated: Monday, March 9, 2015, 12:32 [IST]
On December 17, 1995, an ageing Russian AN 26 transport plane took off from Karachi ostensibly for Dhaka. After refuelling at Varanasi, it made a course diversion over Gaya, Bihar. When it was over Purulia in West Bengal, the plane flew dangerously low and dropped, amid darkness, four tonnes of deadly arms and ammunition, for the Ananda Marg, a semi-secret cult. It was, as author Chandan Nandy rightly points out, "one of the most bizarre and, admittedly, a spectacular operation to breach India's security".
On board were eight men: Niels Christian Nielsen alias Kim Davy from Denmark and the operational mastermind, Peter Bleach, a British arms dealer and part-time source for British intelligence, Deepak Manikan, a Singaporean of Indian descent, and five Russian-speaking Latvian crew.
Mission over, the plane returned to its original flight corridor, coolly landed at Kolkata's Dum Dum airport, re-fuelled and took off for Phuket in Thailand.
Early the next morning, villagers over a wide area were startled to find in their fields and open ground all sorts of strange weapons. What rained from the skies was lethality: 10 RPG-7 rocket launchers, 300 AK-47s, 25 9-mm pistols, two 7.62 sniper rifles, two night vision binoculors, 100 grenades, 23,800 rounds of 7.62 ammunition, 6,000 rounds of 9-mm ammunition, 100 anti-tank grenades as well as 10 telescopic sights for rocket launchers. Purulia, which housed the Ananda Marg headquarters, had seen nothing like this. The cargo weighed 4,375 kg!
Unfortunately for the audacious conspirators, things went wrong when they decided to fly back to Karachi via India even after knowing that the operation had blundered and that Indian security forces - not Ananda Marg -- were picking up the weapons. Nandy exposes in the book, most comprehensively for the first time, the "Neolithic incompetence" of the Indian security setup, before and after Purulia.
The irony is that RAW, India's external intelligence agency, had been tipped off about the Purulia arms drop by Britain's MI5. On November 25, 1995, RAW had officially alerted the Intelligence Bureau, the Cabinet Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Defence Secretary, mentioning, near accurately, where the arms delivery would be made. Yet, a full three weeks later, not only did the plane enter India, refuel in Varanasi, drop the cargo in Purulia, refuel (!) in Kolkata and then, from Phuket, flew to Chennai, for more fuel! That's when the plane's luck ran out.
After it took off from Chennai, Indian authorities ordered it to land in Mumbai. But even as it landed, more of plain stupidity on the part of Indian officialdom was in full display. There were no security personnel to apprehend them! Those Indian officials who approached the plane initially were more curious to know why the plane had landed! Amid the confusion, Kim Davy escaped!
Nandy, who reported the story for The Telegraph and later the Hindustan Times, has come out with what is undoubtedly the most gripping and authoritative account of a story whose many aspects are still shrouded in mystery. He rips through the "collective paralysis" that gripped the Indian security establishment after the RAW tip off. And this in a country that had battled Pakistan-sponsored terror in Punjab and Kashmir for years, and four years after losing a former prime minister to a foreign suicide bomber.
Nandy is certain - as are most of his sources - that Kim Davy must have been a front for a Western intelligence agency, in all probability the CIA. This is why the Danish authorities went out of their way to shield him even after the man, wanted by Interpol, surfaced in Denmark in late 1999 or early 2000. In 2009, almost mocking India, Kim Davy opened a Facebook page! By then, the Danes had stonewalled not just the pace of likely criminal proceedings but created a maze of bureaucratic red tape to prevent the man's extradition to India.
Nandy is convinced that Denmark's refusal to act against Kim Davy "was the result of pressure from a powerful Western state" (read the US). Even British intelligence became sullen after the Purulia airdrop. Kim Davy, Nandy says, was surprisingly able to visit the US four times before the arms drop despite being wanted in that country for two federal crimes. One RAW officer tells the author that only Kim Davy's links with the CIA could have led to the unabashed protection the Danish authorities provided him. And a Pakistani company that serviced the AN-26 in Karachi airport was said to have links with a CIA front aviation company. As they shared with Nandy all that they had uncovered, officers from the Indian intelligence wondered if Kim Davy was a CIA 'dirty asset'.
At the end of the "immensely vexing, extraordinarily complex and tangled" story, Nandy feels that the Narendra Modi government must revive the case, pursue every available means to bring Kim Davy to justice in India, and hunt down the Ananda Marg monks wanted in the case but who are still on the run. The UPA government had taken some unusually strong steps against Denmark; clearly more is needed.
Book title: The Night it Rained Guns: Unravelling the Purulia Arms Drop Conspiracy; Author: Chandan Nandy; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 272; Price: Rs.295
IANS
r3alist
Elite Member
Well it's not surprising the usa will hedge their bets on the India gamble.
www.foreignaffairs.com
America’s Bad Bet on India
New Delhi won’t side with Washington against Beijing.
Suresh Naresh
Trusted Member
- Thread starter
- #4
A Shocking Expose: CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha & Shastri
By Advocate Amlendu Sharma- July 19, 2022
Lal Bahadur Shashtri With Dr. Homi J. Bhabha
In a recent revelation, it is found that CIA killed Dr. Homi Bhabha and Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
US played many games to bring India down. It is well known that poor quality of wheat was supplied which even pigs did not eat in US during Pt Nehru’s time. Contamination farmlands with Parthenium grass (very dangerous for health, crops, farming and soil) was done to spoil Indian economy and publichealth.
Here are some more shocking revelations. Is it a game to show friendship with India now?
A SHOCKING INSIDE NEWS of CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha & Shastri The CIA is notorious in eliminating people who are perceived to be a threat to America. In that sense, it’s not different from the underworld. Just how ruthless the CIA can be can be appreciated from the shocking admittance of a CIA top gun in the below interview. The man reveals how the CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha, one of India ‘s greatest ever scientist, and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The article is spine-chilling.
THE BACKGROUND
Known as “The Crow” within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Robert T. Crowley (“Bob” Crowley) joined the CIA at its inception and spent his entire career in the Directorate of Plans, also know as the “Department of Dirty Tricks,” Crowley was one of the tallest man ever to work at the CIA. Born in 1924 and raised in Chicago, Crowley grew to six and a half feet when he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in N.Y. as a cadet in 1943 in the class of 1946. He never graduated, having enlisted in the Army, serving in the Pacific during World War II. He retired from the Army Reserve in 1986 as a lieutenant colonel.
Bob (Robert) Crowley first contacted journalist Gregory Douglas in 1993 and they began a series of long and often very informative telephone conversations that lasted for four years.
In 1996, Crowley told Douglas that he believed him to be the person that should ultimately tell Crowley ‘s story but only after Crowley ‘s death. Douglas, for his part, became so
entranced with some of the material that Crowley began to share with him that he secretly began to record their conversations, later transcribing them word for word, planning to incorporate some, or all, of the material in later publications. In 1998, when Crowley was slated to go into the hospital for exploratory surgery, he had his son, Greg, ship two large foot
lockers of documents to Douglas with the caveat that they were not to be opened until after Crowley ‘s death. These documents, totalled an astonishing 15,000 pages of CIA classified files involving many covert operations, both foreign and domestic, during the Cold War.
While CIA drug running, money-launderings and brutal assassinations are very often strongly rumoured and suspected, it has so far not been possible to actually pin them down but it is
more than possible that the publication of the transcribed and detailed Crowley-Douglas conversations will do a great deal towards accomplishing this.
These many transcribed conversations are relatively short because Crowley was a man who tired easily but they make excellent reading. There is an interesting admixture of shocking revelations on the part of the retired CIA official and often rampant anti-social (and very entertaining) activities on the part of Douglas but readers of this new and on-going series are
gently reminded to always look for the truth in the jest!
trunicle.com
By Advocate Amlendu Sharma- July 19, 2022
Lal Bahadur Shashtri With Dr. Homi J. Bhabha
In a recent revelation, it is found that CIA killed Dr. Homi Bhabha and Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
US played many games to bring India down. It is well known that poor quality of wheat was supplied which even pigs did not eat in US during Pt Nehru’s time. Contamination farmlands with Parthenium grass (very dangerous for health, crops, farming and soil) was done to spoil Indian economy and publichealth.
Here are some more shocking revelations. Is it a game to show friendship with India now?
A SHOCKING INSIDE NEWS of CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha & Shastri The CIA is notorious in eliminating people who are perceived to be a threat to America. In that sense, it’s not different from the underworld. Just how ruthless the CIA can be can be appreciated from the shocking admittance of a CIA top gun in the below interview. The man reveals how the CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha, one of India ‘s greatest ever scientist, and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The article is spine-chilling.
THE BACKGROUND
Known as “The Crow” within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Robert T. Crowley (“Bob” Crowley) joined the CIA at its inception and spent his entire career in the Directorate of Plans, also know as the “Department of Dirty Tricks,” Crowley was one of the tallest man ever to work at the CIA. Born in 1924 and raised in Chicago, Crowley grew to six and a half feet when he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in N.Y. as a cadet in 1943 in the class of 1946. He never graduated, having enlisted in the Army, serving in the Pacific during World War II. He retired from the Army Reserve in 1986 as a lieutenant colonel.
Bob (Robert) Crowley first contacted journalist Gregory Douglas in 1993 and they began a series of long and often very informative telephone conversations that lasted for four years.
In 1996, Crowley told Douglas that he believed him to be the person that should ultimately tell Crowley ‘s story but only after Crowley ‘s death. Douglas, for his part, became so
entranced with some of the material that Crowley began to share with him that he secretly began to record their conversations, later transcribing them word for word, planning to incorporate some, or all, of the material in later publications. In 1998, when Crowley was slated to go into the hospital for exploratory surgery, he had his son, Greg, ship two large foot
lockers of documents to Douglas with the caveat that they were not to be opened until after Crowley ‘s death. These documents, totalled an astonishing 15,000 pages of CIA classified files involving many covert operations, both foreign and domestic, during the Cold War.
While CIA drug running, money-launderings and brutal assassinations are very often strongly rumoured and suspected, it has so far not been possible to actually pin them down but it is
more than possible that the publication of the transcribed and detailed Crowley-Douglas conversations will do a great deal towards accomplishing this.
These many transcribed conversations are relatively short because Crowley was a man who tired easily but they make excellent reading. There is an interesting admixture of shocking revelations on the part of the retired CIA official and often rampant anti-social (and very entertaining) activities on the part of Douglas but readers of this new and on-going series are
gently reminded to always look for the truth in the jest!
A Shocking Expose: CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha & Shastri
In a recent revelation, it is found that CIA killed Dr. Homi Bhabha and Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. US played many games to bring India down. It is well known that poor quality of
trunicle.com
Joe Shearer
Professional
Lovely story, appropriate for the date. My felicitations to @Bagheera0084; it is a full-blooded score!Well it's not surprising the usa will hedge their bets on the India gamble.
America’s Bad Bet on India
New Delhi won’t side with Washington against Beijing.
On a serious note:
The original story has elements both of the sensational and the bathetic.
The Ananda Marg was a comical organisation, a kind of Denisovan forebear of the Sangh Parivar. Set up by a retired railway employee with a penchant for costume drama, its capering 'monks' with their skulls and knives hugely comic figures, initially in some big cities, until a storm of laughter drove them out to less disrespectful parts of the countryside. Just to make it clear, the idiots of the Marg used to dress up as monks with orange or white robes, and dance a kind of war-dance with a skull in one hand and knife in the other. All citizens from kindergarten downwards were hugely impressed.
Joe Shearer
Professional
Even better.A Shocking Expose: CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha & Shastri
By Advocate Amlendu Sharma- July 19, 2022
View attachment 30516
Lal Bahadur Shashtri With Dr. Homi J. Bhabha
In a recent revelation, it is found that CIA killed Dr. Homi Bhabha and Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
US played many games to bring India down. It is well known that poor quality of wheat was supplied which even pigs did not eat in US during Pt Nehru’s time. Contamination farmlands with Parthenium grass (very dangerous for health, crops, farming and soil) was done to spoil Indian economy and publichealth.
Here are some more shocking revelations. Is it a game to show friendship with India now?
A SHOCKING INSIDE NEWS of CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha & Shastri The CIA is notorious in eliminating people who are perceived to be a threat to America. In that sense, it’s not different from the underworld. Just how ruthless the CIA can be can be appreciated from the shocking admittance of a CIA top gun in the below interview. The man reveals how the CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha, one of India ‘s greatest ever scientist, and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The article is spine-chilling.
THE BACKGROUND
Known as “The Crow” within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Robert T. Crowley (“Bob” Crowley) joined the CIA at its inception and spent his entire career in the Directorate of Plans, also know as the “Department of Dirty Tricks,” Crowley was one of the tallest man ever to work at the CIA. Born in 1924 and raised in Chicago, Crowley grew to six and a half feet when he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in N.Y. as a cadet in 1943 in the class of 1946. He never graduated, having enlisted in the Army, serving in the Pacific during World War II. He retired from the Army Reserve in 1986 as a lieutenant colonel.
Bob (Robert) Crowley first contacted journalist Gregory Douglas in 1993 and they began a series of long and often very informative telephone conversations that lasted for four years.
In 1996, Crowley told Douglas that he believed him to be the person that should ultimately tell Crowley ‘s story but only after Crowley ‘s death. Douglas, for his part, became so
entranced with some of the material that Crowley began to share with him that he secretly began to record their conversations, later transcribing them word for word, planning to incorporate some, or all, of the material in later publications. In 1998, when Crowley was slated to go into the hospital for exploratory surgery, he had his son, Greg, ship two large foot
lockers of documents to Douglas with the caveat that they were not to be opened until after Crowley ‘s death. These documents, totalled an astonishing 15,000 pages of CIA classified files involving many covert operations, both foreign and domestic, during the Cold War.
While CIA drug running, money-launderings and brutal assassinations are very often strongly rumoured and suspected, it has so far not been possible to actually pin them down but it is
more than possible that the publication of the transcribed and detailed Crowley-Douglas conversations will do a great deal towards accomplishing this.
These many transcribed conversations are relatively short because Crowley was a man who tired easily but they make excellent reading. There is an interesting admixture of shocking revelations on the part of the retired CIA official and often rampant anti-social (and very entertaining) activities on the part of Douglas but readers of this new and on-going series are
gently reminded to always look for the truth in the jest!
A Shocking Expose: CIA killed Dr Homi Bhabha & Shastri
In a recent revelation, it is found that CIA killed Dr. Homi Bhabha and Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. US played many games to bring India down. It is well known that poor quality of
I think, speaking ex cathedra, @Bagheera0084 has earned several Get_out_of_Jail_Free cards against a dubious future.
r3alist
Elite Member
Well I think the principle of the us hedging against potential allies and friends is just a generally accepted reality.
Maybe hedging is the wrong word, maintaining leverage?
Joe Shearer
Professional
I was resentful and angry at being fooled. April fooled.
Low-down skunk, taking advantage of a man old enough to be his father!
Suresh Naresh
Trusted Member
- Thread starter
- #9
American NGOs behind Koodankulam anti-nuclear energy protest: PM
Foreign hand nuking Tamil Nadu nuclear power project, says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blames NGOs, often funded from the United States and Scandinavian countries, for spearheading the anti-Koodankulam stir.
Dinesh C Sharma
New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 24, 2012 16:07 IST
Taking a leaf out of Indira Gandhi's book, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has exhumed the "foreign hand" bogey blaming it for putting the brakes on both the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu and the commercialisation of GM food crops.
Going ballistic against people's groups in an interview which will appear in the journal Science on Friday, Singh alleged that NGOs opposed to the nuclear power project were funded by foreign countries.
In the 1970s, Indira Gandhi used to conveniently blame the "foreign hand" for all ills plaguing her tenure as Prime Minister. She even justified the imposition of Emergency on this pretext.
While never actually identifying the foreign hand, the country she was mostly pointing the finger at was America. In fact, Congressmen - even under her son Rajiv - targeted the CIA for every campaign against them and for nearly every failure to control law and order.
In the UPA government, however, this is the first time that the highest authority has raised the issue of "foreign money" propelling domestic movements and has cast aspersions on civil society groups opposed to the nuclear plant. Till now, such allegations had been flung only by relatively junior functionaries in the government.
This is also the first time that the government has named the US and Scandinavian countries as the source of foreign funding of NGOs behind the antinuclear stir in Tamil Nadu and anti-GM movement in different parts of the country.
Virtually declaring a war on civil society activists, Singh said: "The atomic energy programme has run into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase energy supply."
The PM was alluding to the stalled commissioning of the 1,000-MW, Russian-aided Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
Continuing his scathing attack on voluntary bodies for opposing the government's pet projects, the PM observed: "There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces."
Singh backed his government's resolve to develop nuclear power as well as biotechnology in India, despite the opposition from various quarters.
He said he saw a major role for nuclear energy even after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011. "The thinking segment of our population is certainly supportive of nuclear energy," the Prime Minister was quoted as saying in the interview. The journal is published by the American Association for Advancement of Science.
Till now the tirade against NGOs was led by minister of state in PMO V. Narayansamy, who recently alleged that civil society groups behind the Kudankulam agitation had received foreign funding. But when S. P. Udayakumar - the man spearheading the agitation - slapped a legal notice on the minister, he backtracked.
Will he now sue the Prime Minister because he had made similar noises? Udayakumar, the coordinator of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, said he would consider all options.
"The PM's statement is complete falsehood. We are not funded by any foreign source. The ministry of home affairs knows this because it has audited financial records of scores of NGOs and Church- affiliated organisations in Kanyakumari, Nagercoil and Tuticorin in the past few weeks and found no evidence," Udayakumar pointed out.
"It is surprising why the PM is refusing to acknowledge that the people of this country have a mind of their own," he added. The remarks evoked a sharp response from other members of the civil society as well.
"There isn't an iota of evidence that foreign funding and nationals are instigating the anti-nuclear agitation. It is totally indigenous and has deep roots among the people. The only foreigners in the area are Russian personnel invited by the Nuclear Power Corporation," Praful Bidwai of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace said.
Eminent scientist Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava also felt amazed at the statement: "I am surprised the Prime Minister believes that the US will fund NGOs that would oppose nuclear power projects and GM foods. He must surely know that the US has been the biggest supporter of India's investment in nuclear power so that it can sell its reactors - for which there is no market in the US - to India."
In response to a question on the moratorium imposed by his government on the commercial release of GM brinjal, Singh supported biotechnology in agriculture while blaming NGOs for stalling the commercialisation of GM foods.
Anti-GM groups, too, reacted angrily to the diatribe. "Why is promotion of GM technology by foreign agencies not a cause of worry for him? What is scientific or democratic about the government forming a biased opinion about GM technology?" retorted Kavitha Kuruganti of the Coalition Against GM Foods.
She specified that the biggest opposition to GM crops had come from farmers' unions, which were not foreign-funded. "Sadly, the foreign hand in India's domestic policy today is the PM himself," green activist Vandana Shiva said.
"People's movements are trying to prevent farmers' suicides, which are a result of mounting debt linked to costly seeds. We want to promote sustainable agriculture that safeguards the livelihoods of farmers and nutrition of children," she added.
Exuding scepticism, another GM food critic Devinder Sharma said: "It is amusing to hear this talk of foreign funding of NGOs from a PM whose entire economic prescription is based on foreign direct investment. Whether it is GM crops or nuclear plants, the PM is more interested in the commercial interests of American and European companies. He is not concerned about the environmental and human impact of these risky and unwanted technologies on his people."
Published By: AtMigration
Published On: Feb 24, 2012
www.indiatoday.in
Foreign hand nuking Tamil Nadu nuclear power project, says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blames NGOs, often funded from the United States and Scandinavian countries, for spearheading the anti-Koodankulam stir.
Dinesh C Sharma
New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 24, 2012 16:07 IST
Taking a leaf out of Indira Gandhi's book, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has exhumed the "foreign hand" bogey blaming it for putting the brakes on both the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu and the commercialisation of GM food crops.
Going ballistic against people's groups in an interview which will appear in the journal Science on Friday, Singh alleged that NGOs opposed to the nuclear power project were funded by foreign countries.
In the 1970s, Indira Gandhi used to conveniently blame the "foreign hand" for all ills plaguing her tenure as Prime Minister. She even justified the imposition of Emergency on this pretext.
While never actually identifying the foreign hand, the country she was mostly pointing the finger at was America. In fact, Congressmen - even under her son Rajiv - targeted the CIA for every campaign against them and for nearly every failure to control law and order.
In the UPA government, however, this is the first time that the highest authority has raised the issue of "foreign money" propelling domestic movements and has cast aspersions on civil society groups opposed to the nuclear plant. Till now, such allegations had been flung only by relatively junior functionaries in the government.
This is also the first time that the government has named the US and Scandinavian countries as the source of foreign funding of NGOs behind the antinuclear stir in Tamil Nadu and anti-GM movement in different parts of the country.
Virtually declaring a war on civil society activists, Singh said: "The atomic energy programme has run into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase energy supply."
The PM was alluding to the stalled commissioning of the 1,000-MW, Russian-aided Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
Continuing his scathing attack on voluntary bodies for opposing the government's pet projects, the PM observed: "There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces."
Singh backed his government's resolve to develop nuclear power as well as biotechnology in India, despite the opposition from various quarters.
He said he saw a major role for nuclear energy even after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011. "The thinking segment of our population is certainly supportive of nuclear energy," the Prime Minister was quoted as saying in the interview. The journal is published by the American Association for Advancement of Science.
Till now the tirade against NGOs was led by minister of state in PMO V. Narayansamy, who recently alleged that civil society groups behind the Kudankulam agitation had received foreign funding. But when S. P. Udayakumar - the man spearheading the agitation - slapped a legal notice on the minister, he backtracked.
Will he now sue the Prime Minister because he had made similar noises? Udayakumar, the coordinator of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, said he would consider all options.
"The PM's statement is complete falsehood. We are not funded by any foreign source. The ministry of home affairs knows this because it has audited financial records of scores of NGOs and Church- affiliated organisations in Kanyakumari, Nagercoil and Tuticorin in the past few weeks and found no evidence," Udayakumar pointed out.
"It is surprising why the PM is refusing to acknowledge that the people of this country have a mind of their own," he added. The remarks evoked a sharp response from other members of the civil society as well.
"There isn't an iota of evidence that foreign funding and nationals are instigating the anti-nuclear agitation. It is totally indigenous and has deep roots among the people. The only foreigners in the area are Russian personnel invited by the Nuclear Power Corporation," Praful Bidwai of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace said.
Eminent scientist Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava also felt amazed at the statement: "I am surprised the Prime Minister believes that the US will fund NGOs that would oppose nuclear power projects and GM foods. He must surely know that the US has been the biggest supporter of India's investment in nuclear power so that it can sell its reactors - for which there is no market in the US - to India."
In response to a question on the moratorium imposed by his government on the commercial release of GM brinjal, Singh supported biotechnology in agriculture while blaming NGOs for stalling the commercialisation of GM foods.
Anti-GM groups, too, reacted angrily to the diatribe. "Why is promotion of GM technology by foreign agencies not a cause of worry for him? What is scientific or democratic about the government forming a biased opinion about GM technology?" retorted Kavitha Kuruganti of the Coalition Against GM Foods.
She specified that the biggest opposition to GM crops had come from farmers' unions, which were not foreign-funded. "Sadly, the foreign hand in India's domestic policy today is the PM himself," green activist Vandana Shiva said.
"People's movements are trying to prevent farmers' suicides, which are a result of mounting debt linked to costly seeds. We want to promote sustainable agriculture that safeguards the livelihoods of farmers and nutrition of children," she added.
Exuding scepticism, another GM food critic Devinder Sharma said: "It is amusing to hear this talk of foreign funding of NGOs from a PM whose entire economic prescription is based on foreign direct investment. Whether it is GM crops or nuclear plants, the PM is more interested in the commercial interests of American and European companies. He is not concerned about the environmental and human impact of these risky and unwanted technologies on his people."
Published By: AtMigration
Published On: Feb 24, 2012
Foreign hand nuking Tamil Nadu nuclear power project, says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blames the United States and Scandinavian countries for putting the brakes on both the Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu and the commercialisation of GM food crops.
Suresh Naresh
Trusted Member
- Thread starter
- #10
PM blames American NGOs for Kudankulam power plant protests
NDTV Correspondent
Updated: February 24, 2012 6:42 pm IST
New Delhi: In what has the makings of a new controversy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has blamed American NGOs for fuelling protests at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to NDTV's Science Editor Pallava Bagla during an interview for Science magazine, the Prime Minister said, "What's happening in Kudankulam...the atomic energy programme has got into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply."
Reacting to the statement, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy said that private NGOs working in US and Scandinavian countries have been giving money to NGOs in India.
"Licenses of three NGOs have been cancelled by the home ministry. They are also thinking of taking further action. In fact the people who are agitating near the plant have been continuing their agitation for the past three months. People are being brought there in trucks from various villages," said Mr Narayanasamy.
The Prime Minister's statement has sparked off a row with the Opposition asking him to clarify and make public all facts regarding this issue.
"I think it's a very important statement that the PM has made, and since he has made such a statement - I have seen reports in sections of the media - I think the government must make facts regard to this public, so that the veracity of all this is known to the people of India who are then in the correct position to decide what is the correct position," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
Reacting to the Prime Minister's statement, the CPI's D Raja said that the PM needs to address the concerns of the people.
"If American based NGOs are playing a role in Kudankulam, then they should be isolated and action should be taken against them. But the other factor is that people are suffering there, the Prime Minister and others need to address the concerns of the people," he said.
"I don't think the Prime Minister is targeting the American government. If the Prime Minister has any evidence against the NGOs, he should go and tell the people of Kudankulam instead of giving interviews to magazines," Mr Raja added.
Speaking to NDTV, Anil Kakodkar, former head of the Atomic Energy Commission, said that it is strange that India's development would become hostage to foreign forces.
"I think it is strange that a large project ready for implementation, which has met all safety requirements, in an environment where there is tremendous shortage of electricity, our development would become hostage to such foreign forces. This has been visible for some time, according to me, because Kudankulam has been a friendly neighbourhood for a long time. I, myself, have gone there during my tenure as Chairman several times.... Just kind of exploiting the Fukushima sentiment, this entire thing has been picked up. The important thing is that a nuclear power plant cannot be put under a siege the way it has happened now and it is rather strange that we allow such things to happen," said Anil Kakodkar, Former Head, Atomic Energy Commission.
The Prime Minister has also blamed these NGOs for opposing genetically modified foods and the use of biotechnology to increase food production in the country. "Biotechnology has enormous potential and in due course of time we must make use of genetic engineering technologies to increase the productivity of our agriculture. But there are controversies. There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces," Dr Singh said.
The ₹ 13,000-crore Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) is located in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. Being built with Russian collaboration, the plant is expected to provide respite from the power shortage problem in the state. But the Indo-Russian joint venture has run into trouble with activists and locals staging massive protests citing safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan early last year. As a result of these frequent protests, the commissioning of two 1000 megawatt nuclear reactors at the plant has been stalled.
Several rounds of talks between the Central government-appointed expert panel and representatives of villagers opposing the plant have failed to end the stand-off. The villagers say they fear for their lives and safety in case of a nuclear accident and the long-term impact it would have on the population in the area.
Worried over the scale of protests against the plant, the PM had urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to support the project and had assured her that no safety features would be compromised at the plant.
While international experts have signed off on the facilities of the plant, deeming them strong enough to withstand an earthquake or a tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog - the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board - has suggested that more security checks were needed at the plant.
NDTV Correspondent
Updated: February 24, 2012 6:42 pm IST
New Delhi: In what has the makings of a new controversy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has blamed American NGOs for fuelling protests at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to NDTV's Science Editor Pallava Bagla during an interview for Science magazine, the Prime Minister said, "What's happening in Kudankulam...the atomic energy programme has got into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply."
Reacting to the statement, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy said that private NGOs working in US and Scandinavian countries have been giving money to NGOs in India.
"Licenses of three NGOs have been cancelled by the home ministry. They are also thinking of taking further action. In fact the people who are agitating near the plant have been continuing their agitation for the past three months. People are being brought there in trucks from various villages," said Mr Narayanasamy.
The Prime Minister's statement has sparked off a row with the Opposition asking him to clarify and make public all facts regarding this issue.
"I think it's a very important statement that the PM has made, and since he has made such a statement - I have seen reports in sections of the media - I think the government must make facts regard to this public, so that the veracity of all this is known to the people of India who are then in the correct position to decide what is the correct position," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
Reacting to the Prime Minister's statement, the CPI's D Raja said that the PM needs to address the concerns of the people.
"If American based NGOs are playing a role in Kudankulam, then they should be isolated and action should be taken against them. But the other factor is that people are suffering there, the Prime Minister and others need to address the concerns of the people," he said.
"I don't think the Prime Minister is targeting the American government. If the Prime Minister has any evidence against the NGOs, he should go and tell the people of Kudankulam instead of giving interviews to magazines," Mr Raja added.
Speaking to NDTV, Anil Kakodkar, former head of the Atomic Energy Commission, said that it is strange that India's development would become hostage to foreign forces.
"I think it is strange that a large project ready for implementation, which has met all safety requirements, in an environment where there is tremendous shortage of electricity, our development would become hostage to such foreign forces. This has been visible for some time, according to me, because Kudankulam has been a friendly neighbourhood for a long time. I, myself, have gone there during my tenure as Chairman several times.... Just kind of exploiting the Fukushima sentiment, this entire thing has been picked up. The important thing is that a nuclear power plant cannot be put under a siege the way it has happened now and it is rather strange that we allow such things to happen," said Anil Kakodkar, Former Head, Atomic Energy Commission.
The Prime Minister has also blamed these NGOs for opposing genetically modified foods and the use of biotechnology to increase food production in the country. "Biotechnology has enormous potential and in due course of time we must make use of genetic engineering technologies to increase the productivity of our agriculture. But there are controversies. There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces," Dr Singh said.
The ₹ 13,000-crore Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) is located in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. Being built with Russian collaboration, the plant is expected to provide respite from the power shortage problem in the state. But the Indo-Russian joint venture has run into trouble with activists and locals staging massive protests citing safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan early last year. As a result of these frequent protests, the commissioning of two 1000 megawatt nuclear reactors at the plant has been stalled.
Several rounds of talks between the Central government-appointed expert panel and representatives of villagers opposing the plant have failed to end the stand-off. The villagers say they fear for their lives and safety in case of a nuclear accident and the long-term impact it would have on the population in the area.
Worried over the scale of protests against the plant, the PM had urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to support the project and had assured her that no safety features would be compromised at the plant.
While international experts have signed off on the facilities of the plant, deeming them strong enough to withstand an earthquake or a tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog - the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board - has suggested that more security checks were needed at the plant.
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