Thorium and its Illegeal extraction in India

Thorium, the element believed to be the key to Indian energy security among academicians is being looted from the Indian shores of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Did you know that??? It's all out there on the internet. This looting has been accused by the media as a scam performed by the nexus of politicians and smuggling mafias.
Is it simple ignorance on the part of bureaucrats or is it really a scam???
CAG report on the issue is still awaited.

Licenses were provided to certain individuals to mine and supply for the "Department of Atomic Energy". But, those individuals turned themselves into the mining barons, apparently out of the reach of the long hands of justice. The officials, privately admit that due to heavy mining by the companies floated by these individuals, it is almost impossible to keep check on illegalities involved. The department relies on the data provided by the companies itself. The same companies despite being accused, recently have been awarded certificates from Product Export Promotion Council of Central government.

India has the highest reserve of thorium which is found in the sands of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In other Countries, it is embedded in the rocks and requires elaborate processing to extract.While in India, it is found in the form of monazite, the raw material from which thorium can be extracted through simple quarrying and processing.

The government has failed to control the export of monazite and has allowed 2.1 million tonnes of it to be extracted. If the allegations are found to be true, it will be the largest scam ever in Indian history not only by the monetary perspective but also by the strategic perspective. The amount of monazite disappeared from Indian shores, as per the government data is believed to have equal amount of energy to meet 50 years of Indian requirements.

Currently countries like US and Japan are actively looking to increase their thorium production and the thorium based reactors. The thorium is important because:
1. Greater fuel efficiency
2. Less nuclear waste
3. Larger abundance

Also, weapons grade fissionable material is harder to retrieve safely and clandestinely from a thorium reactor.

While research is under way in many countries, only India is building utility-scale thorium fueled plants. India's Kakrapar-1 reactor is the first reactor that uses thorium rather than depleted uranium across the reactor core. The thorium reserves have thus, a significant strategic value for India.

Hence, India needs to safeguard its mineral resources and put an effective mechanism to check any such scams or ignorance related to its strategic interests.

My exact views published in Zee News article about Indian Economic Situation..

30th March 2014
My article:
http://viditviews.blogspot.in/2014/03/indian-economy-in-last-eight-months.html

1st April 2014
source: 
http://zeenews.india.com/business/news/finance/rajan-warns-of-turmoil-in-markets-if-polls-deliver-unstable-govt_97152.html


Mumbai: Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said the markets have built up high hopes of the elections delivering a stable Government, but cautioned against "some turmoil" in the equity, and perhaps the bond and forex markets, if an unstable dispensation comes to power.

"The issue is that the markets right now are anticipating a stable Government and rapid policy actions. To the extent markets are disappointed, it will reflect on stock markets, perhaps on bond markets, perhaps on exchange markets. We have to be prepared for some turmoil," he said, speaking at the customary post-policy press conference.

It can be noted that the equity markets have rallied by over 6 percent during March, as expectations of a stable and pro-business Government are getting built up. The rupee has also risen during the period and is now trading below the crucial Rs 60 against the dollar mark.

Rajan, the academician-turned-central banker, added that he believes that even in the case of an unstable Government, there will be positive re-assessment by the investors so long as the Government addresses concern over the economy and the fiscal management.

"Even if the Government is not necessarily a stable one, provided any new structure shows the appropriate concerns about the economy, about the fiscal and so on, I would suspect that after an initial bout of turmoil, there might be a re-assessment which will be more positive," he said.

The RBI will wait and watch the situation, Rajan said, adding that the real solution for insulating against such issues in the future lies in strengthening the balance sheet of the country.

The Visible Change in Lok Sabha 2014

The temperature of the Indian politics has soared in the last few months. Here, I will be drawing your attention towards the changes happening around which you might have missed.

With the emergence of AAP on the national political stage, soon after the Delhi assembly elections, we saw the first visible sign of increasing voter maturity. Citizens of Delhi, then decided to rise above the petty issues of caste, creed, religion, etc. and voted for the promise of development without corruption. The AAP’s later use of organized chaos may or may not prove costly to them, is a different issue. But, the most significant contribution they made was to force the existing political parties to introspect their actions. The parties are now increasingly willing to accept the new voting patterns. No political party can any longer take a community for granted as its vote bank.

In such a changed scenario, the arrival of intellectuals in politics is certainly a welcome sign. The popular faces such as Nandan Nilekani, V Balakrishnan, Satyapal Singh, Ashutosh, etc. are definitely not the products of ugly caste politics.

We certainly, can expect these people if elected, to not hurl their shoes or throw chairs away in the Lok Sabha. The next thing, we can expect from them is to rise above party politics and raise their voices together for the nation’s development.

In the previous few years, the people witnessed the unraveling of scams and corruption of the magnitude unseen before. These things have further enhanced the voter’s desire to abandon apparently corrupt politicians. These views were reflected in the opinion polls and hence forced the parties to move away from controversial political figures. The fourth pillar of democracy is thus playing a critical role in the largest Indian festival.

The election commission reports about the enrollment of 23 million new voters, approximately 3% of Indian Eligible Voters. These are the youths less affected by communalism and brought up in the times of increasing inter-caste marriages. This segment of voters is comparatively better educated and more favorably positioned to part away with their caste identities and vote for common good.

The emerging youth power in politics is now set to disturb all sorts of caste equations. The election results may bring certain degree of shock and surprise to parties playing divisive vote bank politics.

Another major change, though not much welcoming is the shift of focus in campaign from policy ideas to personal reputation. BJP has been promoting a certain individual as the only issue that matters while Congress and most of the other major national parties had always have an individual or a family being supreme in party matters. The idea of collective leadership thus, is proving not to be working in Indian scenario.

Finally, It may be concluded that the country is ready to witness an entirely new voting pattern and the politics may become less dirtier.