THE BHOPAL CALL - People’s Call against Nuclear Power

ICOR had decided to observe 16th November this year as the Day for
struggle for protection of the environment. At the same time 3rd December
this year marked the end of the 30th year of the Bhopal tragedy, It was
decided to hold an anti-nuclear convention in Bhopal this year on 1st
December bringing together various anti-nuclear movements at the national
level. Many programs were also held on 16th November in various towns and
cities all over the country to publicise the Bhopal program. Below is the
call that has emerged from the Bhopal meeting.

1. We are living in a period when the threat of worldwide climate catastrophe is accelerating at threatening pace. More and more scientific data are being harnessed to reveal the transition to a global environmental catastrophe which has already begun as a result of various factors including the radiation and environmental damage caused by the increasing use of nuclear power for energy generation and for nuclear arms. This situation calls for a total re-appraisal of the use of nuclear power at the present level of development of its technology.

2. If Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear plant disasters had initiated a serious international debate on threats posed by the use of nuclear power, the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011 intensified the anti-nuclear power movement in the variousso-called ‘developed’ countries to such a level that almost all of them have decided to entirely stop the building of new nuclear plants. All of these countries have started de-commissioning all the existing nuclear plants also and have initiated the use of renewable energy sources. Through these measures the ‘developed’ countries are admitting that, at the present level of development of nuclear technology and cost of nuclear waste disposal, it is not technologically or economically viable or safe to go for nuclear power. The movement for total nuclear disarmament has also gained momentum in these countries.

3. The stopping of construction of new nuclear plants and the de-commissioning of large number of nuclear plants in the ‘developed’ countries have forced the MNCs supplying the nuclear plant technology and reactors including the nuclear fuels to intensify efforts to put pressure on the countries like India which are dependent on the imperialist agencies like IMF, World Bank and MNCs. As a result the UPA government decided to sign nuclear agreements with US and for diluting the nuclear liability clauses in order to facilitate the construction of a large number of nuclear plants ICOR had decided to observe 16th November this year as the Day forICOR had decided to observe 16th November this year as the Day for
struggle for protection of the environment. At the same time 3rd December
this year marked the end of the 30th year of the Bhopal tragedy, It was
decided to hold an anti-nuclear convention in Bhopal this year on 1st
December bringing together various anti-nuclear movements at the national
level. Many programs were also held on 16th November in various towns and
cities all over the country to publicise the Bhopal program. Below is the
call that has emerged from the Bhopal meeting.
struggle for protection of the environment. At the same time 3rd December
this year marked the end of the 30th year of the Bhopal tragedy, It was
decided to hold an anti-nuclear convention in Bhopal this year on 1st
December bringing together various anti-nuclear movements at the national
level. Many programs were also held on 16th November in various towns and
cities all over the country to publicise the Bhopal program. Below is the
call that has emerged from the Bhopal meeting.wICOR had decided to observe 16th November this year as the Day for
struggle for protection of the environment. At the same time 3rd December
this year marked the end of the 30th year of the Bhopal tragedy, It was
decided to hold an anti-nuclear convention in Bhopal this year on 1st
December bringing together various anti-nuclear movements at the national
level. Many programs were also held on 16th November in various towns and
cities all over the country to publicise the Bhopal program. Below is the
call that has emerged from the Bhopal meeting.ithout taking the adverse scientific, technical, economic and environmental factors into seriousICOR had decided to observe 16th November this year as the Day for
struggle for protection of the environment. At the same time 3rd December
this year marked the end of the 30th year of the Bhopal tragedy, It was
decided to hold an anti-nuclear convention in Bhopal this year on 1st
December bringing together various anti-nuclear movements at the national
level. Many programs were also held on 16th November in various towns and
cities all over the country to publicise the Bhopal program. Below is the
call that has emerged from the Bhopal meeting. consideration. Only because of the people’s movements against these nuclear plants, so far the government has failed to impose these new ‘silent nuclear bombs’ over them. The recent victory of the powerful people’s movement in compelling the government to cancel the so-called Public Hearing for Chutka Nuclear Project in MPhttp://start.ubuntu.com/10.04/Google/?sourceid=hp during May and again in July this year is significant. Against proposed nuclear plants at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, MithiVirdi in Gujarat, Gorakhpur in Fatehabad district of Haryana, Kovvad in Srikakulam district in AP, Rawatbhata in Rajasthan (and the under operationalization reactors at Koodankulam in TamilNadu) and against other proposed nuclear projects in different parts of the country also people are waging continuous struggles. As a result, the maneuvers of the central and state governments to impose the new nuclear plants at any cost to favor the MNCs have not materialized so far.

4. The experience of massive mobilization of people against the proposed ‘public hearing’ for the Chutka nuclear power plant – facing which the government had to back down and cancel the PH, has clearly shown the power of grassroots democracy and this must be emphasized in challenging the neo-liberal capitalist attacks on commons and the natural resource dependent people.

5. But, against the interest of the people, during his September visit to US, the Prime Minister surrendering to the dictates of the US administration, agreed to dilute the Nuclear Liability Act and signed agreement for Westinghouse reactors for MithiVirdi project in Gujarat. Agreements are signed with Russia for more nuclear reactors for Kudankulam NPP. Agreements for Areva nuclear reactors from France and nuclear facilities from Japan are being signed in a hurry when the election to Lok Sabha is around the corner. Neither BJP nor other major parties are coming out against these moves as many of them are united in imposing the dangerous nuclear plants on the people to appease the imperialist forces and MNCs, while a few others finds themselves occupied with shorter term problems.

6. The experience of the last few decades including many catastrophic impacts of ‘global warming’ is showing growing dangers of ecological destruction. It is repeatedly proved that at the present level of its development nuclear technology is incapable to provide answers to meltdowns as in Chernobyl and Fukushima and to nuclear waste disposal etc. When nuclear plants, uranium mining and nuclear arms are further intensifying the threat of environmental catastrophe, it has become the responsibility of all concerned sections, of all those who take initiative in the anti nuclear movements around the country to join hands and wage a powerful countrywide movement to resist the reactionary nuclear energy policy pursued by consecutive governments. In the struggle for the survival of the humanity against environmental catastrophe, this movement has to become part of the powerful anti- nuclear and ecological movements developing at international level also.

7. The choice of Bhopal for holding

THE BHOPAL CALL
People’s Call against Nuclear Power
[Adopted by All India Anti-Nuclear Power Convention at Bhopal on 1st December, 2013]

this Conference and its scheduling just two days ahead of the 29th anniversary of the Bhopal Poisonous Gas Disaster – one of the worst industrial disasters (along with Chernobyl & Fukushima nuclear disasters) in the history of the humankind – is no mere coincidence. This Conference recounts the historic lessons drawn from the disaster. First, the MNC Union Carbide plant’s implosion leading to the massive release of the poisonous gases was a consequence of the machinations of capitalist exploitative forces acting in collusion with the Indian state. Second, the vast Indian S&T institutional structure led by ICMR and CSIR ‘callously neglected’ its public duty of undertaking necessary research and compiling data to recommend effective medical treatm

THE BHOPAL CALL
People’s Call against Nuclear Power
[Adopted by All India Anti-Nuclear Power Convention at Bhopal on 1st December, 2013]

ent and rehabilitation and providing a scientific basis for computing compensation. Third, the judiciary at the highest level lost all opportunities to compel the powerful multinational to provide the required scientific information and accept its civil and criminal liability. Fourth, the absconding Union Carbide chairperson and the unexecuted liability against Dow Chemicals for disposal of the poisonous garbage on the 29th anniversary raise serious questions regarding the political will of the Indian state in fulfilling its sovereign function under the Constitution. Fifth, the Union Carbide pesticide plant was itself a product of the flawed ‘green revolution’ technology

THE BHOPAL CALL
People’s Call against Nuclear Power
[Adopted by All India Anti-Nuclear Power Convention at Bhopal on 1st December, 2013]

embedded in anti-people capitalist development paradigm.

8. In this context, the All India Anti-Nuclear Convention held at Bhopal on 1st December appeals to all political, social and cultural forces and individuals who are fighting against the monstrous nuclear power to join hands to uncompromisingly struggle for:

• Cancellation of all newly proposed nuclear plants;
• Cancellation of all bi-lateral nuclear agreements that Indian government has signed;
• De-commissioning of all existing nuclear plants in a time-bound way;
• Cancellation of all clearances given to proposed nuclear power plants by state governments,
Including those given for the proposed Chutka plant by the Madhya Pradesh government;
• Time-bound decommissioning all existing and cancelling all proposed Uranium mines;
• Abolition of all nuclear arms globally and for universal total nuclear disarmament;
• Redistribution of the huge resources wasted on the nuclear program, into securing the basic necessities of the people – clean & sufficient water, land, education, health care etc.
• Developing alternative distributed renewable energy sources with equitable and affordable energy access for all; and Evolving alternative development paradigm in a socialist framework, including people-oriented and Earth-saving energy policy.

All India People’s Initiative Against Nuclear Power (AIPIANP)