Amid the raging controversy over the N-deal, the CPI(M) favoured a ratification by Parliament being made mandatory for all international treaties entered by India.
ALLAHABAD: Amid the raging controversy over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the CPI(M) on Tuesday favoured a ratification by Parliament being made mandatory for all international treaties entered by India.
"It is strange that the Indo-US nuclear deal required voting by the US senate but our Parliament had no say in the matter. Does the Indian Parliament have less value than the American Congress," CPI (M) Politburo member Brinda Karat told here.
She said her party would put pressure on the UPA government to initiate steps for a Constitutional amendment "that makes a ratification by the Parliament mandatory for all international treaties entered by India in future".
Asked about the recent statements of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and veteran CPI (M) leader Jyoti Basu in support of developing nuclear power, Karat asserted, "it was in no way contrary to our party's stand which has never opposed nuclear energy per se".
"Our contention is, the government has shown undue haste in deciding a matter that required much deliberation. The deal would only allow the US to have access to our uranium reserves and in return they will provide us with technology which will only enable us to manufacture power at a prohibitive cost", she said.
"We have not yet exhausted other options like coal, hydel energy and natural gas. Moreover, our scientists have made tremendous advances in nuclear technology but lack of state support is hampering their work," she alleged.
Karat alleged that the government has not made adequate investments in the power sector in the 10th five-year-plan and there seems to be no change in its policy in the proposed 11th five-year-plan as well.
"The government itself is not providing enough assistance to the power sector. We would like to know, whom the nuclear deal is going to favour when it would only result in making power available to the people at a price many times more than what it is now. Would the government, which is not ready to provide subsidies even to farmers, be ready to provide its citizens at a subsidised rate," she asked.
Karat accused the UPA government of having ignored many issues raised in the Common Minimum Programme "in its over enthusiasm for non-essentials like the nuclear deal".
"The Tribals Bill, passed by the Parliament last year, still awaits a notification. There has been no headway on the Sachar Committee report's recommendations as well. Similarly, the issue of unorganised sector, which according to an estimate comprises 77 per cent of the country's work force, has been put in cold storage," she alleged.
Karat also lashed out at the BJP for "doing a great dis-service to those opposed to the nuclear deal by stalling parliamentary proceedings and scuttling possibility of a debate".
"They have made too much of noise over the demand for a joint parliamentary committee. Did they ever care to think that even if a JPC is constituted, its recommendations will not be binding upon the government," she said.
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