by | |

Greetings from Delhi.

Yesterday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opened the conference, Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, by lighting a lamp (left) and giving a speech (right).

(I tried to convince George Perkovich to have a lamp lighting ceremony at the 2009 Carnegie Nonproliferation Conference, but I don’t think he bought it.)

Singh’s address to the conference, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a speech by Rajiv Gandhi, emphasizing the need for disarmament and reiterating existing Indian proposals:

These proposals retain the spirit and substance of the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan. We hope that other states will agree to a dialogue on these proposals, and will join us in committing to nuclear disarmament. That is the critical first step – a commitment, preferably a binding legal commitment through an international instrument, to eliminate nuclear weapons within a time bound framework.

I was almost encouraged until I saw the headline in The Hindu over breakfast — “Can’t Limit Energy Options: PM.”

In fact, these are the headlines from Google News:

Limiting energy options a luxury: PM

The Statesman

N-terrorist a realistic threat, says PM

Economic Times

Nuclear energy the best option

The Hindu (online)

N-deal must for energy needs: Prime Minister

The Times of India

Only VOA headlined the story “Prime Minister Pitches Global Nuclear Disarmament.”

Back to weary cynicism.