Nanda Devi Sanctuary is closed - Joint Indo USA scam

Dilliwala

Hi aravjlt,

The Indian media covered this story in great detail in the late-70's. In fact, in all the links given in this thread, NOTHING new has been said that has not substantively been covered in the Kohli/Conboy book; in general the book has gone into far greater detail on this subject than any other source I've seen. And though I haven't read Takeda's book, everything I've read till date online about it points to the fact that he's revealed nothing new. In fact, it's my opinion that given that he wrote his book AFTER Kohli and Conboy wrote theirs, that his approach is somewhat sensationalist. Not to mention that I find it irresponsible that on his own website (3rd link given by Raghu in #35) he doesn't mention their book even once, thereby seeming to give the impression that he has made some great new discovery. You shud also read the comments at the end of the page by an independent radiochemist, Takeda himself, and the lab. Very interesting - basically in line with the GOI's findings as far as I'm concerned.
While I'm the last person to believe that the GOI tells the truth all the time, I do not believe they wud be so reckless and callous as to expose millions of people to radioactivity; in fact the book points to quite the opposite - strenuous efforts were made and tests conducted year after year, finally leading the govt to close the matter. Not totally satisfactory, but as I have quoted previously not much that can be done if the device is lying hundreds of feet deep at the bottom of a glacier!
I do recommend you read 'Spies in the Himalayas' if you can get hold of it, if nothing else it makes for fascinating reading.

Quote:

If anyone of you has read the book by Pete Takeda on the subject, would be interested to know if he corroborates the fact that the radioactive cache has been found and removed?

There is no possible way he cud have found anything, he was not even in the area (ND inner sanctuary). He climbed Nanda Kot, from where he thought he might get a rough idea of the device's falling trajectory. Well, the Indian and U.S. agencies conducted a much more scientific test from much closer by (I won't give the details, don't want to spoil it for anyone who intends to read the book ). Takeda's whole proposition rests on the samples he took from near the end of the Rishiganga gorge - he cud have saved himself the climb.

About the 800 kgs - rubbish. Yes, that's what was removed, rubbish. The last time anything nuclear-related was found was in 1993, the army expedition I mentioned found an empty canister used to transport the plutonium (which is still inside the device).
But that won't stop any journalist from speculating - and sensationalising.

EDIT: And here's the clincher! From Takeda's own website, altho he still maintains "tests of a second silt sample by different scientist might contradict claims derived from earlier tests".
That when he's not a scientist himself.


Hi Raghu,
Here's a thread that might just interest you
Nanda Devi book

Talk about more synchronicity - this subject has been covered in yet another thread:
Has any body read this ?

And even more synchronicity - short while back I finished watching Doordarshan's weekly programme 'Destination Himalaya' (Wednesdays 9 pm, DD India) where two travellers go wandering about the Hims (Kumaon last week, Parvati valley before that). So where do they go this week? The Dhauliganga/Niti valley of course! A few shots taken of ND, etc up the Rishiganga gorge. And while standing around there, of course they start talking about the nuclear device.

And yet again - found on Takeda's site:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/224538.html
Interesting - didn't know that expeditions were being allowed to ND East, but then again this was the army...

nyraghu

Indeed :-)

Thanks for the information, I didn't know about the programme.

I remember reading this news last year. There have been expeditions in the recent past to Nanda Devi East. There was a disastrous Italian expedition to Nanda Devi East in September 2005, which ended with the death of its leader, Marco Dalla Longa, perhaps due to cerebral edema. There is more information about that expedition at the Indian Mountaineering Federation and at K2climb.net. (Just for curiosity's sake, there is also an IMF report on Takeda's expedition to Nanda Kot in 2005.) There was also a Spanish Women's Expedition to Nanda Devi East in 2006.

Raghu.

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praks

The East peak of Nandadevi has never been closed for climbing. There have been several expeditions to the East peak from outside the sanctuary, via the Longstaff col. We(an Indo American team) attempted it in 1994 and made it a good way up before having to call off the attempt due to the 'plague' rumours which were doing the rounds during late 1994. The year before, a close friend reached the top with an Indo Polish expedition and after our try, a famous British couple also reached the top.

Dilliwala

Thanks, praks.

Not just a trekker, but heavy-duty climber too, huh?

chits007

Today I was reading TOi Delhi Edition, I saw this news..so what is it..a hoax or a real threat??


http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defau...Mode=HTML&GZ=T

nyraghu

The stuff has been discussed at length earlier in this thread, feel free to dip into it. Reminds one of a popular passage from T. S. Eliot:

Raghu.

Cayle

Since this thread has sprung back to life, I'd like to ask a question. The US and India did not have the best of relations in the 60's. India was clearly closer to the Soviet Union at the time.

So why would there have been a joint US/India expedition? If there was an international expedition of any sort, would not a USSR/India expedition have made more sense? After all, by this time the Russians were no longer exactly the best of friends with China.

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Sadanand Kamath

I remember to have read the news during India-China war of 1962, that when India approached Soviet Union for help, the then Prime Minister of Soviet Union, Krushchev remained neutral by saying that China was like a brother and India was like a friend to Soviet Union. It was during Breznev's time that USSR and China were not the best of friends. Again, the Nandadevi expedition was more of an interest to USA than to USSR.

Sadanand

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