Two quick points. First, with respect to the government, it undoubtedly runs a secret, unaccountable nuclear programme stuck entirely in the mentality which subscribes to the view that closeted, un-accountable processes produce the best results. As some nice quips in this regard by Bhabha in Perkovich’s book shows, the nuclear establishment in India is born and bred in a culture of secrecy and it is no surprise that it continues today and incidents are hushed up with regularity as the Week’s wonderful expose a couple of weeks back on Tarapur shows.
But with regard to the media, I’d be interested to know why you think Rawatbhata is deemed not sensational enough and not news? It’s a shocking story and whatever else it may be, it is certainly “sensational” in the way our media looks for sensational issues. So it strikes me as surprising that it wasn’t covered at all especially in this age of facile media one-upmanship.