Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 29: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that India has vindicated pioneer Indian nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha’s Nuclear peace mission.
After 60 years, we are now in a position to tell the whole world, how India’s nuclear programme under Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has emerged as a major resource pool for the growing energy needs of the country for its economic growth and development.
Delivering the inaugural address at the conference on “Nuclear Power in India” organized by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce of India), Dr Jitendra Singh said that even though at present 60% of power generation in India is from coal and other sources, but in the years to come, among alternative sources including solar energy and other green sources of energy, nuclear energy will also be playing a major contribution .
In the last two years of the Modi Government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, many of the new agreements and deals for promotion of atomic energy generation in India were accomplished during the Prime Minister’s overseas trips and during his meetings with dignitaries of other countries. Another major achievement in the last two years, he said, is the setting up of nuclear installations in North India and other parts of the country while earlier these were confined mostly to western and southern parts of the country. In this regard, he referred to the setting up of a Nuclear Power installation at Gorakhpur in Haryana.
In the years to come, India’s expertise in the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) technology, Dr Jitendra Singh said, will augment the generation of nuclear power and clean electricity.
Based on indigenously developed technology, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India’s nuclear programme is a befitting example of Prime Minister Modi’s “make in India” mission.