'Atomic energy important for India'

Former minister and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday that atomic energy was also important for India. He said that the Kudankulam atomic energy plant was good and that people should not protest against it.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a lecture on ‘Ecology, Growth and Democracy in India,’ organised by the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, he said that power from mere solar, wind, hydel and thermal sources would not be sufficient to meet the demand of over 127 crore Indians. Thus, atomic energy was a good solution. It is risky, but there is damage everywhere, even in case of hydel power where forest land is the casualty, he said. This is besides the cost factor.

He said India’s environmental context had four dimensions - demography, change in monsoon, public health and lifestyle. In other nations, environmental changes are due to deforestation, glaciers and increase in sea level. In India, the factors are more; thus a different path is needed to tackle the problem. Mining is another major problem to deal with, Ramesh said.