Mumbai: India cannot do without nuclear
power if it wants to improve the standard of life of people in
the country, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of
India, Dr R Chidambaram said.
"Making technology choices requires foresight and
forecasting as per the country`s needs and in order to improve
the quality of life and standard of living of people India
cannot do without nuclear power," he said.
Both India and China do not have enough fossil fuel and
to provide electricity the countries will have to go ahead
with the nuclear energy, Chidambaram said speaking on the
topic `India`s technology needs - Nuclear to Rural`.
Both fast breeder reactors to feed the Grid as well the
food processing industries for rural India are important to
enable the people of both urban and rural India improve their
quality of life, he said last night at the annual function of
the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) here.
Chidambaram also stressed on critical technology
development and equilibrium among their development. Research,
development and delivery has to reach rural areas and science
agencies must emphasise on innovation, he said.
It is also important to realise that the evolutionary
changes are more important than revolutionary changes and
therefore for more industrial development in the country it is
important to have enhanced academia-industry interaction
interfaces, he said.
He said India should optimally use visible technologies,
identify and stimulate latent capabilities and leverage
international collaboration to fill the knowledge gap.
ICT director and vice-chancellor Prof GD Yadav said ICT
will come up with a new Academic and Research Centre and the
entire project is expected to cost Rs 42 crore. A large
portion of the fund will come from the Department of Atomic
Energy, he added.
PTI
