India: PM asks scientists to develop alternative sources of energy

Noting that the return from huge investments in developing energy sources was “far from adequate”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asked scientists and engineers to find alternative sources of energy supply and energy conservation technologies.

Addressing the Indian Science Congress in Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu), he also underpinned the need for the Second Green Revolution to be “more holistic” than the first one and extend application of science and technology to forest conservation and management and new models of water conservation.
He also wanted the management of water resources to be addressed, saying it was the “most important challenge facing mankind”.

“India must find alternative sources of energy supply. We will need bio-fuel, solar energy, photo voltaic, nuclear and almost all sources, which do not burden the conventional sources of energy supply,” he stressed.

Terming energy security as both a managerial and a technological challenge, he said “we have invested billions of rupees in developing a range of energy sources.

However, the return on this investment is far from adequate”.
Be it hydel power, thermal, or nuclear power, productivity of investments already made have to be improved, he contended.

Hindustan Times