By IANS,
New York : Citing the example of consensus which has kept economic reforms on rails in India, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has said a “broad political consensus” was also necessary to conclude the civilian nuclear deal with the US.
“Some people are taking more time to comprehend the deal or its importance,” the minister said, explaining the delay in the process. Notwithstanding the nomenclature, the deal with the US is and should be seen as a power or an energy deal, he added.
Speaking at the Asia Society here Thursday on his new book titled “India’s Century”, Nath pointed out that the consensus on economic reforms has allowed them to continue despite New Delhi witnessing six governments and five prime ministers.
The power deal, Nath said, is part of India’s quest for renewable energy sources. He mentioned that wind energy is already producing 5,000 MW of power in India.
Harnessing solar energy, however, has lagged because “we have the sun, but didn’t have the money for research and those nations who had the money did not have the sun”, he said.
The minister asserted that the per captia carbon emissions in the country are nothing comparable to the West because “we are not making the same mistakes as they made”.
Agreeing that severe shortage of power is a huge challenge facing India, which is causing citizen outrage, he said: “We are looking at clean technologies because we can’t stop the development process.”