India will have to depend mainly on coal, hydel power: Jairam Ramesh

India will have to depend mainly on coal, hydel and nuclear power for the next two-three decades to fulfil its growing energy demand, Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh said here today.
   
"We have to depend largely on coal, hydel and nuclear power for the next two-three decades," he said.
   
"We simply cannot afford absolute cuts in emission levels at this juncture of our development and given the huge unmet demand for electricity in particular," Ramesh said in his address on the occasion of convocation function of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) here.
   
Ramesh also said that a bill on setting up of an independent nuclear regulatory authority would be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.
   
India could actually reduce its emissions intensity even while maintaining a 8% to 9% growth trajectory, he said.
   
Meanwhile, some of the students, who were scheduled to participate in the convocation ceremony, 'boycotted' it as a mark of protest against the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF)'s nod to proposed 9900 MW Jaitapur nuclear plant in coastal Konkan and the POSCO steel project in Orissa.
   
Besides boycotting the function, some students protested by wearing black bands, carrying placards and
posters and sporting anti-nuclear t-shirts and caps.