PM Singh lauds country's nuclear achievement

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said that nuclear power was indispensable to meet India's future energy needs. Singh was speaking at the 75th anniversary of Kolkata's Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. He was accompanied by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan at the event. Singh also lauded the achievements of the Saha Institute in the field of nuclear research, and hoped that the institute would be the architect of a better future for the country. India suffers from a peak-hour power deficit of about 12 percent that acts as a brake on an economy growing at nearly 9 percent and causes blackouts in much of the country. About 40 percent of Indians, or 500 million people, lack electricity.