India to continue with nuclear programmes: Minister Sharma

Commerce Minister of India Anand Sharma brushed aside talks of scrapping his country's nuclear program has called for more cooperation with the United States on nuclear energy.

While supporting safety reviews of nuclear establishments, Sharma said: “We are very clear it is an absolute must in the bouquet of energy resources which have to be accessed.We feel that this is one area where collaboration or partnership has to be given more strength,” Sharma said at the US-India Business Council.

Since the crisis in Japan, environmentalists and residents have campaigned to stop construction of a nuclear power plant at Jaitapur on the west coast in Maharashtra due to start in 2013, which would be one of the world’s biggest nuclear facilities.