Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday the nuclear crisis in Japan underlined the need to revisit strategies for safety of atomic plants and added that he had already ordered a “thorough review.”
“The tragic nuclear incidents in Japan in the aftermath of the recent earthquake and tsunami should make us revisit strategies for nuclear safety, learning lessons from these experiences,” he said addressing the India Today Conclave here.
“I have already ordered a thorough review by the Department of Atomic Energy,” he said.
He pointed out that Indian nuclear power plants had successfully withstood the strongest earthquake at Bhuj in Gujarat and the devastating tsunami that hit parts of the southern coast in December 2004.
Black money in realty
Dr. Singh said that in order to check flow of black money into the real estate sector, stamp duty needed to be reduced, a step that realty players welcomed, stating it would bring in more transparency.
“I think as far as black money in real estate is concerned, unfortunately that is a reality and one way out of this would be to lower the stamp duties,” Dr. Singh said.
Replying to a poser on black money transactions in the sector, he said stamp duties in the country were a “big obstacle to cleaning the mess with regard to transactions in real estate.”
“So that's one way, in which we can work towards a system whereby black money would be less of a menace in transactions relating to real estate.”
Pirate attacks
Against the backdrop of an increase in incidents of pirate attacks, the Prime Minister said “cooperative solutions” by several countries were needed to prevent piracy on the high seas and eliminate causes which made such acts possible.
Navy role lauded
He said India had a strong interest in the security of the sea lanes and lauded the Indian Navy's role in foiling piracy attempts in the Arabian Sea.
Keywords: Japan nuclear accident, Indian nuclear policy
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