Good News from India - "Solar Valleys"

I often click onto the URLs of Indian newspapers with a sense of trepidation - news of some idiotic coal fired powerplant coming up somewhere or of some similarly wasteful enterprise is what I have come to expect - call that the cynic in me, but when you have been looking at how things move in India for as long as I have, it is difficult not to be skeptical, if not entirely cynical. However, The Hindu has this excellent piece on a new "Solar Valleys" proposal that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hass embarked upon: Link The proposal for a 20,000 MW target for harnessing solar energy by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan is something that India sorely needs to achieve. It is a matter of survival for India as a nation - the country simply cannot afford to buy horrendously expensive oil, gas and coal anymore with the hard-earned money of the Indian people. The costs in terms of environmental pollution, foreign exchange outflows and of money going to countries that have arrogant and condescending attitudes to Indians is something that India needs to halt asap.

I am no fan of Indian politicians or politics but I hope that this plan succeeds way beyond what the Prime Minister desires. There are only positive results to be expected no matter what degree of success is achieved.