Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Jitendra Singh
The SHANTI Act introduces critical amendments designed to expand private and foreign participation in India’s nuclear power sector; clarify the liability framework for nuclear operators; operationalize the long-standing potential of the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement, among others
New Delhi: The rules under the proposed SHANTI Act will be rolled out in the coming weeks or months, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday, while stressing the need for stronger industry participation in India’s research and innovation ecosystem.
Addressing the ‘First agreement signing with ETEs and first fund release to ETEs under RDI Scheme by Technology Development Board Second Level Fund Manager (SLFM) event’, the Union minister said the government was now moving towards a model where industry would play a larger role in shaping research priorities and innovation funding.
“The next milestone is going to be a few weeks or a few months later when the SHANTI Act rules are rolled out,” Singh said. “Again, we will need a similar kind of enthusiasm in the industry.”
The SHANTI Act introduces critical amendments designed to expand private and foreign participation in India’s nuclear power sector; clarify the liability framework for nuclear operators; operationalize the long-standing potential of the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement, among others
India aims to produce 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2047, against the current 8-9 GW and the SHANTI Act will help India achieve this target.
The minister also highlighted progress under India’s National Quantum Mission, saying the country had already achieved half of its eight-year target for quantum communication infrastructure in less than four years.
“One of the targets was that we would accomplish 2,000 kilometers of quantum-secure communication in eight years,” Singh said. “In less than half the time… we have already reached 1,000.”
He added that India was now among the “elite league” of countries working actively in quantum technologies.
“We are among the elite league of a few nations which are into quantum,” the minister said.
During the event, Singh also stressed the need to make scientific and innovation-related knowledge more accessible through digital and AI-enabled tools.
“You should know what you don’t know or what you want to know,” he said, while suggesting that innovation resources should be broken into smaller digital formats for easier access by startups and researchers..
Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to government of India also announced the release of India’s quantum-safe ecosystem framework, saying quantum-safe systems will be critical for protecting financial transactions, healthcare data and power grid infrastructure from future quantum computing threats.