Some numbers to put Kudankulam in perspective..
From Koodankulam stalled again: Sinister geopolitics by Radha Rajan, below are some figures to put the whole debate in perspective*:
*** Excerpts ***
India needs 1, 00,060 MWe of power while we are generating only 1, 00, 034 MWe. Of this –
- 60% is Thermal power which uses coal, diesel and natural gas as fuel
- 25% is Hydro
- 7% is from non-conventional sources like solar, wind and bio-gas; and
- 2.9% is nuclear
World average for nuclear power is 20%. 75% of all France’s power requirements is met by nuclear energy.
- 20% US
- 18% UK
- 12% Germany; and
- 5% China
In addition to its already existing and functioning nuclear reactors, China has 20 new nuclear reactors at an advanced stage of development while another 15 are in the offing. India’s GDP and nuclear capability – nuclear power generation and nuclear defence arsenal will play a critical role in deciding India’s place in global geopolitics.
…It is imperative that all facts about civilian nuclear programme around the world and India’s energy requirements be placed before the nation in terms of hard numbers.
Per capita power consumption
- (India) National per capita consumption – 503 units
- China – 2500 units
- America – 13,000 units
- Tamil Nadu – 900 units
India’s nuclear reactor history so farIndia has 20 nuclear power plants
- Kaiga, Karnataka – 4
- Kakrapar, Gujarat – 2
- Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu – 2
- Narora, Uttar Pradesh – 2
- Rawatbhatta, Rajasthan – 6
- Tarapur, Maharashtra – 4
Total power generated from 20 nuclear reactors – 4780 MW
Nuclear units under construction: 9 of which
- Kalpakkam – 1
- Koodankulam – 2
- Kakrapar – 2
- Rawatbhatta – 2
- Banswara, Rajasthan – 2
Total power that will be generated upon completion – 6700 MW
Facts about Tamil Nadu’s energy requirements and power generating capabilities
Tamil Nadu needs – 12000 MW
Tamil Nadu generates – 7000 MW
Deficit in meeting state requirement – 5000 MW
Given the fact that the two nuclear reactors ready for commissioning in Koodankulam will generate 4800 MW power, Jayalalithaa owes the people of Tamil Nadu an explanation for denying them access to much needed power. People of Chennai suffer one hour power cut seven days of the week while some cities and towns suffer six to seven hours power cut every day. As things stand the situation does not look likely to improve.
*** Excerpts End ***
Here are some more facts and figures to put all this in perspective:
India suffers from a severe shortage of electricity generation capacity. According to the World Bank, roughly 40 percent of residences in India are without electricity. In addition, blackouts are a common occurrence throughout the country’s main cities. Further compounding the situation is that total demand for electricity in the country continues to rise and is outpacing increases in capacity. Additional capacity has failed to materialize in India in light of market regulations, insufficient investment in the sector, and difficulty in obtaining environmental approval and funding for hydropower projects. In addition, coal shortages are further straining power generation capabilities. In order to address this shortfall, the Indian government continues to work towards adding capacity. ..EIA projects that electricity consumption in India will grow at an average rate of 3.3 percent per year through 2035. To meet this growth, India will have to expand their current generation capacity by 234 GW.
But this is unlikely to happen anytime soon..
India will miss the power capacity addition target for the 11th Five Year Plan, Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde made this admission while addressing media persons at the annual economic editors conference on Wednesday (Nov 5, ’09).
“We have performed much better in terms of new capacity addition in the 11th Plan as generation capacity worth 18,235 MW has already been commissioned till early October 2009. However, due to various project-related delays, the entire planned target for the plan period may not materialise,” Mr Shinde said. (source)
Apparently, the “Power generation figures were unrealistic:
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, today (Mar 26, ’11) said it would be an achievement if India could achieve capacity addition of 52,000 MW of power generation at the end of 11th five-year-plan in 2012 despite much higher projections earlier.
…At the outset of 11th plan, target was 78,000 MW of capacity addition, but within two years it was scaled down to 62,000 MW, and now even if the country could add 52,000 MW, it would be a big “achievement”, Ahluwalia said here.
Not surprisingly, India’s per capita energy consumption is amongst the lowest in the world. So if you are amongst the 200-odd million people who enjoy uninterruprted power, count yourselves lucky..and spare a thought for the hundreds of millions who have never known what reliable electric supply means.
Meanwhile, trouble continues at Kudankulam..
Additional References: India Energy Portal;Â * I have requested my friend Ashutosh (who is an “Energy Expert”) to write a detailed post on this whole issue. I should be able to publish it soon. Â Comments, thoughts and additional references, data sources welcome.
Image Data Source: IEA Key energy statistics 2010 and “Energiläget 2050” by prof. Cristian Azar and Kristian Lindgren ChalmersGöteborg (Swedish) via Wikipedia.
Numbers are great, but the reality in India is that rules and numbers are regularly flouted on the ground.
Most large industries have to take the local population into confidence and assure that safety is of paramount importance. The record of our Govt in this matter is not impressive, to say the least. Add to that the Nuclear Liability Bill that India has signed, where operator liability is capped at INR 1,500 crore. The cost of cleaning up a contained nuclear accident like Three Mile Island is many times more of that. And, does this figure take into account inflation?
Bravo, Mr Bhagwat!! That’s a great compilation of where things stands in energy availability.
One thing you could have added is the transmission losses. India is one of worst performing nations when it comes to efficient transmission. Lot of is due to outright theft of power which is allowed by many governments. It requires political will to go after those who are engaging in power theft.
In Gujarat Modi’s government made the Gujarat Elec Board (GEB) go after the power thieves big time and cut off connections of serial offenders. This resulted in people paying for electricity and in turn making GEB one of the only profitable Elec Board in the nation.
When businesses know that their product will not be stolen they are willing to make more of it, which is why Gujarat has enough power for the state and is making it available to other states too.
Political will is essential. But having said all the above, if India cant meet its power needs, it cannot grow its economy. It is as simple and cut and dry.
Is this an article in support of Nuclear energy or for the need of electricity in general? Its a simple fact that India has huge gaps in electricity demand vs supply but that doesnt mean it opens up the case for nuclear energy. To put it in perspective, after the Japanese nuclear disaster some countries have stopped further nuclear reactors or have started serious debate on the future of their Nuclear reactors. So the statistics quoted above are irrelevant to the nuclear debate.
Back in 2008 this article appeared in this website – https://satyameva-jayate.org/2008/09/12/china-n-deal-sarah-palin/ – this will be a good read in conjunction with this article.
The problem here is not so much about the dangers of nuclear energy generation per se, but the bigger picture in the Indian context. We are not going to ensure construction quality or proper maintenance. Nobody is going to bother with operational safety to the level that’s needed because it will be capital and effort intensive. In the worst case if there’s a Fukishima type disaster, I have serious doubts about the execution of contingency plans.
The biggest problem is attacks from the crazy islamic jihadi groups operating in and around India, with support from Pakistan. If they could pull off 26/11 with such ease, what’s to prevent them from going after a reactor next? In fact they could just pull up in a boat on the coast and launch a few missiles. I can bet you the response or protection will be far less than adequate.
Surya, RC, Chandra and Jagadish: Thanks for the comments…Will try and respond later this week.
Apparently, Koodankulam protestors recd money from USA and Germany, routed via Kerala…
Unfortunately source link is in Tamil. So am unable to verify: http://www.dinamalar.com/News_Detail.asp?Id=390739
Can someone who can read/understand Tamil, please post a summary/translation in English?
Thanks a lot
Santanu – provided below is a brief summary of the article in Dina Malar:
Funds were sent from US. These funds were rounted to India throuhg a gernam named Reyna Herman. Funds were sent to association of fishermen in Kerala and from there sent to the protesters of Kodankulam. It has been found that some persons had misused these funds by lending them for interest. US and European countries are uneasy about Indian collaborating with Russia on building nuclear power plants. doubts have been raised as to whether or not these protests were done at the behest of US.
Udaayakumar, that is heading this protest, had claimed that these protests were funded by personal contributions of fishermen and workers of beedi factories. protest organization provided food and pocket expenses of the portesters.
Thanks a lot Sat…very interesting…
Putting this here for the record: Koodankulam Protests , Church and Western NGOs- A Citizen’s Probe..Some excerpts below:
In an interview for the science magazine, PM Manmohan Singh..said,
“The atomic energy programme has got into difficulties because (of) these NGOs
…
reports that are coming in reveal that four organizations which have been blacklisted are Tuticorin Diocese Association; Good Vision, Nagercoil, Trust for rural Uplift and Education, Rural Uplift Centre.
It is to be kept in mind that the whole protest movement picked up steam only in 2007 after One-day Hunger Strike was organized on February 15, 2007, prior to the Indo-US 123 Agreements
…Here is the list of some of the leaders of the initial protest-Y. David, Gabrielle Dietrich, Lal Mohan, Anton Gomes, Mano Thankaraj, Balaprajapathi Adigalar, Dhanraj, Alankaram Bharathar, Peter Dhas, Kavitha, Rosammal, , Frederick, Gilbert Rodreigo, Jeromios,Jayakumar and parish priests Panneerselvam, Venis Kumar, Jesuraj,Suseelan, Arul Raj, Jagdish, Clarence. So, the movement from very beginning was organized by the Church, and various parishes. In fact, Uday Kumar is believed to be stationed at the Idinthakarai village church. Idinthakarai is the centre of the protest under the full guidance of the Church. Udaykumar himself stays with the parish priest Father Jaikumar, and uses the Church infrastructure for coordinating the movement.
Why is the Church arrayed against the project? Though, the Convener will always quote that another Fukushima may happen in India and scares fisherman about coming tsunami; the reasons are geopolitical. India is not the place where tsunami as powerful as one that hit Fukushima may again arrive. The simple reason is that KKNPP is too big a strategic investment for India .
…
In 2008, India renegotiated on building four additional reactors at the site. It is expected that the capacity of each reactor will be 1000 MW. If all reactors can be operationalized, the total capacity of the power plant would surge to 9200 MW and it can wipe out the energy deficit in Southern India. Apart from six Russian-made nuclear power plants producing 6000 MW power, two Indian-made fast breeder plants (FBR)producing 400 MW power each will be contructed. This will make India to stockpile enough fuel for strategic nuclear deterrence and this will be the biggest nuclear facility in the entire world. …
The NGOs from Scandinavian countries have been roped in, particularly Denmark and Sweden as these are the weak NATO states and pander the US for their own security. Danish missionaries have centuries older foothold in Tuticorin. the three contiguous southern district of Tamilnadu, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari have a substantive Christian population. The three districts have 1.4 million Christians upon which various Churches have strong influence. The plan to sabotage the operationalization of the first two units which are “99% and 94%” ready, does not seem to have local hands.
…
It is also to be observed that suddenly there have been spurt in foreign money entering Tamilnadu as grants( legal money) in last 4 years, once the first hunger strike was organized.The divertion from church to insurgent organizations in the North east India is well documented. This is the easier route even in Tamilnadu where it is seen that nearly 800 crore rupee was received by the Church and Christian Missionaries only in 2010-11.
…
Below is documentation of the foreign funding in Tamilnadu from the MHA FCRA data about organizations receiving more than one crore contribution annually. At least 958 organization got Rs 1 crore or more foreign contribution in the year 2010-11. World Vision of India, based at Egmore, Chennai, tops the list of 958 for 2010-11, with Rs 233.74 crore. Interestingly, the organization have avowed objective to provide emergency aid to all people affected by conflict or disaster and to promote justice to change unjust equations affecting the poor. It has received more than 1100 crore rupees as foreign contribution in last five years. The address of organization is Vepery,Egmore,Chennai,600008 ,Phone Number:+91-44-26620026 and only local vigilant citizens can unravel whether some of this huge fund also gets diverted in protest activities?
In 2010-11, out of 958 organizations receiving more than a crore of foreign contribution, at least 515 were Christian missionary organisations, which collectively received Rs 2,003.75 crore as foreign contributions. But, nearly 186 such organizations are based in Tamilnadu and these received more than 800 crore in the year 2010-11. that means, Tamilnadu which does not have a huge chunk of Christian population( received almost half of the foreign contribution and the share of the organizations is almost one-third. The sudden spurt does not seem unconnected with the way poor Christian fishermen have been instigated to confront the State frontally. Even 10% diversion would be a huge amount and incentive for the poor fishermen to hold the nuclear complex on ransom.
Placing this here for the record. The plot behind ‘Sabotage Kudankulam’, March 5, 2012 by Rakesh Krishnan Simha
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dtuti.html
Catholic population of Tuticorin has grown to 16.3% in 2010 from 7.3% in 1950 while the population of Tuticorin has grown from 1.5m to 2.59m in the same time period. Now check this out: Bishop Yvon Ambroise became Bishop in 2005. The number of Catholics has grown by about 70,000 in spite of the total population FALLING by ~ 175,000 since 2005 when Bishop Yvon Ambroise became Bishop!!!
Now see http://www.tuticorindiocese.com/goodnews.htm. Tuticorin has a Good News Center which isn’t just an evangelization outpost for Tuticorin but the main centre for the WHOLE of Tamil Nadu. This center was inaugurated by two Italian priests who also offered financial help!
One of the goals of Christian evangelicals is to get to at least 20% of the population of any country, that way they believe they can seriously influence the destiny of any country. Tamil Nadu and AP are well on their way. North East is pretty much done. Kerala is done as well.
Jay
From Kudankulam protests: Hijacked by the church and the foreign hand?:
When the US guys told us they will take care of that NPT thingy and get us all the uranium we need, as a quid pro quo, they demanded a major slice of the Indian nuclear power pizza. In fact they wanted the whole pizza. You see, the whole point of this generous nuclear deal was to ensure the US derives the maximum economic benefit out of our inevitable nuclear boom.
The major hurdle in the quest for that pizza: Kudankulam Nuclear Plant.
You see, the reactors used to generate electricity in Kudankulam, the aforementioned VVER-1000 reactors, are a direct competitor to General Electric’s Advanced Boiling Water Reactor. If the VVER-1000 is successful, India might opt for more of these reactors to satiate her power demands, which are projected to go north.
If that happens, the US would become the guy who did everything possible to impress a girl, only to see a direct competitor walking away with the credit and the girl on a first date.
Just think about it: the other nuclear project announced after the deal was signed was Jaitapur. It was a French one.
In short, the US has every reason to pray for the failure of Kudankulam. Mostly because if Kudankulam is successful, the US will be the biggest loser.
…
The Ministry of Home Affairs, has an amazing web-page. It lists all the transactions made by NGOs that receive more than Rs 1 crore a year.
Here is the 2010-2011 account statement of the Tuticorin Multipurpose Social Service Society (TMSSS). Click on link to see Image 2 for details.
Notice that the maximum money has been spent in activities mysteriously classified as ‘Others’. No explanation has been given on what activities ‘Others’ constitute. Now, this particular NGO has received more than Rs 42 crore in foreign donations, over the last five years.
But the NGO doesn’t even have a website of its own. A website where they can publish detailed accounts of what they are doing with all the money. Introduce some modicum of transparency. Now, why is that?
Similarly, the other NGO, the Tuticorin Diocese Association, received Rs 22 crore in the same period. It too does not have a website or a statement.
So this mysterious money trail leads to a dead end. But that is not the only problem. On 6 February, the Home ministry stated that these very NGOs received Rs 54 crore from sources abroad.
Now, with a very minimum knowledge of economics, I think Rs 54 crore is quite a lot of money. According to the Home Ministry, the NGOs do not have the accounts to show for it. And no person from these two NGOs has come out and given a convincing reply to the Home Ministry’s accusation.
In fact, the two NGOs in question are headed by the same guy, one Bishop Yvon Ambroise. Since the day the report was published in The Hindu, this person has gone underground. I mean, if you are so honest about your financials, why this mysterious silence?
Similiarly, the home ministry also alleges that Dr Udayakumar received Rs 1.5 crore in his account to fund this agitation. In typical Udayakumar style, he countered it aggressively, even claiming dramatically that he was ready to be hanged if it was established that he had received money. And his NGO, the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), released its own account statement to prove its innocence. This is what it said:
Total fund collection: Rs 25, 17,991. Collected Rs 200 from every household in Idinthakarai with additional help coming from fishermen, beedi workers etc, who contributed 10 percent of their earnings.
Total expenditure: Rs 17,64,233. Spent on hiring transport, diesel genset, marquees, and supply of water to the people who congregate at the protest fast venue.
As usual, no specifics have been given. Also, PMANE does not have a website where it can publish a detailed report. Our media, as is the norm, didn’t bother to verify this statement.
Turns out that the village of Idinthakarai has a total population of 3,996. Assuming 3 members per household, the total number of households in that village is only about 1,332.
Going by Udayakumar’s assertion and assuming every household contributed, the total amount collected comes to: Rs 2,66,400.
Where did you get the rest of the money – Rs 22,51,591 – from, Dr Udayakumar? Are you telling us that the fishermen and beedi workers from Kudankulam contributed this amount??
Or is the Prime Minister right when he says foreign money is at play?
Paying protesters to campaign against a venture by your competitor is an old tactic in India. Every industrialist worth his or her salt has done it at some point of time in his/her life.
But in this case, I am unduly worried because this protest has taken a direction that does not augur well for the security of our country.
The whole protest is religiously motivated.
Remember Bishop Ambroise in the previous paragraph? Well, he is on record, with his opposition to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power plant. Now this person is not some layman voicing his views on this subject. He is a bishop, a very senior person in the hierarchy of the church.
Why is a representative of the church, that too a Bishop, taking an active part in the protest?
There’s not even the usual excuse that he is acting out of his own free will. The Roman Catholic Church is an organisation that is proud of its chain of command. No church member, I believe, can act independently without the sanction of someone from above. And when the guy leading this protest is a senior functionary in the church, it can mean only one thing: The anti-Kudankulam protest has blessings from the highest levels of the Church hierarchy.
Now, why is the church taking a pro-active interest in a nuclear power plant, somewhere down in South India?
The involvement of the church cannot be dismissed lightly. In rural Tamil Nadu, for most of the villagers, the voice of reason happens to be the local parish priest. And all the parish priests in and around Kudankulam are heavily against the establishment of the power plant. They make no bones about their stand on this issue, and they don’t even have a choice. The person right on top of the church pyramid has made his stand very clear.
When a priest, in his Sunday mass and service, exhorts the villagers to join the protest, what are they going to do?
Most of the people in and around Kudankulam are joining the protests, not because they believe in the cause. They are turning up because their priest asked them to. And they are admitting it openly.
This means that what was supposed to be a peaceful public protest has, as the Indian Express put it brilliantly, been hijacked by the local diocese and the church. And that is not a good sign.
Not for a country that calls itself secular.
The only thing that has irked me more than this shameless religious takeover of the movement is our mainstream media’s turning a Nelson’s eye towards it. Why aren’t there more damning articles, like this one, on the role of the church in the Kudankulam agitation?
Why this thing is not the ‘Burning Question’ on Times Now? Why is it not on Face The Nation?
Pl read Call PMANE’s sinister bluff at Kudankulam, expose racket by Sandeep Balakrishna.
Re. Kudankulam, from Foreign hand in anti-nuke stir exposed, 11 MARCH 2013, by KUMAR CHELLAPPAN, CHENNAI
In a development which could have ramifications on the campaign against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant, police in Tirunelveli has come across a “major suspicious transfer†of Rs 29,98,782 from London to Koodankulam.
The money was transferred from London by one Anand to the Canara Bank’s Koodankulam branch account of Ambika Thavasi, wife of Thavasi Kumar, an activist of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), campaigning for the closure of the 2X1000 MW nuclear plant being built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) with Russian assistance.
“The International Division of the Canara Bank in Mumbai alerted us about the transfer of such a big amount from London to its Koodankulam branch. On investigation we found that prior to the transfer of this money, Ambika’s account had a balance of just Rs 505. Our major concern is that the transaction comes just before the PMANE’s proposed sea siege on Monday,†Sumit Sharan, the young DIG of Tirunelveli police, told The Pioneer.
He said Thavasi Kumar has recently been booked under the Goonda’s Act.
…
According to Sharan, what raised suspicion in the minds of the police was that Ambika or Thavasi Kumar had no business or major sources of income. “She told us that she does not know Anand, the person who sent the money. We found that there was no business link between Anand, Ambika or Thavasi,†he said.
As many of you know, I am in favour of Kudankulam and nuclear power (in general) but this article made me sit up and take notice. An excerpt from From Russia with Love! by MG Devasahayam:
Almost to the day, a game far more lethal was played out on the southern tip of India when India’s nuclear establishment did the sriganesham for the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) ~ making it go critical ~ on 12/13 July. This is the first of the two 1000 MWe VVER nuclear reactors supplied by the Russian atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, through its subsidiary, Atomstroyexport. Crucial materials and reactor parts including safety subsystems, equipment and components have been sourced from the ZiO-Podolsk, another Rosatom subsidiary.
The reactor and other core equipment had arrived at the site by mid-2005 and KKNPP was originally scheduled to start commercial operation in 2007. Active protest against the plant was shortlived and there has been no restraint order from the courts. Yet, despite announcing several deadlines by the Prime Minister, Minister of State in PMO and nuclear bigwigs, there was no sign of commissioning the plant for six long years. Repeated tests had failed and everything was kept under wraps.
Despite thick layers of secrecy, the truth started surfacing when there were specific complaints on the quality of the components, systems and parts installed in KKNPP. In June 2012, there were reports of welding in the core region of the pressure vessel which was against the original design specifications. At the beginning of this year, there were reports of Russian Federal prosecutors charging and arresting the procurement officers of Zio-Podolsk for corruption in connection with the supply of substandard systems and components to nuclear power plants, including KKNPP. This included use of low quality steel in the fabrication of the reactor.
What is worse, the control and instrumentation system of the plant is suffering from serious flaws and has been tripped during tests after emanating spurious signal/noise. This has led to panic in neighbouring villages. According to World Nuclear Association, an international body that promotes nuclear business around the world, the control system documentation for KKNPP was delivered late, and when reviewed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) it showed up the need for significant refining and even reworking some aspects.
Therefore, containment structures of the reactor pressure vessel were cut open and instrumentation /control cables laid in the same tray making the system unreliable. Experts are of the view that “if the reactor is under operation and if the control and instrumentation systems are not reliable, then it would lead to a catastrophic release of energy in a short-time interval. Or the fission process can become uncontrollable and the nuclear reactor will turn into a nuclear bomb.â€
Yet, the Russians and India’s nuclear establishment have brazenly played the ‘lethal game of chance’ to get this substandard and risky nuclear power plant commissioned at any cost. They have commenced the First Approach to Criticality (FAC), which is the beginning of a fission chain reaction that could make the process irreversible. This is in serious violation of the Supreme Court’s May 6 order wherein it had directed the NPCIL and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board to ‘oversee and ensure quality of various components and systems in the plant and submit a report to the Court before commissioning of the plant.’ Implicit in the order, was not just the formal filing of such a report, but its perusal and approval by the Supreme Court.
However, the agencies concerned merely submitted the report secretly in a sealed envelope to the court registry and completed the FAC even before the envelope was opened by the judges.
Simultaneously, the contract has been negotiated to supply two more Russian reactors (1000 MW each) at the mind-boggling price of Rs 40,000 crore which is 2.5 to 3 times of that of coal fired and wind/solar energy plants. The quantum of kickbacks can only be imagined.
These worthies have also willingly defied the International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines which are candid and clear: “Despite all the precautions that are taken in the handling and use of fissile material there remains a possibility, while very small, that a failure (i.e. instrumentation and controls, electrical, mechanical or operational errors) or an incident may give rise to a criticality accident. In some cases, this may give rise to exposure or the release of radioactive materials within the facility and/or into the environment, which may necessitate emergency response actions. Adequate preparations should be established and maintained at local and national levels and, where agreed between States, at the international level to respond to nuclear or radiological emergencies 
Placing this here for the record: Koodankulam staled again – Sinister geopolitics.
This is an article by Smt Radha Rajan “on American designs in Koodankulam which is on the NPCIL website and also quoted extensively in Executive Intelligence Review…extensively researched and has several little known facts. “
From Anti-nuke activist’s assets worth Rs 5.23 crore TNN | Mar 31, 2014:
..
CHENNAI: Aam Aadmi Party candidate S P Udayakumar, the anti-nuclear activist, who has been at the centre of a protracted struggle against the Kudankulam nuclear power project, has shown assets owned by him and his wife Meera as worth Rs 5.23 crore. The disclosure is bound to raise eyebrows given the allegations of foreign funding that were made against some of the NGOs which backed the struggle.
…
The Udayakumar couple have listed assets such as vehicles, including a school bus and cars, worth Rs 12.20 lakh. Agriculture land belonging to them and located in Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli are worth Rs 3.76 crore and commercial buildings have been assessed at Rs 82 lakh. His wife Meera has jewels worth Rs 19.80 lakh. She also has a bank loan of Rs 2.97 lakh. The couple has filed income tax returns until 2013.
Apparently, India is …the world’s third-largest coal importer despite sitting on the fifth largest reserves, mainly due to delays in securing environmental clearances to add new mines and to build facilities to transport coal from remote mines. (Source)