Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. – AP Photo

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed US non-profit groups in an interview published on Friday for whipping up anti-nuclear demonstrations that have stalled two new atomic plants. Mr Singh told the American journal “Science” that “the atomic energy programme has got into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the US, don’t appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply.”

India’s fast-growing economy is heavily dependent on coal, but the government hopes to raise the proportion of power produced from nuclear sources from less than three per cent to 25 per cent by 2050.—AFP