Farooq Abdullah, India's Union minister for new and renewable energy, is a busy man these days. Over the past few months, as the Copenhagen climate summit neared, he has been speaking at seminar after seminar on renewable energy which, most of the time, have been on solar energy. He has also been inaugurating projects, from the launch of a new solar lantern to the commissioning of a solar steam system at a temple kitchen to cook food for 20,000 pilgrims each day. All over India, solar power has found its day in the sun.
On November 23, Abdullah was again in action in Parliament unveiling the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched India's National Action Plan on Climate Change on June 30, 2008, he had highlighted the contribution of solar power. "In this strategy, the sun occupies center stage, as it should, being literally the original source of all energy," he said. The action plan envisaged eight missions -- for Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. Appropriately, the Solar Mission has been the first one off the ground.
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