Murthy pitches for subsidies to clean energy firms

NEW DELHI: Recalling his mother's ordeal of cooking on woodstove, Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy today said the government should provide subsidies to businesses which sell clean energy products like cookstoves in rural India.

He also said India should focus more on providing better healthcare facilities, education, nutrition and clean energy to its vast population.

"If country like India has to indeed redeem the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi, then India has to work on health, education, nutrition and clean energy," Murthy said at an event organised by Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

The iconic co-founder of Infosys also said that he has seen the impact of not having clean cookstoves.

"I come from a family of lower middle class. My father was a high school teacher. We were 8 children. My siblings and I have watched our mother cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner using woodstove and the poor lady had to work very hard.

"It was very very tiring for her. We have seen her suffer," Murthy recalled.

Pitching for government subsidies for companies that make clean energy products like cookstoves, he pointed out that businesses in India are not focusing on clean energy.

Speaking at the same occasion, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said the government has provided 30 million LPG connections so far and aims to provide 80 million LPG connections by 2020.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been great believer of technology and he has directed ONGC to work towards making electric 'chullah'," Kant said.

"40 per cent of world's population is still dependent on traditional biomasss for cooking and are exposed to indoor air pollution. It's like smoking 400 cigarettes a day," he added. BKS SA