Will India finally get serious about cold fusion?

According to Business Standard (17/Nov/2014)

Some top nuclear scientists are urging India’s new government to revive research on “cold fusion”, saying it has the potential to provide answers to the country’s energy problem.

In the 1990s, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai had done some work on cold fusion — now called Low Energy Nuclear Reactions or LENR — but abandoned the research 18 years ago.

“We are making a frantic effort to revive cold fusion/LENR research in India,” Mahadevan Srinivasan, who along with the late P.K.Iyengar led cold fusion research at BARC, told IANS. “Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Srikumar Banerjee is solidly backing me (in this effort).”

The journal “Current Science” published by Bangalore-based Indian Academy of Sciences has proposed to bring out a special section on cold fusion in one of the upcoming issues with contributions from scientists working in this field.

“I am trying to get Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi (to) appoint a task force to investigate cold fusion and advise him on a course of action,” Srinivasan said, adding he had had a one-on-one meeting with Energy Minister Piyush Goel last week on this topic.