History CH 7 - Science and Technology — Social Studies STD 9 — Question

(i) In India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to nurture a scientific temper and bring about the nation’s progress. From this perspective, he set up the Indian Atomic Energy Commission on 10th August 1948. Dr. Homi Bhabha was appointed as the first Chairman of the Commission. The objectives of the commission were to produce electricity from atomic energy, increase the yield of food grains and make them last longer, set up the technology for achieving this and develop nanotechnology. In 1956, the Department of Atomic Energy set up ‘Apsara’, a nuclear reactor functioning on atomic energy.

(ii) In 1969, an atomic power station was set up at Tarapur. A Reactor Research Centre was set up at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu to successfully use Thorium for generating atomic power. The role of reactors is important in developing atomic power.

(iii) Factories manufacturing the heavy water needed for the generation of atomic power were set up at Vadodara, Talcher, Tutikorin, Kota, etc. An institution called Heavy Water Projects was set up to carry out research on manufacturing heavy water within the country. It was later renamed ‘Heavy Water Board’.