Menon said this while speaking to The Indian Express on the sidelines of the concluding function of the platinum jubilee of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) organised at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, which was addressed by President Pratibha Patil.

In her address, the President said that benefits of scientific inventions should accrue to the common people. “I am confident that India will make much progress in science and technology. But this alone will not do. For a force multiplier effect, benefits must accrue to our people in the villages, as well as the cities,” she said.

Menon, who is now adviser to ISRO, meanwhile, said: “There are unfounded fears about nuclear plants that they pollute the environment and endanger the existence of humanity. We go through cosmic radiation all the time... how can you stop it? I believe there should be debates in which activists should not take part because it is the activists who oppose everything.”