NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday described India’s development as “speedy” and “sustainable”, highlighting the talent of the country’s youth and their growing ability to earn global trust.
“The world has great expectations from our innovators, our entrepreneurs and our youth’s strength. The free trade agreements are opening new doors of possibilities for our youth,” PM Modi said, while highlighting developments and decisions being taken with a focus on the country’s younger generation.
He said India has become the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem, with more than half of the country’s recognised start-ups based in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The Prime Minister also said developed nations produce six times more carbon emissions per capita than India, arguing that developing countries are often unfairly held responsible for climate change.
Speaking while inaugurating an international conference on the environment and climate, Modi said India was also moving rapidly towards expanding nuclear energy generation.
Taking a jibe at the Opposition, he said that whenever his government takes forward work on nuclear energy, those who speak most loudly about environmental protection actively oppose clean energy solutions by approaching the courts to halt the government’s nuclear initiatives.
“And people who give big lectures on environment, when I take forward the nuclear energy work, they will go to courts to stop it,” he said.
“We all know that the responsibility for carbon emissions has often been wrongly placed on developing countries. While the historical truth is that even today, India’s contribution to per capita carbon emissions is less than half of the global average,” he said at the two-day event, attended by environmental experts, Supreme Court judges, legal experts and senior government officials.
Modi said developed nations have six times higher per capita carbon emissions than India and that New Delhi strongly presents this fact on international platforms.
The Prime Minister said India was working with the international community while setting new standards for environmental protection. He asserted that “our development is both speedy, as well as sustainable”.
Modi said India was focusing on renewable energy and was the only G20 nation to have already fulfilled its Paris (COP21) commitments ahead of the stipulated timeline.
“This is the power of New India. Non-fossil fuels, solar energy capacity, stoppage on carbon emissions... India’s performance on all such metrics is being discussed across the world,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that over the past 12 years, India’s wind energy capacity had increased threefold, while hydroelectric capacity had also recorded significant growth. He added that the country was now moving rapidly to expand nuclear energy generation.
Modi said the government was also creating pathways for private players to enter these sectors.
“With these efforts, India’s non-fossil energy capacity has grown by 400 per cent,” he said.
He said India had made extraordinary progress over the past 12 years across sectors linked to environmental protection.
“Our major focus has been on renewable energy, and this has played a significant role in environmental protection,” he said.
Modi said India’s solar energy capacity stood at just 2 GW 12 years ago but had now crossed 160 GW.
Speaking about the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, he said the government had launched a mission to transform homes into solar power generation centres.
“Under this mission, over 50 lakh houses now have rooftop solar panels. This is a number larger than the total number of houses in several countries,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the government had provided additional assistance of nearly Rs 80,000 to each household with rooftop solar panels.
He said India’s wind energy capacity had witnessed threefold growth over the past 12 years, while the country’s hydroelectric capacity had also registered robust growth.
Modi said India was rapidly advancing in areas such as clean mobility and green hydrogen.
Just a few days ago, India’s first hydrogen train began operations and was the world’s longest hydrogen train, he noted.
“This marks the beginning of a new era in clean mobility.”
The Prime Minister said that before 2014, India had only around 3,000 electric vehicles sold each year.
“Last year, nearly 25 lakh EVs were sold; an unbelievable growth. This is helping our environment. With FASTags, waiting time and fuel wastage at toll booths have reduced significantly,” he said.
Referring to the expansion of India’s metro network, Modi said that before 2014, only five cities had metro services, covering less than 250 km.
Today, he said, India has more than 1,000 km of metro network across 20 cities. He added that the 100 per cent electrification of the railway network had also helped the country save crores of litres of diesel.
“That has also helped our environment. Our development is both speedy, as well as sustainable,” he said.
On the “unprecedented” work being undertaken in water conservation, the Prime Minister said more than 70,000 Amrit Sarovars had been built.
“Under the ‘Catch the Rain’ initiative, nearly 1.5 crore water harvesting structures have been built across the nation,” he said.
Speaking about the National Mission on Natural Farming, Modi said the initiative had brought about significant changes.
“Clusters on natural farming have been created across 12.5 lakh hectares. About 3,000 varieties of climate-resilient crops have been developed. We are reducing our carbon footprints by promoting agroforestry. In the last 12 years, our very dense forest cover has grown by 22 per cent,” he said.
Highlighting plastic waste as one of the major environmental challenges, the Prime Minister said India had already banned single-use plastic and that the government was now promoting a circular economy based on the mantra of reduce, reuse and recycle.
“Today, thousands of tons of waste are being recycled every day in India. Through the Gobardhan scheme, cow dung and other organic waste in villages are also being converted into useful resources,” he said.