BENGALURU: A green index is being developed for every government project and each department will be assessed for its eco-friendliness, Principal Secretary, Karnataka Forest, Ecology and Environment, Vijayakumar Gogoi has said. Speaking to TNIE on the sidelines of the ‘Our Future on Earth Report’ by Future Earth, at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here, Gogoi said this was “just the beginning of eco-friendly initiatives by the state government”.
He said the state will adopt a well-needed cost-effective, and readily available green alternatives in various spheres that will cost the same as existing ones. While the state requires 12,000 megawatts of power, 9,000 MW capacity is generated from wind, solar and hydel power, which are renewable, he said.
Other sustainable steps in the agriculture sector include adopting millets as lifestyle food, switching from wheat and rice monocultures to growing millets. The latter is an insurance against climate change, he said.
“Millets can thrive in less water and survive in poorer soil and farmers would benefit because they have become fashionable crops,” he added. While other living organisms also use water in the forest, water still is potable for humans. However, water used by humans is untouchable by humans themselves, he added.