Mounting a strong defence of India’s commitment to fighting climate change, Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said in China that it was India’s “karma” to handle the challenge and that Prime Minister Modi was committed to doing so. The decision by US President Donald Trump on June 5 to withdraw from the Paris accord would not dilute India’s commitment, he said. Asked to comment on this move of the United States, Dr Vardhan said, “We are committed to our karma. Our duty is clear. Our PM is interested in serving poor people of the country, farmers and labourers. He has tremendous faith in the abilities of Indians and the youth of this country. He formulates an action plan and starts implementing it and ensures he himself monitors the implementation process at a meticulous level. For us, serving mankind and our country is the prime thing.”
HAVE TARGET OF GENERATING 175 GW RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2022
“We have a [renewable energy] target of 175 GW by 2022 and we hope to have 40 per cent of our total contribution in energy through non-fossil sources by 2030. We are advancing quite well and right now, we have already got up to 52 GW. In areas like smart grids and sustainable bio fuels, we are progressing. In this meeting, we were the only country that could produce an action plan and distribute it to them.” Dr Harsh Vardhan said the that the Prime Minister was concerned about climate change long before the world mobilised in Paris with a global deal. “Today the world is talking about climate change and global warming. The Prime Minister wrote a book about this many years ago from his experience working on this in Gujarat,” he said.
Source:Indiatoday
