Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Conference on “The Future of Environment and Climate Dynamics” at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Friday, asserting that India was now offering solutions to modern climate challenges rather than merely responding to them. Addressing delegates, the Prime Minister said the country’s deep historical connection to nature continued to shape its contemporary approach to sustainability, and commended the National Green Tribunal for its sustained role in advancing environmental protection.
Pushing back against what he described as a flawed global narrative around carbon footprints, the Prime Minister pointed out that developed nations emit up to six times more carbon per capita than India, even as developing countries are frequently blamed disproportionately for the climate crisis. He recalled India’s launch of platforms such as the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, the Global Biofuel Alliance and the International Big Cat Alliance as evidence of the country’s effort to set new benchmarks in environmental protection while carrying the world along.
The Prime Minister highlighted India’s position as the only G-20 nation to have met its COP-21 Paris commitments ahead of schedule, citing a solar capacity leap from roughly 2 gigawatts twelve years ago to more than 160 gigawatts today. He credited the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana with solarising over 50 lakh homes, the Kusum Yojana with providing solar pumps to 30 lakh farmers, and the completed One Nation-One Grid project with preventing 200 million tonnes of carbon emissions. He also pointed to a threefold rise in wind capacity, expanded hydro power and a renewed focus on nuclear energy, now open to private participation.
On clean mobility, the Prime Minister announced the recent launch of the country’s first Hydrogen Train, also the world’s longest, describing it as a foundational milestone for green transportation. He noted a nearly 950-fold jump in electric vehicle adoption, from under three thousand sales before 2014 to roughly 25 lakh last year, alongside the expansion of the metro network from five cities and 250 kilometres in 2014 to more than 20 cities today, and the near-total electrification of the railways alongside the newly inaugurated 3,000-kilometre Dedicated Freight Corridor.
The Prime Minister also detailed progress on water conservation, citing over 70,000 Amrit Sarovars and 1.5 crore rainwater harvesting structures built under the Catch the Rain campaign, alongside the global revival of millet cultivation and the establishment of 24,000 natural farming clusters across 12.5 lakh hectares. He noted that very dense forest cover had grown by more than 22 percent over the past twelve years, crediting the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign for inspiring citizens to plant trees nationwide, and pointed to the Gobardhan Yojana’s wealth-from-waste model as central to India’s circular economy push. He closed by framing these achievements as India’s contribution not merely to domestic progress but to the future of humanity as a whole.
