India stands for climate justice, say PM Modi

New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that India has been raising the issue of climate justice, as due to the “wrong policies” of a few developed nations, poor and developing countries are paying the price.

In a video message at a World Environment Day event, Modi emphasised that all the nations should rise above their selfish interests and think towards protecting the world climate.

“For a long time, the model of development in big and advanced countries was contradictory. In this developmental model, the thinking was that we first develop our country then we can think about the environment,” the Prime Minister said.

“With this, they achieved the goals of development but the world’s environment had to pay the price for their development. Today also, the developing and poor countries of the world are paying the price for the wrong policies of some developed countries,” Modi added.

The Prime Minister went on to add that for decades no one was there to object against this attitude of the developed countries, however he was happy that India has managed to raise the question of climate justice. In the thousands of years old Indian culture, there is nature as well as progress, Modi said as he credited this to the country’s attention to ecology and economy. The prime minister said as India is investing unprecedentedly in its infrastructure, it is focussing equally on the environment. Talking about boosting economy and safeguarding ecology, he gave the examples of expansion of 4G and 5G connectivity on one hand and the increase in the country’s forest cover on the other. He said while India built 4 crore houses for the poor, there has been a record increase in the number of wildlife sanctuaries as well as wildlife in India.

Modi also talked about the Jal Jeevan Mission and the construction of 50,000 'Amrit Sarovars' for water security, India becoming the fifth largest economy in the world, joining the top five countries in terms of renewable energy, increasing agricultural exports, and also running a campaign for blending 20 per cent ethanol in petrol. He also stated that India has become the base of organisations like Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure - CDRI, and the International Big Cat Alliance.

"For a long time, the model of development in big and advanced countries was contradictory. In this model, the thinking was that we first develop our country then we can think about the environment. For decades no one was there to object this attitude. However, India has managed to raise the question of climate justice"

- Narendra Modi,

Prime Minister