People Have To Participate In Fight Against Climate Change: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the World Bank’s organised conference “Making it Personal: How behavioural change can tackle climate change” called for people’s participation and collective effort to fight against climate change. He asserted that an idea becomes a mass movement when it moves from the discussion tables to the dinner table.

During the virtual conference, in front of the world leaders PM Narendra Modi said the environment will be greatly benefited when people realise the influence of even the smallest actions in daily life.

People throughout the world are frequently exposed to climate change. Many of them experience a great deal of worry since they are unsure of what to do. They are frequently led to believe that the only institutions with authority are national or international ones. Their fear will transform into action when they realise they can participate as well, Modi said in his speech at the conference “Making it Personal: How Behavioural Change Can Address Climate Change,” which was arranged by the World Bank.

Talking about “Mission Life” launched by him and the UN secretary-general last year in October, he asserted that the programme is about democratizing the battle against climate change. PM Modi added during the conference being held on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, “Climate change cannot be fought from the conference table alone. It has to be fought from the dinner tables in every home.”

He further added that every individual and family have to be a part of it, and their choices can help the planet as well as will provide scale and speed. “When an idea moves from discussion tables to diner tables, it becomes a mass movement”, he added. He also lauded the efforts of the people of India, citing some examples of behavioural change that have made an impact.

People-driven initiatives have helped to improve the sex ratio in various areas of India during the past few years. Be its rivers, beaches, or highways, it was the people who spearheaded a significant cleanliness campaign. They have ensured that there is no garbage in public areas, and it was them who made the transition to LED lighting successful. In India, around 370 million LED lights have been sold, he said. This has helped to cut about 39 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

PM Modi further added that under Mission Life, our efforts are spread across many domains, such as making local bodies environmentally friendly, saving water, saving energy, reducing waste, and e-wastes, adopting healthy lifestyles, adopting natural farming, and promoting millets. Micro-irrigation is used by Indian farmers to cover over 7,00,000 hectares of agriculture. He noted that by following the maxim “per drop more crop,” a significant amount of water has been conserved.

By the year 20230, this effort will save over 22 billion units of energy, save nine trillion litres of water, reduce waste by 375 million tons, recycle almost one million tons of e-waste, and generate around 170 million additional costs.

PM Modi also lauded the global institutions for playing their role in encouraging countries across the world.

Climate change hitting us: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

During a panel discussion at the event organised by the World Bank, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that climate change is now hitting us in everyday life from different angles.

Lauding, The Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) programme, started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that the programme aims to promote the adoption of sustainable lifestyles in India and around the world to address the problems of environmental degradation and climate change.

Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s finance minister, took part in the panel discussion that followed PM Modi’s remarks and emphasised the administration’s ongoing efforts to combat climate change.