Unfortunately, it is believed that there is a fundamental collision between the developmental goals of the world and environmental protection. There is also another misconception that poor countries and poor people cause more damage to the environment. But, India’s history of over thousands of years completely refutes this view. Ancient India has seen a time of immense prosperity; then we have also tolerated the centuries of slavery, and now independent India is the fastest-growing big economy in the whole world. But during this whole period, India did not let its commitment to the environment get diluted even a single bit. 17% of the world’s population resides in India. But, our contribution of global carbon emissions is only 5%. The main reason behind this is our lifestyle, which is based on the theory of co-existence with nature.
All of you will also agree with this that energy access should not be the privilege of the rich only- a poor family also has the same rights on energy. And today when energy costs are sky-high due to geopolitical tensions, it is more important to remember this thing. By taking inspiration from this principle, we delivered LED bulbs and clean cooking gas door-to-door in India and showed that millions of tons of carbon emissions can be saved while ensuring energy for the poor” , said prime minister Mod .