New Delhi, Dec 10 : Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar has said the Narendra Modi-led government in New Delhi is pursuing action-oriented policies to ensure rapid development to the people while purposefully addressing climate change.

"The new Government in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents the hopes and aspirations of more than a billion Indian people for growth and inclusive development. We are pursuing action-oriented policies to bring rapid development to our people while purposefully addressing climate change," he said in his address at the high-level segment of UNFCCC COP-20 at Lima.

"We have shown that we have the vision and the political will to act," he added.

Highlighting a few measures that have been taken by India to address climate change, Javadekar said: "We have doubled the Clean Energy Cess on coal, which very few countries have, and the Clean Energy Fund already has over three billion US dollars to be used for promoting clean technologies."

"Our National Solar Mission is being scaled up five-fold from 20,000 megawatts to 100,000 megawatts. This will mean an additional investment of 100 billion dollars and savings of about 165 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year," he added.

Javadekar said India is releasing six billion US dollars in one go for intensive afforestation which will result in more carbon sinks.

"We have allocated about 200 million US dollars for the 'National Adaptation Fund', setting-up of Ultra Mega Solar Projects, Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based Thermal Power Technology, and the development of Solar Parks on canals. Yet another initiative of the Indian Prime Minister is "100 Smart Cities' with integrated policies for adaptation and mitigation to reduce the vulnerability and exposure of urban areas to climate change and also to improve their energy efficiency for which 1.2 billion US dollars have been allocated," said Javadekar.

"We have put in place stringent norms for cement industry. Our Action Plan for cleaning one of the longest rivers in the world, River Ganga will bring multiple benefits of pollution reduction and climate adaptation. We have also taken initiatives for protecting coastal, Himalayan, and forest areas. We have initiated preparations to develop a National Air Quality Index and have launched a National Air Quality Scheme," he added.

Javadekar further said the number of poor people in the world is more than twice the combined population of Europe, and added that all of them are in developing countries.

"We are determined to ensure development to all these people and provide them with basic services of energy, water, sanitation, healthcare, education and employment," said Javadekar.

"We in India are committed to protecting the interests of the poor. We did in it WTO for ensuring food security of our people," he added.

The Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change said the success of India's endeavors in all these issues will also be critical for the success of the global efforts for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"India is also at the frontlines of facing the impacts of climate change. Shifting rainfall patterns, recurring floods, stronger cyclones and droughts or soil erosion are exacerbating the challenge of poverty eradication and necessitate the allocation of scarce national resources for preventing loss of human life," Javadekar said.

"Despite our serious resource constraints, we are undertaking ambitious actions to undertake adaptation and mitigation actions, including through lowering of the energy intensity of our economic growth, increasing energy efficiency across sectors and making greater use of renewable," he added.

Javadekar further said there are practical examples of how in the past we have managed to secure successful global cooperation to solve global problems.

"Joint collaborative research without IPR price-tag ensured 'Green Revolution' through hybrids, helped in making available drugs against HIV/AIDS and for finding God Particle," Javadekar said.

"Why can't this spirit of joint collaboration be summoned to address climate change? Why do we want to profit from disasters?" he added. (ANI)