The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the meet on World Environment Day via video message today.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister conveyed his best wishes to every country in the world on World Environment Day. Underlining the theme of this year’s Environment Day – the campaign to get rid of single-use plastic, the Prime Minister expressed happiness that India has been working continuously in this direction for the past 4-5 years. Shri Modi informed that India started working on two levels to get rid of single-use plastic in 2018. “On the one hand, we have banned single-use plastic while on the other hand, plastic waste processing has been made mandatory”, he said. Due to this, the Prime Minister said that there has been a compulsory recycling of about 30 lakh tonnes of plastic packaging in India which is 75 percent of the total annual plastic waste produced in India, and around 10 thousand producers, importers and brands have come under its ambit today.
The Prime Minister highlighted that India of the 21st century is moving forward with a very clear roadmap for climate change and environmental protection. Underlining that India has created a balance of Present Requirements and Future Vision, the Prime Minister stated that necessary help has been provided to the poorest of the poor while huge steps have been taken keeping in mind the energy needs of the future.
“During the last 9 years, India has made an unprecedented focus on green and clean energy”, the Prime Minister said as he gave examples of solar power and LED bulbs that have helped in saving people’s money as well as contributing towards protecting the environment.
Throwing light on India’s leadership during the global pandemic, the Prime Minister informed that India started Mission Green Hydrogen and took major steps towards natural farming to save soil and water from chemical fertilizers.