India and Climate change Challenges: Programmes and policies of Modi Government

Abstract: Now the World is facing two crises. One is International Terrorism and second is Global Warming. With industrialization based on fossil fuels, the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases since the 15th-century scientific revolution has resulted in rising the temperature of the earth, which is known as global warming. This rise in temperature of the earth, or global warming beyond 1.5°C, is a disaster for the eruptive human civilization. As predicted by the scientists, the rise of temperature beyond 1.5°C will be the doomsday for the entire globe. Since the Earth Summit (1992) there have been many climate change summits among the nations, such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Copenhagen Treaty, and very recently the 2015 Paris Summit, followed by many Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting among the nations. All these summits are insisted on reducing the emission of CO2 as determined by the sovereign nations below 1.5°C and reducing the dependence of nations on the use of fossil fuels. The dilemma before all nations, as before India, is how to reduce emissions of CO2 by decreasing dependence on fossil fuels and meeting the energy needs of a growing population by seeking alternative sources of energy. The Government of India under Shri Narendra Modi has been trying to meet the challenges of global warming by increasing renewable sources of energy. In this background this paper discusses new Indian climate policy directions and their impact to minimize the negative impact of climate change under Modi’s leadership.