The Hindu : Front Page : ‘Green India’ soon, says Manmohan

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Saturday, Jul 14, 2007
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‘Green India’ soon, says Manmohan

Special Correspondent

‘One of the world’s largest afforestation efforts’

Calls for road map for energy efficiency
Lauds “Bachat Lamp Yojana”

— PHOTO: PTI

GREEN INITIATIVE: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with (from left) Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, at a meeting of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change in New Delhi on Friday. A decision was taken on a major afforestation programme.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the Government planned to undertake a major afforestation programme for greening six million hectares of degraded forest land. It would be one of the world’s largest afforestation efforts in recent times.

To be called “Green India,” details of the programme were being worked out and would soon be brought before the Cabinet, Dr. Singh said. He hoped that the programme could be launched on August 15.

Chairing the meeting of the National Council on Climate Change, the Prime Minister emphasised on the need to prepare a comprehensive road map for energy efficiency and sustainable development in major sectors such as agriculture, forestry, industry, transport, power, housing and environment infrastructure.

Lauding innovative ways to respond to the sectoral tasks on climate change, Dr. Singh cited the example of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency’s suggestion of the “Bachat Lamp Yojana,” which would provide compact fluorescent lamps at the price of normal bulbs to domestic households. “The price difference between the CFL and normal bulbs will be recovered through sales of carbon credits that accrue due to the lower energy consumption and carbon emissions of CFLs. I understand this project could reduce 240 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year and lead to a reduction of 10,000 MW of electricity demand,” he said.

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