Amidst concerns that growth of a country is accompanied by damage to its environment, President Pranab Mukherjee today said that both economic development and environmental protection can "co-exist".
Noting that the government has played a "proactive" role in addressing the issue of climate change by launching the International Solar Alliance (ISA), he also said India's position on climate justice and sustainable lifestyles was "widely" supported at the recent Paris Climate Change summit.
"The government firmly believes that economic development and environmental protection can co-exist.
"At the crucial Climate Summit in Paris, India's position on climate justice, sustainable lifestyles and clean development was widely supported," he said in his address to the joint sitting of Parliament.
Around 195 nations adopted an "historic" legally binding agreement at the Paris Climate meet which sought to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande had launched the solar alliance on the first day of the Paris climate talks in November last year.
ISA envisages the coming together of 122 countries situated between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn that receive abundant sunshine for around 300 days in a year.
The President said that Swachh Bharat Mission, with its focus on behavioural change, is becoming a community movement for heralding overall change in the quality of life and well- being of the people, particularly the poor.
Focusing on generating wealth from waste, the government has formulated policies for mandatory procurement of power from waste-to-energy plants, co-marketing of compost by chemicals and fertiliser companies and use of construction and demolition waste, he said.
Real-time online monitoring of 1,487 industries and industrial units under 17 highly-polluting categories as also the quality of water in the Ganga has started, he said.
To reduce air pollution, the target for emission standards for motor vehicles has been drastically brought forward to achieve Bharat Stage-VI norm by 2021, Mukherjee said.
Holding that the coverage under 'The Project Tiger' has expanded, he said the latest estimate shows there has been an increase by 30 per cent in the tiger population over the last count.
