Prime Minister’s Independence Day Speech 2019

The following were environment-related parts of the speech given by our PM on 15^th August 2019:

Water conservation and Jal-Jeevan Mission

… still it is a fact that today almost half of the houses in India do not have drinking water. People have to struggle to get drinking water. Mothers and sisters have to travel 2, 3, 5 km carrying the load of water on their heads. A large part of their lives is spent in struggling for water.

Therefore, this government has decided to emphasize upon a special task and that is - how to ensure availability of water in every house. How does every house get water, pure drinking water? And so I declare from the Red Fort today that in the days to come, we will take forward the 'Jal-Jeevan' Mission. The central and the state governments will jointly work on this 'Jal-Jeevan' Mission. We have promised to spend more than Rs. 3.5 lakh crores on this mission in the coming years.

Work should be done on water conservation, irrigation, rain-water harvesting, seawater or waste water treatment, and 'Per Drop, More Crop Micro Irrigation for the farmers. Water conservation campaigns should be launched, creating awareness in the common citizens about water, arousing their sensitivity so that they understand the importance of water; even the children should be taught about water conservation as part of their curriculum in their childhood.

We must move forward with the belief that in the next five years we have to do more than four times the work that has been done in the last 70 years for water conservation and to revive the sources of water. We cannot wait any longer.

The great Saint Thiruvalluvar ji had professed hundreds of years ago when perhaps no one would have thought of the water crisis and the importance of water. And then Saint Thiruvalluvar ji had said Neer Indri Amiyadhu Ulganein meaning that if water starts disappearing, then nature’s processes get disrupted and eventually come to an end. This initiates the process of total destruction.

I was born in Gujarat. In North Gujarat, there is a Jain pilgrim city called Mahudi. Approximately 100 years ago there lived a Jain saint who was born in a farmer’s family. He used to work in the fields but under the influence of Jainism. He became a Jain saint called Budhi Sagar ji Maharaj. He left behind some scriptures 100 years ago in which he shared a premonition that there will be a time when water will be sold in grocery shops. Can you imagine that the words of the saint written hundred years ago have actually become a reality now? What was predicted a century ago is now a ground reality, and today, we all are actually buying water from grocery shops.

Dear countrymen, we are not to get tired in our efforts, nor shall we halt or hesitate in moving ahead. This campaign on Water conservation should not just remain a government initiative. It should become a people’s movement like our Swacchh Bharat Abhiyan. We have to carry forward this movement with the help the common man’s ideals, aspirations and efforts.

Population Control

Dear Countrymen, our nation has reached a phase when we should be transparent about everything.

Time has now come that we should take challenges head-on. Sometimes decisions are taken keeping in mind political advantage but they come at the cost of growth of future generation of our country. I would like to highlight the issue of population explosion in one Country from the aegis of the Red Fort today. This rapidly increasing population poses various new challenges for us and our future generations.

In our society, there is a section which is very well aware of the consequences of the uncontrolled population growth. They all deserve accolades and respect. This is also their expression for their love for the nation. Before having a baby, they take a well-considered decision whether they will be able to take care of the child’s needs and fulfill his/her dreams by playing the role of a responsible parent.

Keeping these parameters in mind, this small sections of responsible citizens is self-motivated to keep their family small. Not only do they contribute to the welfare of their family but also to the good of the nation.

They express patriotism. I would like all the people of our society to watch their lives closely and see how much they have served their families by limiting increase in family size. It is about how the family has moved forward in just a generation or two, how the children have got education, how the family is free from disease, how well the family fulfils their primary needs.

We should learn from them. Before a child arrives into our family we should think - have I prepared myself to fulfil the needs of the child ? Or will I leave it dependent on the society? Will I leave the child un-nurtured? No parents can continue to give birth to children who are forced to live this type of life and therefore a social awareness is needed.

The people who have played this huge role need to be honoured, and by setting them as examples we need to inspire the segment of the society who are still not thinking on these lines. We need to worry about population explosion.

Getting rid of single-use plastic

My dear countrymen, I would like to put forward a small request to you. On this 2 October can we make India free from single-use plastic? Let us move around, form teams and move out from home, school, college.

Remembering revered Bapu, we should move out of home collecting single-use plastic from homes, streets, chowks, and drains. Municipalities, Municipal corporations, Gram Panchayat should make arrangements to collect single-use plastic. Can we take first big step on 2nd October, towards making India free from single-use plastic? Come my countrymen, let us take this forward.

I will request start-up organizations, technicians and entrepreneurs to see what we can do to recycle this plastic? Plastic is being used in making highways. Many such remedies can be there. But to get rid of such problems we have to initiate mass movement but at the same time we have to think of the alternate systems. I will request all shopkeepers along with many sign boards in your shop please also put another one exhorting customers not to use plastic bags; that they should instead bring their own cloth bags or buy cloth bags for carrying their goods. Let us create an environment. We generally give gifts to people on Diwali. Why not pack those gifts in cloth bags this year and every time? If people go to market with cloth bags, that will be an advertisement for your company too. If you give a diary or calendar nothing will happen. But if you give a bag, that will be a medium of your advertisement. It should be a jute bag. It will help farmers. The cloth bag will help famers. These are all small things. It will help poor widows who are into sewing. Our small steps can change the lives of ordinary people and we have to work towards that.

Cutting down the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides

Now, I want to ask something from my farmer brothers. For farmers, for my countrymen this country is their motherland. As we chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai” our hearts are filled with new energy.

The word “Vande Mataram’’ enthuses our hearts with a wish to sacrifice for the country. A long history beckons us. But have we ever cared to think about our motherland’s health? The way we are using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, it is damaging the health of its soil. As a farmer, as a child of this soil, I have no right to damage its health. I have no right to make my mother India sad nor do have I right to make her sick.

Revered Bapu showed us the way. Should we not cut down the use of chemical fertilizer in our fields by 10% or 20% or 25% and if possible should we not launch a Muktikar Abhiyan (campaign)?. This would be a great service to the nation. This would be a great step in saving our Mother Earth. Your endeavour in saving our mother earth will also get blessings of those who dedicated their lives chanting Vande Mataram in order to fulfil the dream of achieving freedom for our motherland. Therefore I appeal to you as I am fully confident that my countrymen will definitely be able to achieve this. My farmers will fulfil this request of mine because I have full trust in them.

Special IPCC Report on Climate Change and Land

In early August 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report on Climate Change and Land. The report’s full name is Climate Change and Land, an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. It is one of three special reports that the IPCC is preparing during the current Sixth Assessment Report cycle. The report was prepared under the scientific leadership of all three IPCC Working Groups in cooperation with the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and supported by the Working Group III Technical Support Unit.

The report covers:

·      Greenhouse gas fluxes related to land;

·      Interactions between climate change and desertification, land degradation and food security;

·      Land-related impacts and risks;

·      Response options that help adapt to climate change;

·      Response options that reduce land-related emissions or enhance the take-up of carbon by land systems.

The Report will be a key scientific input into forthcoming climate and environment negotiations, such as the UNCCD COP14 in New Delhi in September 2019 and the UNFCCC COP25 in Santiago, Chile, in December 2019.

The highlights of the report are given below.

Land is a critical resource

Land is already under growing human pressure and climate change is adding to these pressures. Humans affect more than 70 per cent of ice-free land and a quarter is already degraded. At the same time, keeping global warming to well below 2ºC can be achieved only by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors including land and food.

Better land management can contribute to tackling climate change, but is not the only solution. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors is essential if global warming is to be kept to well below 2ºC, if not 1.5^oC.

Land must remain productive to maintain food security as the population increases and the negative impacts of climate change on vegetation increase. This means there are limits to the contribution of land to addressing climate change, for instance through the cultivation of energy crops and afforestation. It also takes time for trees and soils to store carbon effectively. Bioenergy needs to be carefully managed to avoid risks to food security, biodiversity and land degradation.

The world is best placed to tackle climate change when there is an overall focus on sustainability.

Desertification and land degradation

When land is degraded, it becomes less productive, restricting what can be grown and reducing the soil’s ability to absorb carbon. This exacerbates climate change, while climate change in turn exacerbates land degradation in many different ways.

Roughly 500 million people live in areas that experience desertification. Drylands and areas that experience desertification are also more vulnerable to climate change and extreme events including drought, heatwaves, and dust storms, with an increasing global population providing further pressure.

The report sets out options to tackle land degradation, and prevent or adapt to further climate change. It also examines potential impacts from different levels of global warming.

Food security

Coordinated action to address climate change can simultaneously improve land, food security and nutrition, and help to end hunger.  The report highlights that climate change is affecting all four pillars of food security: availability (yield and production), access (prices and ability to obtain food), utilization (nutrition and cooking), and stability (disruptions to availability).

The report records that about one third of food produced is lost or wasted. Causes of food loss and waste differ substantially between developed and developing countries, as well as between regions. Reducing this loss and waste would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve food security.

Balanced diets featuring plant-based foods, such as coarse grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, and animal-sourced food produced sustainably in low greenhouse gas emission systems, present major opportunities for adaptation to and limiting climate change

Land and climate change responses

Policies that are outside the land and energy domains, such as on transport and environment, can also make a critical difference to tackling climate change. Acting early is more cost-effective as it avoids losses.

There is real potential here through more sustainable land use, reducing over-consumption and waste of food, eliminating the clearing and burning of forests, preventing over-harvesting of fuelwood, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, thus helping to address land related climate change issues.