Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that India has achieved the target of 10% ethanol blending in oil five months before the set deadline. He further elaborated, saying that this achievement has not only led to reduction of 27 lakh tonnes of carbon emissions but also saved foreign exchange worth Rs41 thousand crore. Other clear benefit from this goal is the advantage to the farmers, who have earned 40 thousand 600 crores in the last 8 years, because of increase of ethanol in blending.
PM Modi was addressing the ‘Save Soil’ programme organised by Isha Foundation, on the occasion of the World Environment Day.
Furthermore, PM Modi also said there are several projects that show government’s commitment towards environmental protection. He said, “Solar energy capacity has increased by 18 times and policies like Hydrogen Mission and Circular economy related policies, scrappage policy is examples of our commitment to environmental protection.”
PM Modi insisted that although India’s role in climate change is negligible, the government is working on a long term vision. For this purpose India is also collaboration with the international community regarding protecting the environment.
Talking about the soil conservation, PM Modi said that the government has developed a five-pronged programme for the purpose. Key focus is to make the soil chemical free, and then to see how the organisms that live in the soil, called the Soil Organic Matter, can be maintained and managed.
Thirdly, the focus will be on maintaining moisture in the soil and providing necessary quantity of water for the same. Government will also work on repairing the damage that is done to the soil due to less groundwater. Finally, the plan will detail remedies to stop the continuous erosion of soil that is caused due to the reduction of forest cover.
