The Congress on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in “maximum global talk, minimum local walk” on his assertion at the COP-28 that India has struck a balance between development and environment conservation.
“How can anyone take what the Prime Minister says globally on environment seriously in light of his disastrous track record in India,” Congress general secretary and former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in a social media post.
Modi during his address at the UN climate conference (COP28) in Dubai asserted that India has presented a great example to the world of striking a balance between development and environment conservation.
“India is among the only few countries in the world on track to achieve its Nationally Determined Contributions or the national action plans to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the guardrail to avoid worsening of the impact of the changing climate,” he said. Claiming that the Modi Government has made several “illegal and regressive changes” to relax environmental protections, Ramesh said the Prime Minister’s statement at the Dubai conference was “yet another of his trademark falsehoods”. “Maximum Global Talk, Minimum Local Walk — is the principle followed by the Prime Minister.
He has claimed in Dubai that India has ‘struck a great balance between ecology and economy’. This is yet another of his trademark falsehoods,” Ramesh alleged.
The Forest Rights Act of 2006, a historic legislation protecting the traditional rights of adivasis and forest-dwelling communities, was “weakened” with a 2022 notification, he claimed. “Forests can now be cleared without consulting those who live there, and consent from gram sabhas is no longer needed to use forest land,” Ramesh said.