New Delhi. Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s emphasis on green energy for the last ten years, members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday claimed that the new and renewable energy sector has also played a major role in India’s achievement of becoming the world’s fifth largest economy.
Participating in the discussion on the functioning of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in the Upper House, BJP’s Amarpal Maurya said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took many small steps which brought big results. He said that one such step was to promote LED bulbs due to which the country saved a lot of energy.
He said that when India got independence, there was a need to focus on nature-based development but the then government focused on the development model of America and Russia. He said, “Nature taught us everything in India.” Maurya said that if the previous governments had paid attention to wind and solar energy, then this scene would not have been seen today. He said that on the day the idol of Lord Ram was consecrated in the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the Surya Ghar Yojana.
He said that the Prime Minister had set the target of connecting one crore families through PM Solar Energy. He said that today one crore 28 lakh people have been registered through this scheme and more than 14 lakh applications have been approved.
Participating in the discussion, BJP’s Darshana Singh said that India’s self-reliance in renewable energy is extremely important for its safety and security. She said that in the last decade, India has made remarkable progress in the field of renewable energy.
He said, “Today India is the third largest country in the world to consume renewable energy. India’s energy needs cannot be met only by fossil fuels. Keeping this in mind, the Modi government has started emphasizing on new and renewable energy.” Darshana said that today the private sector is investing on a large scale in the field of new and renewable energy, which has also opened new employment opportunities in these areas.
He said that fossil fuels are not good for the environment and are a major cause of air pollution. Citing the data of the World Health Organization (WHO), he said that 13 million people die every year in the world due to air pollution.
The BJP member said that the new and renewable energy sector can play a big role in achieving the goal set by Prime Minister Modi of making India a developed country by 2047.
Participating in the discussion, BJP’s Mithlesh Kumar said that the government’s 2024-25 budget will promote green development and green energy. Kumar said that the projects being run for green energy are especially seeing progress in Uttar Pradesh because the state government is giving subsidy for them. He said that in the last ten years, the solar module production capacity has increased by 26 percent. He said that due to the emphasis on installing solar pumps, the cost of farming will come down. Participating in the discussion, BJP’s Sanjay Seth said that ever since Prime Minister Modi formed the government in 2014, his effort has been to make their living easier for the poor, farmers, women, youth, laborers of the country.
He said that today India has become the fifth largest economy in the world, renewable energy has played a big role in it. He said that today India has become the third largest country in the world to produce new and renewable energy. He said that in terms of installed capacity of wind energy, India is at fourth place in the world and in terms of installed capacity of hydro power, it is at fifth place.
Seth said that the government has allowed 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the field of new and renewable energy. He said that India’s budget in this sector has almost doubled in the last ten years. He said that the government has set a target to make Ayodhya a ‘model solar city’. He said that due to the attention given to the power sector by the Central and Uttar Pradesh government, the power supply in this state has been organized and regulated to a great extent.
Seth said that due to the emphasis on solar energy by the government, the losses of the electricity distribution companies (DISCOM) are reducing and they are rapidly moving towards profit. He said that the government is advising residential projects to adopt solar energy.
Participating in the discussion, Brij Lal of BJP said that the country needs green energy because 87 percent of the oil needs in the country are met through imports. He said that the cost of oil imports in 2023-24 has come down slightly from the previous year, which shows that the production of green energy is increasing in the country.
He said that during the reign of the previous Congress governments, our foreign policy was influenced by oil imports. He said that while taking action against neighbouring countries, the country had to consider whether it would affect the country’s oil imports or not.
The BJP member said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the country has reached such a strong position today that when sanctions were imposed on Russia, India did not care about it and decided to continue importing oil from Moscow. He said that solar energy will prove to be very beneficial for farmers. He said that farmers can do irrigation through solar pumps and farming will be possible even on barren land.