Manmohan Singh blended growth with green goals

New Delhi: Manmohan Singh, often hailed as the architect of modern India’s economic reforms, also championed environmental conservation and climate action during his decade-long tenure as prime minister (2004–2014).

Under his leadership, India launched the National Action Plan on Climate Change, passed the landmark Forest Rights Act (FRA) to protect the rights of tribal communities, and established the National Green Tribunal to safeguard the environment through swift legal action.

For centuries, India’s tribal communities were sidelined from decisions about their own land. The UPA-1 government under Singh flipped that script.

His government passed the Forest Rights Act in 2006, handing back control of forests to the people who lived in and protected them.

Around 25 lakh land titles, including over 23.7 lakh individual titles, have been granted so far to Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers under the FRA.

In July 2008, Singh urged all chief ministers to act swiftly to grant tribals their rights over forest land.

"It is primarily the responsibility of the state governments to ensure that a very vulnerable section of the population of our country finally gets its basic rights over the land which has historically been in its possession," he wrote in a letter.

In 2008, the Manmohan Singh government delivered the NAPCC, an eightfold strategy to tackle global warming.

The NAPCC's eight core missions include the National Solar Mission, which laid the groundwork for the country to emerge as a global clean energy leader, and the Green India Mission, which focuses on improving biodiversity, restoring degraded lands, and enhancing climate resilience.

“Greater use of clean energy obviously contributes to sustainability... this issue will become more important in the years ahead,” Singh said at the 4th Clean Energy Ministerial in 2013 in New Delhi.

Singh strongly advocated for climate justice. Speaking at the Washington office of the Council on Foreign Relations on November 23, he made it clear that India wouldn’t accept unfair carbon shackles.

"India was a latecomer to industrialisation. And as such, we have contributed very little to the accumulation of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. But we are determined to be part of the solution to the problem. We are willing to work towards any solution that does not compromise the right of developing countries to develop and lift their population out of poverty," he said.

Under Singh's watch, India set up the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2010 to fast-track environmental justice.

Over the years, the NGT became the watchdog India needed for delivering speedy judgments on critical issues like pollution, deforestation, and wildlife conservation.

Unassuming, erudite, soft-spoken, and a consensus builder, Singh died on Thursday night at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was 92.

The Congress leader, who steered the country for 10 years from 2004–2014 and helped set up the country's economic framework as Finance Minister before that, was a renowned name in the global financial and economic sectors.