Climate Change is serious issue linked to national security, says Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday described climate change as not just a weather-related phenomenon, but a “very serious issue related to national security”, for which the ministry would seek cooperation from friendly countries.

Referring to the rising number of natural disasters in border states and UTs like Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim, the minister said many experts believed that climate change was the reason behind these incidents.

“Climate change is not just a weather-related phenomenon, but a very serious issue related to national security. The Ministry of Defence is taking this very seriously and will seek cooperation from friendly countries in this regard,” he noted.

His remarks came at Uttarakhand’s Joshimath while inaugurating 35 Border Roads Organisation projects namely 29 bridges and six roads across seven states and union territories to improve connectivity close to the border, according to a Defence Ministry press statement.

At a public lecture last month, Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande too described “vulnerabilities to climate change induced disasters” as a security challenge for South East Asia.

Over the last few years, environmentalists have been expressing serious concerns on frequent natural calamities like flood and landslides striking the Himalayan states, often blaming the government for unscientific infrastructure development without taking the fragile nature of the mountain into account.

Singh said the Narendra Modi-led government at the centre held a changed outlook on infrastructure development in border areas as compared to the previous regimes that treated such areas as buffer zones between the plains and potential adversaries.

“There was a time when border infrastructure development was not given much importance. The governments used to work with the mentality that the people living in the plains are the mainstream people. They were worried that the developments on the border might be used by the adversary. Due to this narrow mentality, development never reached the border areas,” the minister said.

Observing that such thinking has changed, he said, “Our government is committed to the development of border areas, keeping in view the nation’s security needs. We don’t consider these areas as buffer zones. They are a part of our mainstream.”

Singh noted that connectivity was being provided to the border area through roads, bridges and tunnels, not only due to strategic reasons but also for people’s welfare.

The 35 infrastructure projects – built at a cost of Rs 670 crore - a state-of-the-art 93-meter long Class 70R bridge over Dhak Nallah, connecting villages around Joshimath to Niti-pass

The remaining 34 projects, which were e-inaugurated, include Ragini-Ustad-Pharkian Gali Road in J&K, a 38.25-km long road to provide all weather connectivity between Tangdhar and Keren sector, bolstering the operational readiness of the military.