Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu bats for stronger, greener India

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said development and environment conservation should go hand in hand as "we not only need a stronger India but also a greener India".

He also urged finance commissions and local bodies to encourage green buildings through tax incentives.

The Vice President said it is time to consider making all new buildings to mandatorily go green and environment friendly.

Inaugurating CII's Green Building Congress, he said existing buildings too should be retrofitted to make them environment friendly by adopting green practices that promote energy efficiency and water conservation.

He termed sustainable buildings as an important component in building resilient communities and called for extensive use and promotion of low carbon technologies.

“We not only need a stronger India but also a greener India,” he said according to an official statement.

Drawing attention to the increasing number of extreme climate events such as droughts, floods, and wildfires, Naidu said climate change is as real as daylight and countries all over the world must adopt drastic and revolutionary measures to mitigate the problem of global warming.

Calling for the sustainable approach to development, the Vice President said the challenge is to marry development and environment.

“If we take care of nature, the nature in turn will take care of the mankind,” he said.

Observing that buildings and construction account for 39 per cent of energy-related CO2 emissions in the world, Naidu called for the process of total de-carbonisation of the built environment to be accelerated.

Highlighting the pace of rapid urbanisation in the country, he opined that sustainable development should become a critical part of our nation-building.

It should be realised that it cannot be business as usual in regard to combating global warming, he felt.