OREANDA-NEWS. October 27, 2015. India has said that it hopes for an equitable and just climate agreement in Paris, but the developed world will have to come out with more reasonable proposals. Interacting with netizens through ‘MyGov’ talk on Climate Change here today, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar, said that India does not want Paris to fail. The Minister referred to French President, Mr. Francois Hollande’s statement that unless the developed world commits more finance and technological support, Paris can be a failure. “I think, with this warning, coming from the French President, who is the host, the developed world will come out with more reasonable proposals”, he added.

The Minister said that Paris is not raising questions about the actions of the developing world, but it is actually questioning the walking the talk by developed world. He also said that the developed world had pledged \\$100 million (Green Climate Fund), but that has not materialised. “Now the developed world is presenting that they have mobilised \\$62 million. But Shri Arun Jaitley was forthright in Lima by telling them that this was double accounting and that this was not acceptable. So we want additional, new predictable finance, which will be scaled up. I told the world that \\$100 million is not the cost of climate action. The cost of climate action is trillions of dollars per annum”, Shri Javadekar said.

He said that India is walking the sustainable development path, but at the same time, we want more carbon space. The Minister said that we are talking about climate justice because though we are not a part of the problem, we are suffering. “We have 60 islands, other smaller island countries are suffering. Therefore, we want climate justice”, he stated.

Shri Javadekar also invited suggestions from people on various issues related to environment. He also announced that the best ideas will be rewarded not just with a cash prize, but also with a visit to a wildlife sanctuary. The modalities of the contest will be announced soon on MyGov platform.

The ‘MyGov’ talk was moderated by Shri Akhilesh Mishra, Director (Content), MyGov. The other panellists included Shri Sameer Saran, vice president, Observer Research Foundation and Shri Abhilash Khandekar, Dainik Bhaskar. Ms. Viva Kermani, a social media voice and Ms. Deeksha Katyal, a MyGov contributor, joined the talk via Google Hangout.

The ‘MyGov’ talk was held on the eve of the BASICS meeting in China. It is for the first time that a Union Minister has held a Google Hangout session on 'MyGov' platform.