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"Business & government partnership needs to be harnessed to achieve greater good", said Shri Raj Kumar Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State (IC), Power and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, while launching the partnership
Aug 08, 2018

Shri Raj Kumar Singh, Honble Minister of State (IC), Power and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, mentioned that business and government must partner for sustainable development of India. He was speaking at the launch of NITI Aayog and CII Partnership on SDGs, at the Government and Business Partnership Conclave in New Delhi on 8 August 2018, organised by NITI Aayog, Confederation of Indian Industry and UN.

The Minister said that in sustainable development three things matter the most: energy, water and circular economy/green industry. To action his 2022 agenda, he mentioned the following:

Make quality power available to each household in the country, his ministry is committed to bring down the prices from Rs 8 per unit to about Rs 3.50 per unit.

With respect to Discoms, ‘we want to pass a law, if any Discom is involved in any loadshedding without any actual breakdowns happening’, the law will make it an offence and those Discoms will be penalised’. He said ‘we are trying to bring this law come into effect by 1 April 2019’.

He mentioned that ‘we are coming out with a campaign to keep AC temperatures between 24 and 26 degrees to ensure conservation of energy. Every degree by which you raise the temperature, 6% power is saved.’

Subsidies should be given with direct bank benefit transfer to enable the consumer become more responsible.

To build a demand for storage as the highest solar potential in India is at Ladakh with a 35000 MW potential, where he said ‘a generation plant with storage will be built’. Alongside, he mentioned that ‘we will come out with bids for the manufacturing of solar panels’. Delivery of power will be at Una. 

Phasing out generators, he highlighted that ‘we have a capacity of 345000MW today and a peak requirement of 170000MW. 100,000MW added by way of renewables in the past 4 years. 1 country 1 grid has also become a reality which allows us to get power from anywhere and we don’t need generators anymore.’

While concluding, he expressed confidence that India will achieve its clean energy goals even earlier than 2022 and urged everyone to be conscious and responsible towards the environment.  

Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, in his address highlighted the high pace of urbanisation of India at a time when the countries such as USA and Europe are almost through with this process. He said, ‘we do not have the luxury of land, gas and water available cheaply as it was for the developed nations back then’. Given our population, Shri Kant emphasised, the only way to grow and develop sustainably is to use technology to leapfrog: use new and renewable energy and push for R&D and innovation to generate demand for electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, etc. and to find local solutions for 7 million strong population around the world.’ 

CII launched the report—Indian Solutions for the World to Achieve SDGs. The report deep-dives into each of the SDGs, targets and business implications thereof. The report cites examples that illustrate how companies have incorporated the SDGs framework into their business strategy and gone about achieving them.

Distinguished Participants in the Conclave included senior officials from Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Power, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and representatives of several State governments like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr Yuri Afanasiev, UN Resident Coordinator, said that ‘conditions in India are favourable due to its nature, history and demography, to come up with solutions towards a sustainable and circular economy for the world to emulate.’ He said, ‘it is not going to be a linear trajectory and there are tipping points which we may be hitting soon. More than political, it is a matter of our survival, future of humanity and our planet.’

Shri Rakesh Bharti Mittal, President CII, and Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises Ltd stressed that the current theme of CII 2018-19 ‘India RISE: Responsible. Inclusive. Sustainable.’ is aligned with the sustainability agenda. He also said, ‘SDGs are the most ambitious agenda across the globe and India leads the way in renewable energy and water conservation’.

Shri Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry, mentioned that CII’s nine Centres of Excellence are well-aligned to the SDGs. Highlighting one of the its key initiatives, he pointed out that ‘India has embarked on a mission mode strategy for sustainability in its programmes focused on renewable energy, climate change mitigation, conservation and resource efficiency.  

CII-NITI Aayog have entered into a three-year partnership and an MoU was signed. This partnership focuses on specific activities that seeks to develop: 1. Vision and Action Agenda for businesses and industries to contribute to SDGs; 2. Annual Status Reports; 3. Sector-specific Best Practise Documents. On this occasion Dr Ashok Kumar Jain, Adviser, NITI Aayog, spoke about the partnership and welcomed CII for innovative initiatives going forward.

8 AUGUST 2018

New Delhi

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