The greatest interest of the government of India is to reduce poverty and have a strong economy. This means, that India needs more and more energy. Around 600 million people in India are without electricity, which will mean that the energy consumption will rise further when those people will get access to electricity as well. Also, since poverty is reducing, people buy more energy-consuming articles, e.g. A/Cs or TVs.
The recent annual economic growth is 6%.
Where does the energy come from? 2/3 comes from coal-plants. India has coal resources in the hills of the Himalaya. These have been improved but unfortunately a lot of pollution has come to India from Chinese coal-mines in the Himalayas, e.g. in rivers.
India also uses its own Hydro and Nuclear power stations, as well as oil and natural gas. Natural gas is even used for cars instead of petrol.
But India is trying to become more 'clean'. Many farmers are encouraged to use solar panels. The Electricity Act 2003 states that a certain percentage of produced energy has to come from sustainable resources. India has the 4th largest wind-energy capacity. A law has been passed to introduce energy labels on e.g. washing-machines. Environmental education in school has been introduced.
Though it is still a long way. India does what she can.
VZ
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