Bengaluru: On August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi as India celebrated its 79th Independence Day was the longest ever given by any prime minister in the history of independent India.Modi also spoke about the environment several times in his 103-minute address.Natural disasters testing IndiaJust a few minutes into his speech, Modi referred to the several “natural disasters” that different parts of the country have witnessed in the past few days. On August 5, a flash flood in Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand flattened parts of two villages including Dharali; on August 14, a suspected cloudburst killed at least 60 people in Kashmir and 80 are still missing.“Friends, nature is testing us all. In the past few days, natural disasters, landslides, cloudbursts: we are dealing with several disasters now. We are with the victims, and the Union and state governments are taking up rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts together.”However, scientists are clear that while the impacts of climate change may be altering rainfall patterns, with some areas witnessing intense rains over short periods of time leading to cloudbursts and flash floods, mindless and unregulated construction in areas including the Himalaya is increasing the vulnerability of people in these regions.For instance, geologists told The Wire that a prime reason why the flash flood in Dharali caused such devastation was because of unregulated construction popping up right on the floodplains of the Kheer Ganga and Bhagirathi rivers.The village of Dharali sits on the route to the Gangotri glacier, a spot that Hindu believers visit as part of the Char Dham pilgrimage.Environmentalists also have repeatedly criticised the implementation of the Char Dham road project, which aims to construct a ten metre-wide, “all weather” road connecting different religious spots across the Himalaya in Uttarakhand. Though numerous experts have pointed out that unscientific construction and blasting could be dangerous in these mountain tracts, the Union government has not heeded any of these concerns and continues to go ahead with the project.Semiconductor sector now on ‘mission mode’Modi then spoke about the role of technology and energy in India. “No one can deny that the 21st century is technology-driven; history shows that countries that excelled in technology have achieved success.”Take the example of semiconductors, he said. He said that 57 years ago, India started to work on semiconductors, and after that many countries have shown their strength in this sector.“We are now working in mission mode in the semiconductor sector,” he said. He added that six semiconductor units are already on the ground and four new units have been greenlit, and that by the end of this year, Indian-made “Made in India” semiconductor chips will hit the market.Making India atmanirbhar in energy“In the field of energy, we know we are currently dependent on many countries – whether it is petrol, diesel or gas. Lakhs of crores of rupees have to be spent on bringing these. We have to save India from this concern and make ourselves atmanirbhar,” Modi said.It is very important that India become atmanirbhar in energy, he added. Today, in 12 years, solar energy is 30 times higher. We are constructing new dams so that hydropower is expanded and we have access to clean energy, he said.However, what the prime minister did not mention is that clean energy – such as hydropower – need not necessarily be green, or just.Incidentally, many of the new dams proposed to be built in an effort to increase India’s hydropower are located in the Himalaya, a geologically fragile and sensitive area as well as a seismically active one. This raises concerns about the safety of people living in the vicinity – in the event that dams breach given the rapidly melting glaciers that feed these dams, and due to the heavy downpours many of these areas are now witnessing due to climate change.In the Upper Siang and Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh, locals have been repeatedly protesting against the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project. Their arguments are simple, but many: the dam will submerge their homes and ancestral lands; many locals will lose prime agricultural land; the state or Union government has not taken the people’s consent into account and instead bulldozed ahead with the proposal; and the state deploys armed forces against the people’s consent to implement the steps of building the dam.“We do not want the dam,” many locals have said, as The Wire has reported recently.Focus on nuclear energyModi went on to add that India is investing hundreds of crores of rupees in Mission Green Hydrogen. India is also taking huge initiative in nuclear energy, keeping in mind the future energy needs of the country, he said.“Ten new nuclear reactors are working steadily,” Modi said. “By 2047, the deadline we have set for Viksit Bharat, we will ensure that nuclear energy production is at more than ten times more.”Reform is a continuous process and we need to keep reforming depending on the time and necessities – and the nuclear energy sector is witnessing that now, he added.“We have opened the nuclear energy sector to private entities too, to join forces and build strength,” he said.This is something that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said in her budget speech for the Union budget 2025-26 in February this year. The focus on nuclear energy is also part of India’s climate actions under its Nationally Determined Contributions to cut down on carbon emissions under the aegis of the Paris Agreement.Under the Nuclear Energy Mission, the Union government plans to scale up nuclear power generation twelvefold – to 100 gigawatts – by 2047.However, concerns around the safety of nuclear energy projects still remain. Strategic and economic affairs analyst Vaishali Basu Sharma wrote for The Wire about how crucial it is that India’s regulatory framework for the expansion of nuclear energy evolves with a strong emphasis on safety, accountability and equitable compensation for victims in the event of nuclear accidents.Meeting climate targets ahead of time“When the world is now worrying about global warming, I want to tell the world that India had decided that by 2030 we would have 50% of our electricity from clean energy sources,” Modi said. “Look at the efficiency of our people … we have already achieved that target, five years ahead of schedule.”That’s because we are responsible for both the world and for nature, Modi said.However, as of September 2024, India needs to take up “deeper emissions cuts” by 2030 to actually help limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius as per the Paris Agreement, according to Climate Action Tracker (CAT), which keeps tab on nations’ climate targets and their achievements over the years.While India’s target to achieve 50% of electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 was a far stronger target than the one listed in its first set of Nationally Determined Contributions, this will still not “drive real world emission reductions”, per CAT.Moreover, CAT suggests that one reason India has “achieved” this climate target could be because it set “unambitious” initial targets in the first place:“In essence, India replaced its unambitious first mitigation targets with targets close to its current level of climate action. Our estimate for its 2030 emissions based on current policies is consistent with a 49-53% reduction in emissions intensity below 2005 levels and a non-fossil capacity target of more than 60%. Much deeper emissions cuts are needed by 2030 to put India on a 1.5°C pathway, which it will require climate finance to achieve,” CAT says.According to CAT, India’s overall rating of climate targets and action still remains “highly insufficient”.New ‘National Deep Water Exploration Mission’A large part of the budget, amounting to lakhs of crores of rupees, used to be spent on energy – petrol, diesel, gas, Modi said. If we were not dependent on other nations for energy, we could have used this money for a lot of other things, including lifting people out of poverty and conserving the environment in our villages, he added.“But now that we are working to be atmanirbhar, we are also looking towards the deep ocean,” Modi said. To explore oil and gas under the ocean, India is launching a National Deep Water Exploration Mission to make India energy-independent, Modi announced.Incidentally, India already has a mission along similar lines: the “Deep Ocean Mission”. This Mission, launched under the Ministry of Earth Sciences at an estimated cost of Rs 4,077 crore for a period of five years and implemented in a phase-wise manner, aims to develop technologies for deep sea mining, to explore and conserve biodiversity in the deep ocean, and more.India recently opened up previously “No-Go” areas for oil exploration. According to a report by PTI, nearly 1 million square kilometres of such areas have been put up for bidding. These include parts in the deep sea near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – home to a range of biodiversity, including colourful coral reefs that are already at risk of dying out due to global warming that is increasing sea surface temperatures and killing some species of corals.The 1 million-odd square kilometres recently opened up for oil exploration also includes parts of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve – another area rich in biodiversity and home to rare and endangered species such as dugongs, just like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are.Environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact that oil and gas exploration will have on this marine life, as well as its impacts on fishing activities by local communities.It is very crucial for India to be independent in the field of critical minerals – whether for the energy sector, industry, national security or technology. This is why India has already launched the National Critical Minerals Mission, Modi said. Exploration is ongoing for critical minerals in more than 1,200 locations across the country, he added.“We are proceeding to be atmanirbhar in critical minerals too.”Whether it be manufacturing fertilisers for the use of Indian farmers, for which we are dependent on other countries currently, or manufacturing electric vehicle batteries or other components for electric vehicles or solar panels – India needs to manufacture these within the country, Modi urged.