Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today released India's National Action Plan on Climate Change, in a brief ceremony at 7 Race Course Road, New Delhi.

The National Action Plan has been prepared under the guidance and direction of Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.

Members of Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, senior members of the Union Cabinet, representatives of civil society and senior officials of Government, were present on the occasion.

Prime Minister made a brief speech on the occasion. He said that the release of the National Action Plan reflected the importance the Government attaches to mobilizing our national energies to meet the challenge of climate change.

The National Action Plan focuses attention of 8 priorities National Missions. These are:

1. Solar Energy

2. Enhanced Energy Efficiency

3. Sustainable Habitat

4. Conserving Water

5. Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem

6. A "Green India"

7. Sustainable agriculture

8. Strategic Knowledge Platform for Climate Change

The National Mission of Solar Energy, occupies a pre-eminent place, whose success, Prime Minister said, has the potential of transforming the face of India.

Prime Minister emphasized the global dimension of the challenge of climate change, which demands a global and cooperative effort on the basis of the principle of equity. India, he said, was ready to play its role as a responsible member of the international community and to make its own contribution. He added that India believed that every citizen of this planet should have an equal share of the planetary atmospheric space and therefore, long-term convergence of per capita GHG emissions was the only equitable basis for a global agreement to tackle climate change. In this context, the Prime Minister reaffirmed India's pledge that as it pursued sustainable development, its per capita GHC emissions would not exceed the per capita GHG emissions of developed countries, despite our developmental imperatives.

Prime Minister clarified that the National Action Plan would evolve and change in the light of changing circumstances and therefore invited broader interaction with civil society as a means to further improve the various elements of the Plan.

In this concluding remarks the Prime Minister recalled Mahatma Gandhi's sage advice : "The earth has enough resources to meet the needs of people, but will never have enough to serve their greed".