'Passionate' PM Modi not under any 'compulsion' in Paris: Piyush Goyal

Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's concern towards the climate changes came from his 'passion' for the cause and not due to any 'compulsions', Union minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy Piyush Goyal said that India can be proud of its role in the Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris.

"This is a very important conference and India is taking it very seriously. The Prime Minister is himself in Paris and he has articulated on many occasions that concerns for the environment, developing more and more green energy is an article of faith for him. It is not something that he is doing under any compulsion; rather it is something that he deeply and passionately believes in," Goyal told ANI exclusively here.

Stressing on the importance of the awareness of global warming, he added that its impact was quite visible in the past few years and the world has now realised that if the issue is not addressed soon, the end result could be catastrophic.

Talking about the statement made by US Secretary of State John Kerry that India would be a 'challenge' at the Summit as the Indian government seemed hesitant to accept more of a role in addressing global warming, Goyal said that the formed needed to view the problem in a holistic manner.

"Well I think he (Kerry) needs to look at the whole issue more holistically. The base load in India is coal base. It cannot be anything else as we don't have gas and without a base load we can't even do renewable energy. We are a developing nation. We are rapidly creating infrastructure, setting up manufacturing, creating jobs for our people, setting up of homes, all of which the United States and the European nations did in the last 150 years on the back of low carbon base or coal based energy," he said.

"Having already developed their nations, they have now realized the inconvenient truth after finding low cost shale gas. I think it's very important that the world recognizes what Prime Minister Modi articulated as convenient action," Goyal added.

The Union Minister expressed confidence that India was one of the nation's which was showing leadership in terms of expanding renewable energy, looking at innovations, technology, ways to expand energy security and raising concerns for the environment.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Paris on Sunday to attend the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) where about 150 heads of state and governments will gather to set agenda for the Summit.

The Prime Minister will address the summit in the plenary conference hall "Seine" on Monday at the leaders' event where the aim of the summit is to reach a landmark global deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

During the twelve day conference, India's 25 member delegation will focus on Prime Minister Modi's call for 'Climate Justice' that he had made in his address at the United Nations General Assembly last month.