India: Purging poverty through growth will be model for developing world

India's success in eradicating poverty through sustained economic growth will be a model for other developing countries, the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was told.

"India's success in sustaining robust economic growth to eradicate poverty will bring forth technologies and pathways to progress that can be shared with other developing countries to enable them to also achieve sustainable development," India's delegate Mansukh L. Mandaviya said on Monday.

Mandaviya, a Bharatiya Janata Party member of the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat who is also member of the Indian delegation to the UN, added that India's success "will contribute in no small measure to the global achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)".

The SDG adopted at the summit of world leaders last month has set a target of eliminating poverty by 2030. Of 896 million people worldwide who lived on less than $1.90 a day -- the international poverty level -- 259.5 million or 29 percent were in India, according to statistics cited by the World Bank. Therefore, India's success in eradicating poverty would contribute significantly to achieving the SDG.

To achieve this goal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government "has renewed its efforts to return India to a high growth trajectory, promote job rich industrial development including through rapid skill development of our young populace, promote financial inclusion, protection and welfare of the girl child, agricultural renovation, and a massive drive for improved sanitation," Mandaviya said.

However, Mandaviya linked the high growth trajectory to the goals of protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

"Modi has spoken of achieving the same level of development, prosperity and well being without going down the path of reckless consumption and his belief is that by doing so, it doesn't necessarily mean that our economies will suffer, but rather that they will take on a different character," he said.

As "evidence of our seriousness for addressing the environmental sustainability of our growth", Mandaviya cited India's plans to add 175 gigawatts of clean and renewable energy, make its energy-use 33 to 35 percent more efficient by 2030, and create additional forest resources capable of absorbing 2.5 billion to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

"Even though we did not create the (climate change) problem, India has every intention of being a part of the solution when it comes to climate change," Mandaviya said.