Indira was an 'unusual visionary' in environment: Jairam Ramesh

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was an "unusual visionary" who talked of climate change and deforestation back in the 1970s when they were not in fashion, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said today.

Gandhi was a born ecologist and she also became the country's first and last prime minister to take ecology seriously in terms of governance, Ramesh said at a discussion of his book, 'Intertwined Lives: P N Haksar and Indira Gandhi'.

Giving an example of Gandhi's commitment to the subject, Ramesh said while 90 heads of state, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015, she was "the only visiting head of state" to attend the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, also known as Stockholm C0nference, held in 1972.

"As an environment minister, I was deeply influenced by Gandhi's maintaining environment and ecological balance and today the laws which we have for environment like (the) air pollution control act, wildlife protection act, water pollution control act and forest conservation act were done during her time," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Calling her an "unusual visionary" in subjects of ecology and environment, Ramesh said Gandhi talked of climate change and deforestation back in early 1970s when they were not in fashion.

"Ecology came to her naturally because she studied the subject intensively and it was one area in which Indira Gandhi did not depend upon any advisor. It was one area where she was very very committed, knowledgeable and she was one step ahead of the bureaucracy when it came to matters relating to environment and ecology," he added.