Being celebrated on 20th August, it also commemorates the birth anniversary of PM Late Rajiv Gandhi in form of Sadbhavana Diwas.
August 20, 2022
By Anirbaan Hritiq
Today, India stands in a position where the entire world looks upon it as a global leader for the upcoming era. A lot of promises are being made by the governing governments both at the central and state level to curve the carbon footprint of the nation, but how far we have trekked in the same direction still stands controversial.
It is quite understandable that in a nation with a galloping population of 1.34 billion and a huge landmass, controlling the environmental damages is quite a gigantic job, especially when the primary source of energy is based upon non-renewable natural resources such as coal, oil, and biomass.
Where coal-based thermal electricity generation accounts for up to 75% of the country’s energy. Environmental activists and global forums have been long advocating for use of renewable for a long period of time but no reliable source of renewable has been able to replace conventional old-school thermal energy.
Akshay Urja Diwas is an initiative launched by the Indian Government’s Ministry for New & Renewable Energy Sources on August 20, 2004, to promote awareness about using renewable energy.
The primary objective was to venture India toward mass production and adoption of energy produced through renewable sources such as Solar, Wind, Hydro-electrical, Biogas, etc. On the first day of Akshay Urja Diwas celebration, a commemorative stamp was released by the Prime Minister, along with a human chain of nearly 12,000 school children was formed in New Delhi to promote a renewable future.
The day also commemorates the birth anniversary of Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, which is celebrated as Sadbhavana Diwas. Being a maestro behind the modernization of India, Late Gandhi also advocated for the promotion of using renewable sources of energy.
Today, India is the world’s third-largest consumer of electricity as well as the world’s third-largest producer of electricity from renewable sources. India produces around 136 GW out of 373 GW of renewable energy produced throughout the world.
It aims to expand its range to 225 GW and become the largest producer of electricity produced from renewable sources. Meanwhile, many state governments have roll-out their very own fleet of electric buses to reduce their carbon footprint. The very first state to carry on such an initiative was Himanchal Pradesh, now Delhi, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Surat, and Hyderabad have also included electric buses in their fleets.
Interestingly, the new-gen double-decker buses of Mumbai’s BEST will be also powered by an electric powertrain which is being produced by famous Indian manufacturer Ashok Leyland. Indian Government has also fastened its seatbelt to replace all internal combustion locomotive engines with new electric WAG 12B engines and is also providing subsidies for buying electric four-wheelers and two-wheelers to the general public.
In fact, the union minister for Road Transport and Highways of India has replaced his official vehicle with a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Toyota Mirage as a symbol of protest against the use of vehicles working on non-renewable energy.
Another interesting fact to be noted is that India is the only country in the world that boasts a separate ministry for renewable energy resources, which is quite a unique idea in itself.
India can achieve its objective to be the global leader in replacing the existing uses of non-renewable with renewable energy if its citizen work together and make the projections of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
