Reducing Carbon Footprint : India As the international climate negotiations concluded recently in Bangkok, Thailand, now is the right to talk about the climate change issues and the progress made in reducing the carbon footprint in India. After the Paris Climate talks, India has been proactively taking steps to encourage the reduction of carbon emission. Currently the highest priority of the Indian government is to alleviate domestic emissions of carbon. According to the U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer, India now is a part of a growing contingent of developing countries that “are making very significant efforts to show what they are doing to address climate change and indicate what more they are willing to do.”Also, the Indian environment minister, Jairam Ramesh said two weeks ago that India will now quantify its efforts to mitigate climate change. He put forward that India would be reducing the emissions by a broadly inactive number, although the reductions would still not be bound by international law.Our Domestic Efforts India has ramped up its investment in reducing the carbon footprint domestically. The ministry of Environment and Forests released a report last month that listed twenty initiatives by the country to address this issue within the nation. These would be going on to become the part of the big picture, i.e. the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Reforestation has been put as a priority in the agenda of India’s environment, as mentioned in the action plan. Addition of almost a million hectares of forest per year, improved forest management, forest conservation and regeneration are some of the crucial parts of this agenda. This can help to curb almost eleven percent of India’s annual emission. The government of India has recently approved the two of eight missions that compiles to become the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The two approved missions are the Solar Mission and the Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency. The target of the Solar Mission is to install a total of twenty gigawatts of solar capacity by the year 2020 and over two hundred gigawatts by the year 2050. In the energy history of the world, this target is the most zealous solar proposition that any country has ever aimed for. Whereas the Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency focus in the initiatives outlined to improve the efficiency of the energy use in India across all the sectors of the society. According to the government, this would comprise of mandated energy efficiency standards for vehicles, appliances, buildings, a market-based mechanism to trade energy-efficiency certificates and financing the efforts that would include tax exemptions and insurance funds. Now the Environment Ministry has put forward a proposal to kindle a National Protection Authority to monitor and keep a check on the implementation of the  environmental efforts in India. The proposal comes as part of a new drive from the Ministry to improve its “accountability and transparency,” as outlined in a recent video that asks viewers to provide feedback on Ministry activities.The Current ProjectionsThe current climate policies of India would see India reaching its 2030 non-fossil capacity target. Also, the emission intensity target submitted under the Paris Agreement would be over achieved too. If the Draft Electricity Plan is fully implemented by the Indian government then it could definitely aim to achieve the target almost eight years earlier than the deadline. Hence, it is for sure that India would strengthen and still achieve the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted under the Paris Agreement. This could practically make India the global climate leader. The NDC targets for 2030 are to lower the emissions of GDP by 33% to 35% below 2005 levels. Also, it includes the share of the fossil less power generation capacity to increase upto a whopping forty percent. Another important clause to the NDC is to create an additional Carbon sink of 2.5 to3 GtCO2e through increasing the forest cover. India has a huge potential for renewable resources, so domestic fossil fuel energy production can be curbed with time without sacrificing on the nationwide energy generation capacity. This should not affect the energy security of the country in any way.  Renewable would be coming in a big way now, specially we would notice the scaling up in the capacity of solar power in the country. According to the Draft National Energy Policy and the National Action Plan on Climate Change, more than a sixty percent of the energy generation would be based on the renewables. The government for sure is doing their part. Being the citizen of this country and this planet, we need to do our part. For now, we could stop wasting water, power and resources to reduce the carbon footprint at an individual level. Every step counts.I will do my bit! Would you?