Hitting out at “developed nations” who press on imposing regulations on the usage of fossil fuels, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh said that these nations are responsible for the poor state of the environment at present and India will not compromise on its energy needs.

“Those developed nations who lecture us on imposing regulatory norms on the usage of fossil fuels today are responsible for the poor state of the environment. Around 85 per cent of the carbon dioxide load in the atmosphere is because of industrialisation which was started by these developed countries,” Singh said while speaking to reporters while inaugurating the Power Ministry Pavilion at the 42nd India International Trade Fair on Tuesday.

The Power Minister said that India’s per capita emissions are one-third of the world average while those of the developed countries are three times the world average.

“India contributes to 17 per cent of the world population, while our contribution to carbon dioxide load is only 3.5 per cent. Our per capita emissions are one-third of the world average, whereas the developed countries are three times the world average,” Singh said.

The Power Minister said that the developed countries need to cut down their emissions first.

“It is the developed countries that need to cut down their emissions first before talking about anything else,” he said.

The Union Minister said that India will not be compromising on its energy needs since the developed nations have prospered by burning fossil fuels.

“Yes, we are using coal and will continue to do so because we need electricity. We won’t compromise on the availability of electricity. You have developed by using fossil fuels. We need to develop now,” Singh said.

The Power Minister said that India needs cement and steel to construct crores of square meters. However, he said that India will develop with responsibility.

“We have to construct crores of square meters. We need cement and steel to construct residential places, commercial places and industries. However, we will develop with responsibility,” he said.

Singh said that India has achieved its Nationally Determined Contributions pledge ahead of its time limit and has further revised its targets.

“We have pledged in the NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) that by 2030, 40 per cent of our total electricity generation will be from renewable sources. We have achieved that in 2021 itself,” the Power Minister said.

“We had said that we will be decreasing our emissions intensity by one-third by 2030. We achieved that in 2019. In Glasgow, we said that by 2030 we will decrease our emissions intensity by 45 per cent and by 2030 our total electricity generation capacity will be from renewable energy. We will achieve that,” Singh added.

Former Chief Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav who is known for his political humour, left a gathering in splits with his quip in Patna on Tuesday when he took a jibe at Union Minister Nityanand Rai.

Lalu Yadav, while speaking at the Govardhan Puja ceremony organized in ISKCON temple on Tuesday, hit out at Nityanand Rai over his allegations that the RJD supremo made his wife Rabri Devi the Chief Minister of Bihar, ignoring several capable leaders in his party and asked whether Mr Rai’s wife would have held the position if not Rabri Devi.

The RJD Supremo also claimed that Rai used to approach him to join his party before going to the BJP.

“The Union Minister of State in Hajipur used to approach us to join our party. BJP had talked about making him the Chief Minister of Yadavs….He says that Lalu Yadav made Rabri Devi the Chief Minister. If Rabri Devi had not been made the Chief Minister, would I have made your wife the CM? (Agar Rabri Devi ko CM nahi banate to kya tumhari bibi ko banate). If Rabri Devi had not been there, RJD and our government would not have existed today. Nitish-Tejashwi government would not have been formed in Bihar if she had not held the CM position,” Lalu Yadav said.

Earlier in the day in Patna, Nityanand Rai took a jibe at Lalu Prasad Yadav and said that the former CM side-lined several leaders including Jangdanand Singh and Rabri Devi became the CM of Bihar.

“When Lalu Yadav went to jail, PV Narasimha was the PM. Even when CBI filed the charge sheet, Narasimha’s government was there. When you were sentenced in 2013, there was Manmohan Singh i.e. Congress government. When you went to jail, why didn’t you make other Yaduvanshis leaders the CM? You made Rabri Devi the CM,” Rai said.

“There were many capable leaders in RJD, including Jangdanand Singh, but he was not made the CM. He said that he always kept the Yadavs in the dark. It is because of Lalu Yadav that the Yadavas have the least number of jobs today Lalu Yadav only cares about his family and not about anyone else,” Rai said.

Notably, in July 1997, Lalu Yadav broke ranks with his then colleagues and top Janta Dal leaders such as Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan to form his own party, the RJD, and installed his wife Rabri Devi as the new CM, just days before he was arrested in the multi-crore fodder scam case.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Mr Yadav went on to attack the BJP, accusing it of ‘breaking’ the Yadav community for its political gains.

“Wherever there is a BJP Government, Yaduvanshis are being broken. We will not let this happen. Like Lord Krishna protected the weak, our Government, and our organisation provided 75 per cent reservation – this was never thought of earlier. Besides reservation, lakhs of people were made teachers. Lakhs of more of such recruitments are going to take place, advertisements have been placed…People have been empowered. Before our government, were you allowed to cast a vote?…Forceful booth capturing used to take place…” Lalu Yadav said.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, sacked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, quit her office today with a massive parting shot — a scathing resignation posted on social media where she accused him of being “weak” and failing to deliver on key policies and keep their promise to the British people.

The Prime Minister, she wrote, got the office partly because of her support.

“I agreed to support you because of the firm assurances you gave me on key policies… our deal was no mere promise over dinner, to be discarded when convenient and denied when challenged,” she wrote.

“Your rejection of this path was not merely a betrayal of our agreement but a betrayal of your promise to the nation that you would do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop the boats,” she added.

The “promises” she accused Mr Sunak of breaking include reduction of illegal migration, stopping the migrant boats from crossing the English Channel, issuing statutory guidance to schools protection of biological sex and deliver on the north Ireland protocol.

“Someone needs to be honest: your plan is not working, we have endured record election defeats, your resets have failed and we are running out of time,” she wrote.

Suella Braverman was sacked after the comments she made last week about the police’s handling of a pro-Palestinian march.

In an article she wrote published by The Times, she had accused the police of “playing favourites” during protests and claimed they largely ignored “pro-Palestinian mobs”.

She also wrote that she did not believe the protests were “merely a cry for help for Gaza” but were more an “assertion of primacy by certain groups — particularly Islamists”.

The Opposition Labour Party alleged it had increased tension at pro-Palestinian rallies and Mr Sunak came under increasing pressure to drop her from his cabinet.