New Delhi, Feb 3 The historical responsibility of developed countries who have already polluted the environment must not be left out in any discussion on the present situation, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav said on Thursday.
Responding to a question asked by Trinmool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Shantanu Sen, on India's ranking among the most-polluted countries, he said: "Those who are crowding the carbon space after polluting the environment, why is their historical responsibility not considered?"
"Secondly we comprise only 4 per cent of carbon emissions despite making up 17 per cent of the world population because of our traditional lifestyle," he said.
On environmental clearances, the Minister added: "The modifications to the environmental clearance process are necessary to promote ease of doing business."
Yadav also informed the Upper House that to mitigate the air pollution in big cities, efforts are being taken to reduce emissions by incorporating new pollution standards for industries and to change the traditional fuel to newer ones or biofuel.
Similarly, the issue of stubble burning is also being addressed and efforts are on to convert it into biofuel, he said.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan, to a question by Congress member K.C. Venugopal on "anti-national" content on news channels and banning of Kerala television channel 'Media One', said that the matter is sub-judice.
Responding to a question on Marathi being given the status of classical language, Minister of State for Culture, Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the decision will be taken soon and the inter-ministerial dialogue is underway.
Earlier, Congress member Shaktisinh Gohil also urged the Union government to also include the Kutchi language spoken in Gujarat's Kutch region and many migrants settled across the world.
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