Dry rivers if no steps taken to tackle climate change: PM

Glaciers will melt and rivers will go dry if timely steps are not taken to tackle climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday.

Glaciers will melt and rivers will go dry if timely steps are not taken to tackle climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday.

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Addressing the nation on its 63rd Independence Day, he said the climate change had become an issue of global concern in recent years and India wished to tackle it in partnership with other countries of the world.

Declaring that the government was committed to deal with the challenge of climate change, Singh said a decision was taken to set up eight missions in this regard.

"To increase the use of solar energy and to make it affordable, we will launch the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission on November 14 this year," he said.

The Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change recently approved multi-crore plan under which it aims to generate 20,000 MW solar energy by 2020.

"If we do not take necessary steps in time, our glaciers will melt and our rivers will go dry. The problems of droughts and floods will grow in seriousness," he said from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort.

He also stressed on the need to prevent air pollution.