Global warming has become a reality in present times posing a serious threat to existence of human lives on this earth. Increasing instances of natural calamities have caused huge loss of precious human lives and property in recent past and such casualties have become more frequent in recent times than ever before. Achieving higher rate of economic growth has now become a compulsion for every nation and commands a central place in framing of various state policies in their quest for alleviation of poverty and bringing improvement in standard of living of people residing in that country especially poor and downtrodden sections of society. Economic growth entails using various natural resources in production of goods and services but when it takes the form of race causing over-exploitation of natural resources then it results in inflicting severe damage to natural environment due to excessive emission of greenhouse gases. Developed countries are far ahead in this race of achieving economic growth and so they are now being followed by developing and under-developed countries. Gradually, the world community has started realizing the huge cost that humanity is paying for environmental damage and so there is daunting challenge before every country to cut down carbon emission and release of greenhouse gases but none wants to compromise on their growth agenda. Developing countries object to the pressure mounted by developed world arguing that since developed countries are main contributors to this menace and so they should compensate by way of extending financial support to them to help them adapt to green technologies in years to come. It is to be noted that economic development is the cause as well as remedy for protecting against climate change and so there needs to a judicious development policy which incorporates climate change perspective without compromising on achieving high rate of economic growth. Different countries around the world have started revisiting their erstwhile models of economic growth and so it is highly needed that India too to conform to modern global practices to minimize damage to natural environment.
This study is an attempt to investigate into the recent events of climate change in India and assess its impact on economic development in India in recent past. Further, this study aims to throw light on recent initiatives taken to minimize the effect of climate change in Indian context and suggest various other steps that needs to be undertaken to minimize environmental degradation without compromising on growth agenda.