50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable sources ; and reducing the carbon intensity of its gdp by 45 per cent by 2030. india aims to achieve the net zero target by 2070. for achieving this target, it has released long - term low emission development strategies ( lt - leds ) at the cop27 summit. india has co - founded the international solar alliance ( isa ) with france in 2016 and announced a national hydrogen mission to increase the dependency on green energy. the mission life, i. e., lifestyle for the environment, launched in 2022, is now a global movement to connect the powers of the people for the protection of the earth. the rbi too is engaged in managing climate risks. in april 2021, it joined the network for greening the financial system ( ngfs ) to benefit from and contribute to the best practices in climate risk management and green finance. apart from including renewables as part of the priority sector credit for banks, the rbi has recently issued sovereign green bonds, and 15 the conference of the parties ( cop ) is the supreme decision - making body of the united nations framework convention on climate change. all states that are parties to the convention are represented at the cop, at which they review the implementation of the convention and any other legal instruments that the cop adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements. a key task for the cop is to review the national communications and emission inventories submitted by parties. the cop meets every year unless the parties decide otherwise. the first cop meeting was held in berlin, germany in march 1995. released the framework for mobilisation of green deposits. at the frontline of research on the subject, the rbi has on may 3, 2023 released the report on currency and finance, 2022 - 23 with the theme “ towards a cleaner greener india ”. the report has examined the macro - financial implications of climate change and the possible fiscal, monetary, regulatory and other policy options for india. in the words of victor hugo who is considered to be one of the greatest french writers of all time, “ nothing else in the world … not all the armies … is so powerful as an idea whose time has come. ” india ’ s time has come and we must seize it. there are formidable trials and challenges ahead, but they can be overcome if we exploit the comparative advantages. i have spoken of some of the defining dimensions favouring india ’ s leap

. issue to contemplate is whether this can be done in a short term or even in the medium term. 9. then would it be fair to assume that a combination of above two would be a more realistic goal to pursue for quite some time to come considering the dimension of the work involved? would it also be fair to assume that pursuing only one of the above or even both but with varying emphasis would not serve the purpose? 10. leaving this broader issue for wider discussion, let me now turn to the various initiatives taken in past few years in respect of poverty alleviation / financial inclusion / employment generation etc. priority sector lending 11. efforts are also underway to reorient the priority sector lending guidelines to serve today ’ s growth and inclusion agenda. an internal working group at rbi has revisited the existing guidelines and suggested revisions for ensuring channeling credit to segments that get crowded out in the absence of specific targets. these include small and marginal farmers, micro enterprises and the weaker sections while broadening the scope to include other underserved categories of national priority, such as agriculture infrastructure, social infrastructure, renewable energy, exports and medium sized enterprises. financial inclusion plan 12. let me briefly highlight what rbi has been doing for mainstreaming the marginalized sections of the society and for ensuring an equitable growth in the country. rbi has been relentless in its pursuit of achieving universal financial inclusion by following a structured and planned approach. as i mentioned earlier, the focus is not only on ensuring access to financial services and products but also taking efforts to address issues emanating from the demand side through financial literacy initiatives. phase ii of the financial inclusion plan is currently under operation which seeks to connect all the 600, 000 plus villages in the country to banks either through a brick and mortar branch or a bc agent by the end of the year. pmjdy 13. to say that government ’ s pmjdy scheme has been a success would be a massive understatement. one must admire the vision and intent behind the program. lot of efforts bis central bankers ’ speeches has gone into opening the bank accounts and most households have been connected to the formal financial system. the need of the hour now is to ensure that services are easily accessible to the account holders, are cost - effective and service efficient & most importantly the accounts remain active. for the account to remain active, the holders would need income and benefits to flow into them. focus should also be placed on inculcating savings habit among the