Alternative clean energy India's future: Hillary Clinton

'Today India is well-positioned to adopt clean energy to achieve economic growth,' she said

Alternative clean energy is India's future and "it would not burden the country" but generate more income for local communities, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday. Sustainable climate solutions should be adopted in our day-to-day life, she said, speaking at a townhall event titled “Insights from Her Journey” at the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar (IITGN) near here.

“Alternative clean energy is India's future, and it would not burden the country, but instead, it can reduce costs and generate more income for the communities," a statement issued by the IITGN quoted her as saying. "Today India is well-positioned to adopt clean energy to achieve economic growth," Clinton said, citing the example of women she met on Monday at a salt pan farm in Gujarat's Surendranagar district who use solar-powered pumps.

The opportunity for India to be a leader in clean energy is "dramatically available” as it can bring down costs and decentralise clean energy using creative thinking and scientific know-how of institutions like IITGN, she added. The former US First Lady, who is on a Gujarat visit from Sunday, said the whole world should come together and try to cooperate and prepare for new challenges posed by climate change. Sustainable solutions should be adopted in our day-to-day lives, Clinton added.

To a question from a student about takeaways from the coronavirus pandemic, she spoke about the importance of building a better public healthcare infrastructure that does not collapse during emergencies, better communication of public health messages and better supply chains, among other things.

"There is a lot of uncertainty, which is understandable at the start of such a global pandemic, but we didn't really communicate effectively with large portions of our population," the former US presidential candidate said. While India and the United States did a great and quick job of bringing vaccines to the market compared to other countries, there is a need for a "global response to curb it, and every country, especially China, has to be more open and transparent in sharing accurate information in real-time," she said.

"They cannot continue to guard information the rest of the world needs to know...The whole world should come together and try to cooperate about how we are going to prepare for whatever comes next,” Clinton added.

She also spoke of the importance of self-reflection and introspection while being in leadership roles, and said it is important to "shut off social media and your phone in order to have that time for self-reflection."

“We are living in such a fast-paced world and being overstimulated by information as well as misinformation. So I think it's especially important to shut off social media and your phone in order to have that time for self-reflection," she said. She also underscored the importance of higher education to prepare the young generation for future endeavours and encouraged girls and women to develop enough resilience and support each other while dealing with adversity.

Women in professional and public life realise that sexism and misogyny are still around, and its prevalence on social media has become "a new challenge that we have not confronted before," she said. "So, it is important that other women support women who are adversely affected,” she was quoted as saying in the media release.

Clinton also visited Palaj village and appreciated the efforts of the Desai Foundation (one of the commitment-makers being recognised by the Clinton Global Initiative) and its initiatives along with its partnership with IITGN's social outreach programmes, NEEV and NYASA, the release said. "Through the grassroots-level training projects, mentoring, and networking opportunities provided by NEEV, youth and women from these areas have been able to earn a sustainable livelihood and support their families," it added.