NEW DELHI, DEC 14, 2017: PRESIDENT of India, Mr Ram Nath Kovind, today gave away National Energy Conservation Awards to industries that have demonstrated measurable reductions in their energy use as part of the National Energy Conservation Awards Programme. During the event, a short film on the Energy Efficiency achievements in the Industry Sector was also shown. Further, Mr Kovind presented the National Painting Competition Prizes and visited the exhibition of the prize -winning paintings. This year, over 1.22 crore children, between 4 th and 9 th standards from across India, participated in the National Painting Competition and 322 industrial units and establishments from key sectors participated in the National Energy Conservation Awards 2017.

The Energy Conservation Day is organized on 14 th December each year by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under Ministry of Power, with an aim to demonstrate India's achievements in energy efficiency and conservation, while working for its ambition of holistic development as part of the nation's overall effort towards climate change mitigation. As part of its awareness outreach, BEE recognizes and encourages endeavours of industries in reducing energy consumption by felicitating them with National Energy Conservation Awards. BEE also awards prizes to the national winners of the annual National Painting Competition on Energy Conservation.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Kovind congratulated the Prize winners from Industry, Government bodies and the school children, for their efforts towards Energy efficiency and conservation. President noted that the Government is committed towards sustainable growth of the economy, for which, achieving the target of 24x7 Power for All is imperative. Mr Kovind added that such a tall target can only be achieved by the cooperation of every individual in the society and not only the Government. President also encouraged Industry to hold hands with Government to set up Energy Banks, to meet increasing Energy demand in the country in the near future.

Emphasizing the importance of energy in a country's economic growth, Mr R.K. Singh said that no country can progress without increase in energy consumption, more so for developing countries. India's per capita annual energy consumption is 1100 units, which is 5 times lower than Europe and 16 times than US. Nevertheless, the Minister reiterated India's commitment to reduce the energy intensity of its economic growth by one-third by 2030 and aim towards achieving a responsible growth profile. He added that the country is well on track to surpass its renewable energy (RE) target of 175 GW by 2022 and would comfortably cross 200 GW. Further, India's RE capacity would be 57% of the total installed capacity by 2030, including hydropower, the Minister said.