 It was an impressive line-up of the world's who's who. The mood was euphoric. More than 100 heads of state had gathered to seek common action to protect the planet. The Earth was getting hotter, and all seemed concerned. Eventually, they signed a treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Earth Summit began with high hopes, but ended with broken promises. In the years that followed, emissions by the rich nations touched an all-time high. More than 160 nations met again in the ancient town of Kyoto in Japan. This time, they adopted a treaty called the Kyoto Protocol. Thirty-eight rich countries, including the United States of America, agreed to legally binding targets to reduce emissions. The world hailed the agreement. The rich economies of the world, which had made a commitment in Kyoto to cut down emissions, had increased them by 11%. Today, India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. It is a global leader in information technology and business outsourcing. Its towns and cities wear a new gloss of wealth and consumerism. And yet, this is only half the story told. The other half is about the lives of nearly 600 million Indians who face a blackout every night. They live without electricity. If their lives have to change, India has to use more energy. Its emissions will increase. But the rich countries of the world don't agree. They say India should first worry about global warming. Its poor can wait some more generations. More than half of India's economy is powered by coal. But it is finding ways of curbing emissions from its thermal power plants. Over the last few years, many of them have adopted measures to become more energy efficient. On the easternmost coast of India, a group of 100 islands exists in wilderness. The Sundarbans are home to the world's largest mangrove. The people here have lived without electricity for decades. And then, things changed. The sun lit up the quiet nights of the Sundarbans. Solar mini-grids brought electricity to thousands of homes and shops across the islands. By 2012, India has a target of electrifying all its unlit homes with solar energy. The drive has begun. From the deserts of Rajasthan to the hills and the Himalayas, solar technology is reaching places where the grid may not reach for decades. Dotted across miles of hills and villages in western India, hundreds of windmills stand tall, generating more than 1,000 megawatt of electricity. Located in a little-known town called Dhule, this is Asia's largest wind farm. India is tapping over 8,000 megawatt of wind energy, and this is just a start. The Earth's atmosphere belongs equally to all human beings. It should not matter which part of the world they live in. India's poor cannot be denied their right to a dignified life. Their children deserve a better tomorrow. Regardless of the clamour of the rich world, India will continue to grow even as it fights climate change. It has more than a billion good reasons to do so.