Paris or no Paris, India committed to climate protection: Modi

St Petersburg (Russia), Jun 2: India is committed to protecting the climate, irrespective the Paris agreement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here today but avoided a direct reference to the US withdrawing from the international deal.

Addressing the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) here in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said India has traditionally been respecting the nature and desisted from exploiting it.

"Paris or no Paris, our commitment to preserving the climate is for the sake of future generations," Modi said while responding to a question about US President Donald Trump announcing withdrawal of the USA from the Climate Change deal.

He said he had made the same comment in Germany three days back when "nobody's comment had come", an apparent reference to Trump's announcement today.

"I said it in then, I say it now," he added. Trump earlier in the day said the US was withdrawing from the Paris climate change deal, agreed by more than 190 nations. He said it unfairly benefited countries like India and China.

Asked by the moderator whether India would side with the US or others on the Paris climate change deal, Modi replied, "it is not a question of which way I go. I will go with the future generations."

He underlined, "we must leave for our future generations a climate wherein they can breathe clean air and have a healthy life."

Earlier, addressing the event, the prime minister said, "India is a responsible nation with regard to climate change...We can milk the nature... Exploitation of nature is not acceptable to us," he said.

He said India had been working to protect the environment even before the Paris deal reached in 2015.

"For the last 5000 years, even when I was not born, it has been the tradition in India to protect the environment," Modi said.

He recalled that when he was the chief minister of Gujarat before 2014, the state had created a separate department for environment protection

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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