India to ratify historic Paris climate change pact

New Delhi

INDIA, the world's third biggest carbon emitter, was set to ratify the Paris agreement on climate change on Sunday on the birthday of the country's famously ascetic independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

India, with a population of 1.3 billion people, is the latest big polluter to formally sign onto the historic accord which now takes a major step towards becoming reality. The accord, sealed last December in Paris, needs ratification from 55 countries that account for at least 55 per cent of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.