India will ratify CoP21 on October 2: Modi

He chose Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary as the freedom icon's life was an example of minimum carbon footprint, the PM said at the BJP national meet in the coastal town of Kozhikode.

While Western countries, including the U.S., had been pushing for an early ratification of the pact-possibly by the end of this year, India had been seeking more time to complete its national processes as it fears that any hasty decision may impact its developmental projects.

The ratification announcement of the Paris agreement was also welcomed by climate change experts as the government's "finest hour" on the issue.

"Today Prime Minister has announced that India will ratify the Paris agreement, implying the agreement arrived at in Paris has been accepted by India in binding".

"Morocco, which has just filed the instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement, calls on other states parties to speed up the process of ratification of this instrument to ensure its entry into force in the shortest possible time", he stressed.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed Sunday that his country would ratify the Paris agreement on climate change on October 2, coinciding with the anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Gandhi, the South Asian nation's independence leader. "We shall do it next week, October 2, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi", said Modi.

As per the Article 21 of the Paris Agreement, the agreement comes into force "on the 30th day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions" ratify or approve it.

Not including Germany, the 60 countries that have formally signed up so far represent some 48 percent of global emissions.

China and the United States, the two largest emitters, gave a major boost to the accord when they signed on during a summit earlier this month between Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama.