M A I N   N E W S

Voluble Jairam now wants to keep mum
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 11
A normally voluble Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was surprisingly quiet on Tuesday as he refused to utter even one word on his recent statements on the government’s policy on China and the political outcome thereof.

A wary Environment Minister, who yesterday earned a severe reprimand from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his embarrassing comment, even asked mediapersons to leave a climate change event venue if all they were expecting from him was a comment on the China gaffe.

Seeing the huge posse of mediapersons, quite unexpected for a climate change event, he clarified that if journalists had gathered just to get something out of him on the China issue, they were wasting their time.

He suddenly took the mike in his hands in the middle of the programme, tersely telling scribes attending the function: “I will not take any question on China. Don't waste your time here. This meeting is on green house emissions, not on China”. "No China at all, don't waste your time here," he reiterated, indicating that journalists could leave if they wanted to. “If you are interested in global warming (topic) then you can continue here,” he said. The minister was attending the national workshop on India: Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007.

While neither the government nor the Congress has indicated any other punitive action against him, sources say a reprimand from the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi reflects the general viewpoint within the party about Ramesh. What adds to his troubles is that he also appears to be facing stiff opposition from some party men in Andhra Pradesh over his re-nomination to the Rajya Sabha.

A native of Karnataka, Ramesh was elected to the Rajya Sabha from AP in 2004. Ramesh was pulled up by Manmohan Singh on Monday for his remarks in China against the Union Home Ministry’s “alarmist” approach towards Chinese investments.

Some Congress leaders feel that Ramesh, like Shashi Tharoor, is turning out to be a habitual offender, referring to his recent spat with Surface Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath. Known to also have had differences with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Jairam openly aired his differences with Kamal Nath during a cabinet meet.

For the Congress, which is still reeling under the Twitter Tharoor effect and has suffered many an uncomfortable moment by others suffering from “foot-in-mouth disease” like party general secretary Digvijay Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyer, it is becoming a challenge to handle leaders speaking out of turn. “It is becoming a challenge for both the Prime Minister and the Congress president to control those suffering from ‘this disease’,” a senior party leader admitted.

Ramesh’s gaffe in Beijing was not his first. He was snubbed by the Prime Minister for saying India would match China in emission cuts. He later retracted, saying that India would not accept any legally binding emission cut targets.

Emissions up, but way lower than US, China
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 11
Driven by higher industrial growth, energy production and transport, an environment ministry report says the annual GHG (greenhouse gas) emission increased by around 58 per cent from 1994 to 2007, but per capita emissions were still much less than those of US or China. Greenhouse gas emissions per unit of the GDP, however, declined by more than 30 per cent during 1994 and 2007, says the country’s updated emission inventory “India: Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007” which was released today.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the country’s net GHG emissions in 2007 were 1.9 billion tonnes compared to 1.2 billion tonnes in 1994. However against 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per capita in 1994, the per capita GHG emission was estimated to be 1.7 tonnes of CO2 in 2007.

Even though India is ranked fifth in aggregate GHG emissions after US, China, the European Union and Russia in its contribution to global warming, emissions of US and China are almost four times that of India, he said.

This, he said, was due to the country pro-actively putting efforts and policies in place. “This is the trend we plan to continue," he said after Deputy Planning Commission Chairman Montek Singh Ahulwalia released the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) report -- the first voluntary attempt by any developing country.

The last data was prepared in 1994.Ramesh said India was not obliged but initiative was taken for domestic usage. “We are not bound by any international obligations. Many of our domestic climate actions have to be taken voluntarily in our own interest. We will now benchmark our emissions for 2007 with best practices in the world,” he said.

China and the US are the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases and disagreement between the two on slashing their carbon dioxide output was a major cause of the failure of the UN-sponsored climate change talks last year. At the Copenhagen Summit, India announced its intent to further reduce the emission intensity of the GDP by 20-25 per cent between 2005 and 2020 even as it pursues the path of inclusive growth.

The INCCA report has the contribution from more than 80 scientists from 17 institutions across the country. The government has plans to bring out the next INCCA report on assessment of the impact of climate change on four sectors, namely Water, Western Ghats, Northeast and Coastal India, to be released in November next year.

Satellite to monitor situation

India will launch a dedicated satellite by 2012 for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and aerosols. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said India needed to have aggressive domestic method to check emissions. “This would benefit the country while negotiating at the international forum,” he said.

India is also planning to launch a dedicated satellite by 2013 for assessment of its forest cover. The ISRO satellite will monitor afforestation and deforestation on continuous real time basis in the country to help build data about forest cover in the country. India does forest cover assessment once in two years while countries like Brazil monitor afforestation and deforestation on a daily basis.