New Delhi, October 20
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today categorically said India will never accept the international emission reduction targets or commitments as part of any agreement or deal.

Clarifying his viewpoint on the climate change policy — after reports that he had recommended to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the country should consider shifting stance on the issue — the Environment Minister stressed that India will never agree to the elimination of distinction between developed (Annex I) and developing countries (non-Annex I) as far as these bindings are concerned.

He said India will “agree to consider” international measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of its mitigation actions “only when such actions are enabled and supported by global finance and technology.”

Ramesh specified that India, like other developing countries, “fully expected developed countries to fulfill their obligations on transfer of technology and financial transfer under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Bali Action Plan for both mitigation and adaptation actions. There has always been a broad political consensus regarding the country’s position on climate change. India has been engaged in climate change negotiations based on a clear and definite brief which has not changed since 2004.”

He admitted that his note suggested the possibility of some flexibility in India’s stance, keeping the “above non-negotiable clauses firmly intact and keeping India irrevocably anchored in the UNFCCC and the Bali Action Plan”, but he had never at any stage considered or advocated abandoning the fundamental tenets of the Kyoto Protocol.

“My basic point is that India’s interests and India’s interests alone shall dictate our negotiating stance,” Ramesh clarified.

Congress sources said the statement was issued following instructions from the party’s top leadership, asking him to make the government’s stand clear on the issue. The party was yesterday left floundering after reports said that Ramesh had suggested radical changes in India’s current stand on climate change in his letter to the PM. Ramesh was stated to have said that India should ditch the Kyoto Protocol in order to bring the US into the global fight against climate change and that India would be better off in the G-20 group of nations rather than with G-77 and China.

The proposed change in India’s stated position on climate change left the Congress red-faced and environmentalists fuming.

The party quickly distanced itself from the Environment Minister’s proposal to junk Kyoto and de-link from G-77. “The party has had no consultations on this issue nor would we like to comment on the Minister’s stated point of view. Let us be very clear that any clarification should either be given by the Minister or the PMO,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said.

Not letting go of the opportunity to discomfort the Congress, the BJP asked the UPA government to clarify its stand on the crucial issue. Interestingly, while Ramesh was lauded abroad, it created an embarrassing situation for him at home. 

New Delhi, October 20
As India positions itself as a proactive player in the climate change discourse saying it is part of the solution, the real worry within industry and government is that negotiations should not be used to erect barriers to free trade and investment, says Shyam Saran, the Prime Minister’s special envoy for climate change.

“We have already put forward our viewpoint at the negotiations saying that any such move will be contrary to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and will also not be WTO compliant,” Shyam Saran said in an interview.

India has argued that trade issues are extraneous to the collaborative response to the extraordinary global challenge of climate change. Fears have been accentuated after the Waxman Markey climate change legislation, now before the US Senate, that seeks to impose trade penalties on countries that do not commit to specific action against greenhouse gases (GHG).

Saran also pointed out that India had in recent negotiations expressed keenness that developed countries create a global mechanism whereby existing technologies that can make a significant change in meeting challenges be diffused as rapidly and widely as possible.

“We have put forth the proposition that if climate change is a global challenge and is an elemental threat to humanity and if there are existing technologies which can make a significant impact in meeting the challenge, then is it not worthwhile to create a global mechanism through which these technologies be diffused rapidly?” questioned Saran. “Secondly, you will also need to have some kind of global mechanism to create capacities in developing countries so that they can assimilate these technologies, a proposition by India.” — IANS

New Delhi, October 20
Union Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s announcement that henceforth only students securing above 80-85 per cent marks in their Class XII board exams will be eligible to sit for JEE-IIT examinations has been received with outrage and disbelief in political circles, forcing Sibal to beat a hasty retreat.

So far a student securing above 60 per cent in his Class XII board examinations is eligible to sit for the IIT-JEE entrance test.

BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Kapil Sibal appears to be in, too, much haste. He does not seem to go into the source of the problem, which results in poor performance. There are approximately 6 lakh schools in the country and of these there are more than 15 per cent, who have not a single teacher to teach the students. Students from backward region battle against lack of educational facilities and then come up to compete with the handful of better off students and this should be kept in mind.”

Prasad said, “Sibal is terribly confused. On one hand he talked of abolishing the marks system to reduce the burden on the students, on otherhand he is now increasing the cutoff percentage from 60 to 85.

New Delhi, October 20
Intelligence inputs have indicated forced recruitment of children by Naxals in areas of south Chhattisgarh, the Home Ministry said today.

Naxalities are also exhorting the villagers to provide five boys/girls per village for recruitment in their armed squad. “This information reveals the real face of Naxals, who not only kill children but also put them in great danger by recruiting them in their armed squads to carry out their violent activities,’’ the ministry added.

Meanwhile, Home Minister P Chidambaram has said Naxalism could not be bracketed with terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency in the north-east and suggested that Maoists needed to be treated differently.

Chidambaram also said Naxals should shun the path of violence and come forward for talks with the government.

The minister is understood to have made these remarks at the Army Commanders’ conference, which got underway today.

According to officials who attended the meeting, Chidambaram said that while north-east insurgents and terrorists in J&K were demanding secession from India, Naxals were different because they did not have this design. 

New Delhi, October 20
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has sought a DGCA report on BJP president Rajnath Singh’s plane incidence at the Dumka Airport in Jharkhand. Patel specified that any action on the matter would be taken after the civil aviation regulator submits its report.

In the meantime, the Civil Aviation Minister has asked all VIPs to refrain from taking avoidable risks. His clear word of advice to VIPs flying in private aircrafts is, “If the pilot is not comfortable, do not pressurise him to fly.”

He has also cautioned the pilots to strictly observe all the safety norms. Urging them to do their job in the best interest of safety and follow all rules, Patel said, “The rulebook is there. Pilots, if flying in VFR (visual flight rules conditions), are not supposed to fly after sunset.”

New Delhi, October 20
The ongoing management-labourer clashes in industrial belt of Gurgaon today acquired a political colour, with the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the CPI’s trade-union wing, seeking immediate government intervention to ban the “private armies engaged by industrialists or be ready for the labourers to take up arms.”Warning the Centre today, AITUC general-secretary and CPI’s leader in Lok Sabha Gurudas Dasgupta said the government must immediately act to stop the ongoing strikes and disband the “private army engaged by the Ricoh Auto and other industries”.

If the government does not act, it should be ready for retaliation from the trade unions, which may take up arms for self-protection, Gupta said, adding, “I would not blame the workers if they take up arms. I will be with them.” Dasgupta was speaking after meeting the chief secretary of Haryana today.He blamed the state police for not initiating action against the private army and the managements who engaged them.