The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Modi rejigs climate change panel
Pachauri, Nitin Desai, Chandrasekhar Dasgupta retained; Sunita Narain, Ratan Tata dropped
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 5
Ahead of crucial UN meetings on global warming in Peru and later in Paris, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reconstituted a high-level advisory group on climate change — Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change — that last met around four years ago.

The PM increased the band and width of the important panel with inclusion of senior ministers and senior-most negotiators that India has on climate change.

While the government has retained TERI chairperson RK Pachauri, economist Nitin Desai and retired diplomat Chandrasekhar Dasgupta (easily the senior-most international negotiator that India has) as the NGO representatives on the 18-member panel, it has dropped Centre for Science and Environment head Sunita Narain and noted industrialist Ratan Tata.

Both Tata and Narain were members of the group formed by the UPA government in 2007. Though a lot, largely political, is being read into the development, experts believe the reconstitution is a more newsworthy move than perhaps the dropping of Narain and Tata.

One, the revival shows India is serious about the issue of climate change and two, the fact that Pachauri, Desai, Chandrashekhar have been retained and JM Mauskar (lead negotiator for India in the previous Congress-led regime, former special secretary in the ministry and a senior official of the UN climate convention) included means there is “nothing political” behind the move.

Another important point in including these old hands means the new BJP-led NDA government may show consistency with Indian existing stand on the climate change that was maintained by the UPA. The principal of equity for sharing the burden of cutting the greenhouse gas emissions has been the bottom-line of negotiations apart from issues related to developing nations like India and China.

“Senior negotiators of the previous regime have been included. Chandrashekhar is the senior-most negotiator that India has since the times of the Kyoto protocol. Mauskar has served as a senior official in the UN panel during the UPA regime. There is a provision in the notification that the chairman can invite any other minister/ officer/ expert to any meeting of the committee depending upon the context of the meeting and that is what has been done,” says an official.

Officials say the PM may have dropped Narain — one of the strongest voices that India has on climate change — but he has included old hands which means the NDA is consistent with the position taken by previous regime led by the Congress in international forums. “He has brought on board many old timers increasing the knowledge and width of the panel,” an official says.

Ajay Mathur is the Director of the green climate fund and a negotiator in green technology in climate change discussions. The continuation of Pachuri means the government has not purged civil society out of the panel therefore the reconstitution cannot be read as a signal of any “change in India’s position,” officials argue.

Pachauri, chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, had come under attack from various quarters over the IPCC’s 2007 report that said the glaciers in the Himalayas will disappear by 2035 due to global warming. He called the mistake was “unfortunate”.

Headed by Modi, the re-constituted council is tasked with evolving a coordinate national action for assessment, adaptation and mitigation of climate change at national level.

There is also an increase in the ministerial strength with induction of Urban Development Minister and Coal Minister as members. But the presence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh and Coal Minister Piyush Goel are the members of the council. Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, is the member convenor of the panel.

	Maya re-nominates two Dalit candidates to RS Tribune News Service Lucknow, November 5 BSP national president Mayawati today went back to her core Dalit constituency by re-nominating Dalit candidates to party’s two Rajya Sabha seats for which elections are slated for November 20. The two Rajya Sabha MPs are BSP national vice-president Rajaram from Azamgarh, in charge of four states, and Moradabad advocate Vir Singh, who looks after three states. Speaking to mediapersons at the BSP state headquarters, Mayawati alleged due to political conspiracy of the Opposition, the BSP’s strength in the Vidhan Sabha had reduced considerably during the 2012 General Election. This had left the BSP with the capacity to send only two MPs to the Rajya Sabha in place of six, who completed their tenure later this month. “The dilemma was that if I had nominated one Dalit candidate and another from the other Backward Castes, Muslims or the Upper caste, it would have left many feeling ignored, which is not good for the party. That is why I have decided to strengthen the Dalit base and give both seats to people from the community,” she explained. She claimed unlike other political parties, the BSP was a movement for social change. “Like other parties, the BSP does not believe in accommodating capitalists. We have chosen dedicated candidates who have risen from the ranks and can strengthen the party,” she said. Attacking the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre for misleading the people of the states going to polls, Mayawati said Modi was asking for more time from them claiming it was too early to pass a verdict on his rule. “With this logic he may win the Assembly elections in the first year, but this will not work after a year and he will have to deliver on his promises. It appears that ‘ulti Ganga’ (going back) has already started on various fronts such as cleaning the Ganga, getting black money back and even inflation, which is coming down only on paper”, she alleged.
	Sena slams Fadnavis over Vidarbha statehood Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, November 5 With no signs of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inducting Shiv Sena MLAs into his Cabinet, the latter today launched a scathing attack on the BJP leader. In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, the Sena attacked Fadnavis for carving out Vidarbha into a separate state. “He is beating his chest and promising to create a separate Vidarbha from Maharashtra. As Chief Minister of the state, Fadnavis should work on keeping the state united,” the write-up said. Fadnavis on a trip to his constituency, Nagpur East, in Vidarbha had assured supporters that the long-standing demand for carving out a separate state would be met. “The Central Government will decide when to create Vidarbha, but it should be done amicably,” Fadnavis had told mediapersons. Sena’s criticism of Fadnavis comes days after the BJP leadership persuaded Uddhav Thackeray to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Minister and his Cabinet. Party leaders said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah had promised to look into the Sena’s concerns.
	Prez dissolves Delhi Assembly Syed Ali Ahmed Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 5 President Pranab Mukherjee today dissolved the Delhi State Legislative Assembly paving way for fresh elections in the state, which could be held early next year. A notification issued by the Home Ministry said the President dissolved the “Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi with immediate effect” on November 4, paving the way for fresh elections that will end the political deadlock after the AAP government fell in February. The Union Cabinet yesterday recommended the dissolution of the Assembly following recommendation of Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung after discussion with all major parties — BJP, AAP and Congress — which expressed their inability to form the government. They all sought fresh elections. The Election Commission today revoked its notification for the November 25 byelections to three constituencies, for which last date of nominations was today. The BJP and APP have started making their strategies for campaigning. Sources said the BJP at a meeting decided to concentrate on social media to convince the electorate on issues of power and sanitation, and highlight the BJP government’s work in its five months rule at the Centre. The BJP has also decided not to highlight any particular local leader and Narendra Modi will be its face for the elections. Keeping the Muslim issue, the BJP also directed its minority leaders to begin Swachhta Abhiyan work in the Muslim dominated localities. The Aam Aadmi Party, the second largest party in Delhi, started the first phase of its campaign by unveiling its first set of posters and hoardings in which urging people to compare the performance of 49 days of Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi with that of the first 150 days of Modi government at the Centre. The theme of the campaign material is to remind the people of Delhi that the BJP’s central government has been ruling Delhi through a backdoor since May and it cannot escape the responsibility for the unjustified hike in electricity and water tariffs. EC revokes order on bypoll The Election Commission on Wednesday revoked its notification for the November 25 byelections to three constituencies, for which the last date of nominations ended on Wednesday.
	Missile brigade commander under lens for corruption Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 5 The Army has convened a court of inquiry (COI) to investigate allegations of corruption and professional impropriety levelled against a Brigadier commanding a key missile brigade that forms part of a strike corps. The inquiry was convened after the brigade’s deputy commander, a Colonel, submitted a written complaint to senior officers up the chain of command. The Army had detailed Brig Rakesh Raina, Deputy General Officer Commanding of an infantry division, as the COI’s presiding officer, along with two other brigadiers as its other members. Though a COI against a Brigadier would normally be presided over by an officer of the rank of Major General, the COI’s convening authority has certified that due to service exigencies, no Major General is available to conduct the inquiry. Among the allegations levelled by the Colonel are misappropriation of the brigade’s regimental funds, unauthorised purchases and expenditure without original bills, irregular sanction of repair and maintenance works and non-compliance of observations made in audit reports.
	Jaitley: Pak must decide if it wants to talk peace New Delhi, November 5 Pakistan should draw a red line whether it wants to talk to Government of India or those who want to break India, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said today asking it to make a "conscious" choice. India, he said, was "ready to speak to Pakistan" and is "willing to normalise the relationship" but "then there are a few red lines". "We create the environment, we fix up a dialogue at the level of Foreign Secretaries, our Foreign Secretary is to visit Pakistan (and) literally a few hours before that they invite the separatists for a dialogue to their High Commission (in New Delhi). "So I think a new red line has to be drawn in Pakistan to reconsider this question that who they want to speak to? Do they want to speak to the Government of India or they want to speak to those who want to break India," he said at the India Economic Summit here. "So unless Pakistan makes the conscious choice, a dialogue with Pakistan will not be possible," he said. India in August called off a scheduled foreign secretary-level talks after Pakistan's envoy met Kashmir separatists on the eve of the dialogue. Referring to ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control, he said the consequences of its "misadventure" like firing on civilian population and uprooting of village, "would be an unaffordable cost for Pakistan." Jaitley, who is also the Finance Minister, said New Delhi has given three messages to Pakistan. "The first is that we want to talk. So we invited them. The second is we send a foreign secretary there. But they must decide whether they are ready to speak to our foreign secretary or to speak to those who want to break India. The third is that this kind of a situation in international border cannot go on. "That's not an environment for a dialogue... India would like to normalise the relationship. But whether Pakistan wants to normalise the relationship depends on Pakistan," he said. — PTI
	Print media registers 6% growth in India Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 5 Contrary to the trend in the West, print media in India continues to grow with the government recording an overall increase of nearly 6 per cent and close to 1 lakh publications registering with the Centre. Stating this while releasing the latest edition of “Press in India”, an annual publication brought out by the government, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar reiterated the need for media to adopt self-regulatory practices and sighted the problems being encountered by the unregulated spread of cable television networks in the country. The publication, he said, also stands out as a model example to other democracies about Press and media freedom in India. “While the Press in India had grown exponentially, the challenge before the Press is also to lay down the contours of being responsible in their functioning,” he said.
	Wake up to media power, Cong leaders tell Rahul Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 5 With the BJP going all out to use every tool at its disposal, including the radio to connect to the masses, the Congress is finally waking up to the reality of media power. Several leaders whom Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is meeting these days to discuss with him ways to revive the party are telling their leader that a dialogue with the media must be set up. In his ongoing series of meetings with party leaders, Rahul today held a four-hour dialogue with 12 leaders, including Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, Congress general secretary in charge of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh Shakeel Ahmed and Punjab Pradesh Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa. While these leaders are learnt to have talked to Rahul about the need to revive the lost connect of the people with Congress’ ideology, discussions around how to win back the alienated Muslim and other minorities have been held. In the last Delhi elections, the Congress lost its traditional Muslims and Dalit vote banks besides rural support blocks to the Aam Aadmi Party. Chidambaram’s son questions party working Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son has questioned the manner in which the party units are run. “I do not approve of this observer style of running a party. The TN state unit requires autonomy like the Kerala unit. It should have the independence to take decisions,” said Karti Chidambaram.
	FCI a milch cow, says Shanta For a rejig; says need to look into hefty salaries of porters Lalit Mohan Tribune News Service Dharamsala, November 5 The high-level committee constituted by the Union government for restructuring the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has brought out some startling facts. Shanta Kumar, former Chief Minister and BJP MP from Kangra, heads the committee for FCI’s restructuring. In an exclusive interview with The Tribune today, he said that there were about 35,000 regular labourers in the corporation. The cost per labourer to the FCI is about Rs 73,000 per month, Shanta Kumar said. He said that the labourers, besides their regular salary, get about three times overtime for working and loading foodgrain bags after duty hours. In addition, they get allowances on the height of foodgrain bags in stores. For a stack beyond five bags, they get huge allowances. At places, regular labourers of the FCI — putting their hefty salaries to full use — further employ labourers on contract to work in their place, he said. To add to it, certain labourers — referred to as ‘sardars’ — cannot be individually transferred as per FCI rules. They can only be transferred en bloc with their attached group of labourers, Shanta Kumar said. He said that all this was a sheer loot of public money and officers who have made such rules should be penalised by the government. He said the committee headed by him has found that the Union government spends about Rs 1.35 lakh crore on providing cheap foodgrain to the poor in the country and about Rs 72,000 crore on fertiliser subsidy. Under the Food Security Act brought by the previous government, provisions have been made to provide subsidised foodgrain to about 85 crore population. According to the studies conducted by the Planning Commission and other bodies that were assessed by the high-powered committee, about 40 per cent of the deserving population does not get any benefit of the subsidised foodgrain scheme. The minimum support price (MSP) scheme for foodgrains of the Union government reaches only 15 per cent affluent farmers of the country. About 85 per cent farmers are not getting any benefit of the MSP scheme. Most farmer suicides are from this 85 per cent deprived category of farmers, Shanta Kumar said. He said the committee has also found that most of the corruption in foodgrain subsidy schemes was due to the distorted market price of foodgrain. While the market price of rice is Rs 20-30 per kg, it is being sold at Rs 3 per kg under the subsidised scheme. This distortion in price leads to corruption and leakage. The committee is contemplating suggesting direct financial benefit transfer to the consumers to tackle this problem. He said the work of storage, transportation and distribution of foodgrain should be streamlined. Presently, three agencies — the FCI, Central Warehousing Corporation and state warehousing corporations — are handling these jobs. “I am not in favour of keeping the private sector out of foodgrain management,” Shanta Kumar said.
	India, Russia push for cooperation in trade Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 5 India and Russia today underscored the need to realise the full potential of bilateral relations and cooperation in trade, economic, scientific and technological areas, especially as trade between Moscow and Delhi stood not even at the half-way mark of the 2015 target of $15 billion. As a measure to take it forward, both sides decided to set up a trilateral customs union joint study group including Belarus and Kazakhstan for trade in goods and services. The move is a step in the direction of New Delhi’s intent to have a Free Trade Agreement with each of these countries. At the conclusion of the 20th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation here, both sides also decided to enhance bilateral trade through the International North South Corridor Project by freight forwarders and exporters particularly to bolster trade in agriculture and food processing industry. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj led the Indian side while the Russian delegation was represented by Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation and the Chairman of the Russian side of the commission. The meeting is to prepare for the forthcoming annual meeting between the two heads of government. President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to visit India later this year. Both sides decided to maintain the momentum of cooperation in some priority areas such as hydrocarbons, coking coal, fertilisers, mining, civil aviation, infrastructure and trade in rough diamonds. It also envisaged joint cooperation between Indian company National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and the Russian company ACRON for development of potassium and magnesium deposits in the Talitsky mine in Perm region of Russia and Partomchorr apatite-nepheline ore deposit (Murmansk region). Another key decision taken during the meeting was a proposal for the establishment of a ‘smart city’ in India by Russian company AFK “Sistema”.