Email
Print
ShareNew Delhi: With less than two months to go for the crucial Copenhagen conference on climate change, the Manmohan Singh government seems to be at odds with itself on India's negotiating position.
On the one hand, the environment ministry told a high level delegation going to Bangkok in early October for a United Nations climate meet to stick to India's traditional position and not bow to western, particularly American, demands to dilute the stand taken by developing countries including China. On the other hand, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has proposed a 180 degree turn by suggesting that India abandon the Kyoto Protocol and the G-77 grouping of developing nations and accept an Australian proposal that is backed by the United States and countries of the European Union.
Ramesh's startling about-turn was first articulated in a newspaper interview and followed up with a letter to the prime minister on October 13. It has elicited strong reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as members of the PM's advisory council on climate change. One of the members, who requested anonymity, slammed Ramesh's proposal as "an unmitigated disaster for India".
The BJP came down heavily on Ramesh and wanted to know if the minister is "a stalking horse" for a larger lobby. "Is it UPA's Diwali gift to the US and other developed countries at the cost of India's poor?" the party asked.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office described Ramesh's two-and-a-half page letter to the PM as merely a "discussion note". He said it was not government policy but simply a proposal from the environment minister for discussion at the appropriate level.
Climate change experts on the PM's advisory council are baffled by this attempt to alter India's position at the eleventh hour.
"This (Ramesh's proposal) helps no other country but the US. Neither China nor Brazil are rethinking their positions to the extent Ramesh has suggested. Why are we crawling to accommodate the US?" asked Sunita Narain, head of the Centre for Science and Environment and member of the PM's council.
Significantly, Indian delegates to the recently-concluded conference in Bangkok were given a briefing note that reiterated the cornerstones of India's position. The irony is that the note was prepared by the environment ministry and approved by Ramesh himself. Based on the pre-meet briefing, the delegates succeeded in getting 37 developing countries to sign a resolution that called on the rich nations to reduce their emissions by 40% by the year 2020.
However, there were disturbing signals at the conference itself. A delegate disclosed to DNA that US and European representatives told them that the messages they had received from Ramesh were quite contrary to the official Indian position.
Members of the PM's climate change council are confused by the contradictory signals. Several of them said they needed to check whether there is indeed a rethink that would see India accommodating American concerns in the coming days.
