The Opposition has slammed the government over the Copenhagen Accord, saying the document betrays developing nations, and has  compromised India's interests. In a lengthy speech in Parliament this morning, the BJP's Arun Jaitley said the Copenhagen Accord helps developed countries avoid the commitments they made under the Kyoto Protocol. Jaitley also said the  Copenhagen Accord permits international scrutiny of India's actions to deal with global warming, something that the government had...

Curbing inflationary expectations is the priority Food price inflation has been in double digits for almost a year. Officially this week it is clocking up 20 per cent, the highest in 11 years. Stories of inflation in pulses and vegetables have appeared repeatedly in newspapers all over the country. The minimum support price for wheat has more than doubled in the past three years. The sugarcane farmers invaded the roads of...

  On a day of long speeches in the plenary and loud protests outside, the Danish president of the UN climate talks here told developing countries that progress on the Kyoto Protocol is unlikely here. There may not be any post-2012 commitment of emission cuts by rich nations under the Protocol coming out of Copenhagen. Outside, protesters and police scuffled as an attempt to break through the barricades of the Bella Centre,...

I have just returned after performing at the climate circus in Copenhagen. Like all sensible columnists, I will reserve my remarks on why the outcome was entirely predictable, till after the event! But as I attended this meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the Climate Convention (UNFCCC) after a gap of some six years, a snapshot comparison of then and now may be more useful. The UNFCCC process started...

India will become the world’s most populous country in 2025, surpassing China, where the population will peak one year later because of declining fertility, according to United States Census Bureau projections released Tuesday. The bureau suggests that the projected peak in China, 1.4 billion people, will be lower than previously estimated and that it will occur sooner. With the fertility rate declining to fewer than 1.6 births per woman in this...