Two elements in statement caused most concern; "It has deviated from the text approved by PMO" The statement issued by Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh at the pre-Conference of the Parties (COP) ministerial meeting of the U.N. Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC) held at Copenhagen during November 16-17 has caused considerable consternation among some observers of the evolving Indian policy on climate change. The crucial COP-15...

“THE world’s attention is back on your cause.” That was Bill Gates talking to agricultural scientists gathered recently to honour the late Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution. The tycoon-turned-philanthropist was right. This week, the world—in the guise of 60-odd heads of state including the pope—held the first United Nations food summit since 2002. As the world’s attention turns from the receding financial crisis, it is switching to one...

Environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna on Sunday pitched for framing a sustainable Himalayan development policy to prevent receding of glaciers, a development, he said, is leading to climatic problems and triggering unrest among the people. Mr. Bahuguna, who led a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and other north-eastern states to create awareness on decreasing water level in rivers, said the Himalayan policy should keep in mind the native...

The widening chasm between India and Bharat is perhaps best reflected in the manner in which electricity is consumed. The neon-lights of Mumbai and Delhi beckon many with their glitter, but large swathes of territory across the country literally remain in the dark more than six decades after political independence. The government remains obsessed till today with building mega power projects — even our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had second...

Ahead of next month's climate change negotiations in Copenhagen there's a lot of anger in India about the West's pressure on it to sign up to emissions cuts. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder travelled to India's most industrialised state, Gujarat, to see at first hand some very effective - if homegrown - attempts at tapping renewable energy. In the middle of an open field, a man crouches over some cow dung and...