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IN
FOCUS
India
has faced considerable, and largely unfair, pressure from the
industrialised world to take action for a problem substantially created
by them. At the same time, India has much to lose from a changing
climate, and much to gain for climate and non-climate reasons from
enhancing the ecological sustainability of our development path.
The
NAPCC starts with an important commitment to re-direct growth
objectives toward ecological sustainability, but provides a mixed
bag of measures through which to do so. As a result, the NAPCC
document is neither fully vision nor plan. And it fails to grapple
squarely with the international deadlock in the climate arena.
Despite these drawbacks, simply having such a plan is significant for
climate related debates in India.
On the other, the G8 summit
in Japan was also expected to address the issue of climate change and
come up with a vision statement as how it is to be achieved.
But
what emerged from the summit leads to the conclusion that the rate of
progress
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CLIMATE CHANGE
<Related
Articles -July 2008
issue> |
- India
releases 8-point agenda to combat climate change ,
 by Padmaparna
Ghosh, MINT, Mumbai, 01 Jul
2008
- National
Action
Plan On Climate Change,
Extracted
from National Actional Plan On
Climate Change,
government of India, Prime Minister's
Council On Climate Change
- Greens
pick holes in climate plan, ,G.S. Mudur,
The
Telegraph, Calcutta, 06 Jul 2008
- The
mean world of climate change, ,Sunita
Narain, Down To Earth Magazine, 16 Jul 2008
- Climate
change -India's worries, , Raj Chengappa,
India Today
Magazine, 14 Jul 2008
- G8
falls short on climate, ,The Hindu, Chennai, 12
Jul 2008
- Stand
Up And Deliver, R K Pachuri, The Times
of India, Mumbai, 14 Jul 2008
- Hot
Currents, Seema Sirohi, Outlook Magazine, 14 Jul 2008
- In
The Woods Over Environment Policy, by Bittu
Sahgal, Tehelka
Magazine, 19 Jul 2008
- Doomsday
report , by Chetan Chauhan,
The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 02 Jul 2008'
- The
G-8 and India's National Action Plan on Climate Change,
Mukul Sanwal Economic & Political Weekly,
Magazine, 19 Jul 2008
<OTHER
ARTICLES RELATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE >
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on critical issues between successive summits is questionable.
The leadership of the richest countries in the world needs to reflect
on their responsibility to the global community at large and the
expectations which call for bolder measures and major changes in the
interests of protecting the planet and all species living on it.
If
the G8 countries, led by the United States, are indeed serious about
mitigating climate change, they must deliver on their promises between
now and 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol ends. They need to work with
utmost urgency to cut their own emissions from a meaningful baseline.
"Across the
globe, the entire chain of resources and inputs are now being cornered by
corporations. Farm land, water, fertiliser, seeds, pesticides and many more.
Grab these together and you've got the world by its belly. The giant
companies are now putting out papers on how they will solve the world's
food problem. Never mind the fact that they are at the heart of it ".
Critical
Concerns has focused on the Food Crisis in the last three issues and the
inevitable conclusion we have arrived at the end of the day is simple: The
food crisis can be resolved only if the right to food is given precedence
over the right to profits. |
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In
Focus
A Plan
without a
Vision
The
long-awaited National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)
is an important landmark in the climate change debate in India. It is not,
however, an adequate response
to the scale of the challenge. Despite these drawbacks, simply having
such a
plan is significant for climate related debates in India.
Concern
Life without
the LEFT
Brand-new political equations, inflation,
slowing
growth and impending elections should normally have everyone nervous.
But for a
reforms-starved India Inc, the Left's withdrawal of support to the
United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) has rekindled hopes that this government
might just
pull off a transformation in the last few months of its tenure.
NEWS BRIEFS
a)Pathways to
the Future
On 1st July, 4.29 crore farmers
ended
their debt burden - due to loans taken to meet the expensive inputs
necessary
to sustain modern agriculture - as the loan waiver scheme comes into
affect, it
is time to give a serious thought to modern agricultural and its deadly
consequences.
b) To GM or Not
The
problem is that if you are among those who have reservations about GM
food, you
will never know if it's the natural or the GM variety that you are
eating.
c) Minor
Relief
The Supreme Court has asked trial courts and
High
Courts to deal with rape cases with the utmost sensitivity and
responsibility.
The punishment cannot depend upon the social status of the victim or
the accused.
d) Waste
Mismanagement
It is common knowledge that cities generate a
lot of
waste every single day. Yet, the issue did not raise a stink a couple
of
decades ago.
e) Growing
Intolerance
The Supreme Court expresses anger at the
growing
intolerance over freedom of expression and its serous concern over the
way in
such cases are handled.
f) Potential for mobilisation?
Somehow, political organisations and social
movements are yet to seize the vast potential for collective action
around
NREGA
g)More on the meal
The Prime Minister had to intervene to ensure
that
the mid-day meal scheme under the ICDS continues with freshly cooked
meals.
h)Rights Activists under Attack
The human rights situation in the country has
been
deteriorating rapidly. The killings of rights activists take place in a
context
characterised by a fast-growing economy that is accelerated by
government
policies.
i)Future of SEZs
The SEZ ‘s are indicative of the
new mantra of growth and development in elite
national discourse much in keeping with the global neo-liberal discourse
j)
Land Degradation
A cause for major concern is the FAO’s
observation
that 24 per cent of the global land area has degraded is that the
current
phenomenon of degradation has more to do with land management, and less
with
the nature of the soil or terrain.
k) Indigenous
Knowledge
Apart from a respect for indigenous and
community
knowledge, and collaborative research projects with them, a range of
radical
steps towards this are being discussed in various circles
l) Defining
Charity
The
2008 Finance Bill, which has amended the definition of 'charitable
purposes’,
puts several voluntary organisations in a spot. So far, charity meant
relief to
the poor, education, medical relief.
k) No Place to Live
Three
decades, farmers and forest dwellers, mostly scheduled castes and
scheduled
tribes, uprooted to make way for industry, are still waiting for
compensation,
jobs and rehabilitation.
l) Many more Options
Cultivating paddy with less water, replacing
conventional energy with solar and wind power – there are more options
available than you can think of.
m) Doomed Talks
The WTO framework is based on reciprocity.
But in
the present scenario, there is little prospect that industrial
countries will
be able to overcome their own defensive interests to deliver greater
access to
developing countries where they most seek it.
n)Unending
Tragedy
Why it has taken so long to deal with the
disaster
is an epic tale of the ineffectiveness and seeming apathy of
governments and
the political class. |
CLIMATE
CHANGE
SOCIETY & CHANGE
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
GMOs
GENDER
URBANISATION
COMMUNALISM
EMPLOYMENT GURANTEE
CHILDREN
HUMAN RIGHTS
SEZ
ENVIRONMENT
PEOPLE & FORESTS
CIVIL SOCIETY
DISPLACEMENT
ALTERNATIVES
WORLD TRADE ORGANISATIONS
BHOPAL
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LAST
PAGE
In pursuit of
‘Oil’
The deal just taking shape between Iraq's Oil
Ministry and four Western oil companies raises critical questions about
the
nature of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq - questions that
should
certainly be addressed and seriously
discussed
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POLITICS OF UNIPOLAR WORLD
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