Negotiations to hammer out an 'equitable and fair' deal on climate change were deadlocked on Wednesday, even as hundreds of climate activists were tear-gassed, beaten up and detained for trying to break into the UN-sponsored Climate Summit in Copenhagen and establish a 'people's assembly', accusing the 193 participating countries of not trying to reach a new deal to combat the menace.
At Copenhagen, attempts to arrive at a fair deal on climate change were deadlocked with countries refusing to budge from their positions on sticky issues like emission cuts. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who is leading the Indian delegation, said the BASIC group -- comprising India, China, South Africa and Brazil -- "is united and we would like to reiterate that we want an equitable and fair agreement to emerge out of the summit".
The Climate Change conference in Copenhagen last year yielded the contentious and non-binding Copenhagen Accord.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at Copenhagen on Friday morning to participate in the concluding session of the Climate Summit amid a ray of hope for a political statement on combating climate change.
Criticising the Copenhagen Climate Summit for being "limited to a group of countries", Bolivia will organise an alternative international talks in April on the issue.
After the heat it faced on climate change stand for the Copenhagen summit, the government on Tuesday came under scanner as the Opposition felt that India might come under US pressure on the trade talks in WTO.
India's per capita green house gas (GHG) emission in 2030 will be well below those in the developed countries in 2005, according to a report.
President Obama was seen patting Saran's back after the Copenhagen negotiations, but he characteristically laughed it away when I mentioned it in my TV conversation with him. Saran will be missed in the government, but he will be a welcome addition to the strategic community, which will benefit from his immense experience and innate wisdom
Ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference starting on December 7, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh told Parliament on Thursday that India will go with a positive frame of mind, but will not accept any legally binding cuts.
The issue of climate change is going to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which is being attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Ban Ki-moon said he is encouraged that more than 105 heads of state and government are committed to participate in the meeting of world leaders on the 18th of this month.
The average global temperature between January and October has been 0.68 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th century's average global temperature of 14.1 degree C.
Asserting that the world does not have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced a 'Green Credit Initiative' focused on creating carbon sinks through people's participation and also proposed to host the United Nations climate conference in 2028, or COP33, in India.
Obama would meet Modi on November 30, the opening day of the Paris climate change conference.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has arrived in Italy to attend the G-8 summit -- which neither carries high hopes for India, nor for the world.
With 'Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his way to the airport' and the 'Chinese skipping negotiations', US President Barack Obama said on Thursday the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit was on the brink of a complete collapse, before he decided to take a chance to give it a final push.
India has said it was under pressure from some developing nations to accept the Copenhagen Accord prepared at the UN meet on climate change last month at the Danish Capital.
Consensus eluded negotiators on Wednesday to stitch an equitable and just accord on climate change in the last lap before the summit on Friday with no headway being made to iron out sticking points on carbon emission cuts, mitigation targets and long-term financing.
In defining a new and nuanced stance on India's negotiating position at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have left some at home dissatisfied but his perspective appears to have been defined by a larger view of how India should deal with global challenges.
New text is "ambitious and balanced"
Major nations in the group are concerned over several drafts of a potential agreement that are floating around including the Danish proposal, which is yet to be fully disclosed.
Hours before the prime minister's departure for Copenhagen, a cargo van brushed against the PM's special aircraft, Air India One, causing a dent. Sources said the PM was not in the aircraft when the incident took place
Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says that Sino-Indian cooperation at the Copenhagen climate summit is the sign of things to come.
Experts have challenged UN to produce convincing 'observational evidence' to establish the human-caused global warming.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-day visit to Germany, Denmark and France from May 2 to 4 to further expand bilateral ties in diverse areas.
American Singer Terra Naomi performed in Srinagar on Monday evening to create awareness about the adverse effects of climate change on Kashmir.
Speaking at an event in New Delhi, jointly held by National Thermal Power Corporation and the Confederation of Indian Industry, he added that developing countries should also not expect any financial or technical assistance from developed nations to help reduce their carbon footprint.
In an interview with Suman Guha Mozumder, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh says a little less superiority and a little more humility on the part of India will serve us very well in the future.
'I think a little less superiority, a little more humility on the part of India will serve us very well in the future,' says Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
As one surveys the changing face of mulilateralsim today, we see mutation and multiplication. The underlying reality is that the world is multipolar and with more poles, you tend to get more constellations.
Government on Friday said it will not compromise India's interest at the Copenhagen climate change summit, but a dissatisfied opposition walked out in the Rajya Sabha.
At the Paris climate change summit, there is talk of restricting temperature rise to 1.5?C instead of 2?C, which has been negotiated so far. This would give India less space to grow by limiting carbon emissions further, reports Darryl D'Monte, reporting exclusively for Rediff.com from the French capital.
India and China seemed to be on the same side at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, while the United States had to gatecrash to join hands.
As a special gesture, Frederiksen received Modi at the airport. He arrived in Copenhagen from Germany.
The real winners will be those who best align social, environmental, human and financial aspects of a companies' work, says Rajni Bakshi.
The 54-page Paris agreement draft had been scaled down to 50.
Meera Shankar, Indian Ambassador to the United States, informed that India has convened a ministerial meeting in September in New Delhi to see how we can bring the Doha Round back on track and as a follow up to that meeting experts were expected to meet in October in Geneva.
Macron held a tete-a-tete with Modi before the delegation-level talks at the Elysee Palace - the official residence of the French president.
In a statement, Modi said he will be visiting Berlin on May 2 at the invitation of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, following which he will travel to Copenhagen on May 3-4 at the invitation of his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen to hold bilateral engagements and also participate in the Second India-Nordic Summit.
