India not to accept any legal binding on emission cut: Govt

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) Under attack for its climate policy
for Copenhagen summit, Indian Government Monday said India
will not accept any legal binding on emission cut and rejected
any proposal that would put a cap on the carbon emission.
Days before leaving for the Copenhagen summit which began
in the Danish capital Monday, Indian Environment and Forests
Minister Jairam Ramesh said, "Under no circumstances, we will
accept any draft which suggests that India's emissions should
peak by 2025, 2030 ... This is simply not on our agenda".
Replying to queries from members in the Rajya Sabha (Upper
House of Indian Parliament), he said India would not accept
the same level of international scrutiny for the country's
unsupported carbon mitigation action though it can do so for
the plans supported by global funding and technology.
"Wherever the world supports us in terms of finance and
technology, they can come and verify what we are doing. But
where you (developed world) are not supporting us... we will
not support these actions to international scrutiny", he said.
Ramesh, who is blamed by opposition for opening the
country's negotiating cards before going to the summit, said,
"We will under no circumstances accept a legally binding
emission reduction cut."
He had last week announced in the Lok Sabha (Lower House
of Indian Parliament) that India would unilaterally cut carbon
intensity level by 20-25 per cent by 2020. His announcement
came in for sharp criticism from the BJP and the Left parties.

Justifying the announcement, Ramesh said this was a
unilateral domestic obligation that the country had taken on
its own interest and tell the world that "if you want us to
reflect it internationally, you have to support us both in
terms of finance and technology".
Asserting that he has nothing to hide and was being
transparent, he assured the House that the proposal did not
mean international monitoring, reporting and verification of
unsupported actions.
"I am trying to come clean as much as I can. I am not
trying to hide anything", he said.
Disagreeing with Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley that
India's unveiling its plan would weaken its negotiating
position in the summit, Ramesh said, "Every major country in
the world has a major offer on the table.
"We also have an offer on the table. But under no
circumstances, our per capita emission should exceed the
emissions of the developed world" and this too was non-legally
binding offer.
He said it strengthened country's negotiating position to
demand greater cuts from the West and denied that the plan was
made under any foreign pressure.
On fears that the commitment of 20-25 emission cut would
lead to denial of electricity to the masses, Ramesh said, "If
this emerges as a constraint, we will re-look it."
Seeking to allay apprehensions, Ramesh said India would
not deviate from its stated position that emission cuts should
be on principle of per capita and historical responsibility.
The Kyoto Protocol, which is sought to be replaced by
developed countries, follows the principle of per capita
emission generation.
Since India stands to gain by this principle because of
its large population, the rich nations want to dump this
basis.
About 193 countries have begun negotiations to reach a new
agreement for cuts in greenhouse gases which threatened to
melt glaciers and rise sea levels.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would join the world
leaders including US President Barack Obama at Copenhagen on
October 17 and 18. PTI AMR