NATIONTHE TELEGRAPH CALCUTTA TUESDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2009 5CE

Green bond and rivalry with PakClimate unitytakes shape JAYANTABASU

New Delhi, Aug. 31: WhenIndia battles the developedworld at the Copenhagen Cli-mate Conference in December,it will have a new ally by itsside: Pakistan.

“It’s a bit surprising, actu-ally pleasantly surprising, buton climate-change issues thepositions of India and Pak-istan are very close,” environ-ment minister JairamRamesh told The Telegraphin Delhi last weekend.

Ramesh, speaking on thesidelines of a climate meetingorganised by theDelhi-based Cen-tre for Science andEnvironment(CSE), added:“Both countrieshave acted togeth-er to oppose a num-ber of thingsraised by the devel-oped countries,like the effort tolink trade with cli-mate change.”

Farrukh Iqbal, a directorin Pakistan’s foreign ministryand key climate negotiator,was at the meeting and echoedRamesh.

Asked if climate had re-placed cricket as a channel forTrack II diplomacy betweenthe two countries, Iqbal said:“I do not know whether it isTrack II or III or whatever, buton many climatic issues thetwo countries think similarly.”

He added: “We feel thatAnnex I countries (40 industri-alised nations and the European Union separately)should stick to the decisions fi-nalised in the Kyoto Protocolin 1997.”

At Kyoto, Japan, it was de-cided that between 2008 and2012, Annex I countries wouldaccept legally binding reduc-tions in greenhouse gas emis-

sions of around 5 per centcompared with 1990 levels.The US did not sign the accord.

It is now clear that mostAnnex I countries will fail tomeet the deadline. They arenow blaming India and Chinafor the continuous rise ingreenhouse gases.

“Apart from Germany, theUK and Sweden, all Annex Icountries have increased theirCO2 emissions between 1990and 2006 rather than reducethem, and are now saying theywill not take the cut unlessChina and India take legallybinding cuts as well, which is

grossly unfair andillegal,” said theCSE’s SunitaNarain, a memberof the Prime Min-ister’s environ-mental advisorypanel.

Pakistan realis-es that if India andChina are underpressure today, Isl-amabad could beunder the same pr-

essure tomorrow.Narain said emissions had

risen in developed countriesdespite many of them sellingout their emissions to develop-ing nations through the cleandevelopment mechanism(CDM) rather than makingcuts at home. The CDM is anarrangement under the KyotoProtocol that allows industri-alised nations to invest in proj-ects that reduce emission indeveloping countries.

According to the latest CSEfigures, cumulative CO2 emis-sions in the US have beenthree times those of China and14 times those of India be-tween 1950 and 2000. AlthoughChina has replaced the US asthe top emitter, and India isfifth, they are way behind theindustrialised countries inper capita emissions.

Jairam Ramesh

Crore reply to 5 lakh saplingsNALIN VERMA

Patna, Aug. 31: Spurred by adesire to beat Pakistan, Biharhas planted one crore saplingson a single day, engaging threelakh people under the ruraljob scheme.

Islamabad’s environmentministry had made it to Guin-

ness World Records by planting541,176 saplings on July 15.The Indian reply was nearly 20 times better and has en-sured three years’ employ-ment for three lakh elderly villagers, who have beentasked with protecting thesaplings after planting themyesterday.

The project was spreadacross 7,500 villages in six dis-tricts in north Bihar’s Tirhutdivision.

Tirhut commissioner S.M. Raju, the man behind themission, told The Telegraph:

“As soon as I read about Pak-istan’s environment ministrygetting the Guinness certifica-tion, I planned to beat thatrecord.”

The IAS officer from theKarnataka cadre added: “I dis-cussed the blueprint withchief minister Nitish Kumarand chief secretary AnupMukherjee, who readily ap-proved it.”

Mostly aged people werechosen for the project since itinvolved light work, withgroups of four families eachplanting 200 trees. Now theymust protect the saplings forthree years, till the plantsgrow sturdy, during whichthey will be paid 100 days ayear under the National RuralEmployment GuaranteeScheme.

The workers will get thefull pay (the minimum wage isa little above Rs 100) if they

can ensure the survival of 90per cent of the plants undertheir care. For a 75-80 per centsurvival rate, they will be paidonly half the wage. If the sur-vival rate is less than 75 percent, the families in the groupwill be replaced.

“This project has given usa new life. We had neverthought we would get employ-ment at this age,” said farmerLaliteshwar Prasad Sahi, 61,in Sandha village, Muzaf-farpur district. “We will doeverything to protect theplants under our care.”

“These families alreadyseem to feel as if the trees theyare protecting belong tothem,” Raju smiled.

While non-fruit-bearingtrees such as the neem, arjun,jamun, gulmohar and peepalwere planted along the stateand national highways, fruit-bearing ones such as the

guava, mango, lychee, lemonand amla were planted in thevillages.

“The exercise has servedsociety in many ways besidespromoting social forestry innorth Bihar’s landscape,which is fertile but deficient inforest cover,” Raju said.

“We are preparing thevideo clippings and pictures,and working out the statisticaldetails to be submitted to theGuinness office.”

Raju, an agriculture grad-uate, had caught Nitish’s eyeafter successfully organisingthe chief minister’s VikasYatra (development march)ahead of the Lok Sabha elec-tions in March.

“The venture has the sup-port of lakhs of people in our division,” said a seniorBihar legislative councilmember, Jagannath Rai, whobelongs to Tirhut.

Tirhut commissioner SM Raju plants saplings along with Bihar villagers. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Buta CBI nodNew Delhi, Aug. 31 (PTI):Buta Singh, the chairman ofthe National Commission forScheduled Castes, today toldDelhi High Court he was will-ing to be questioned by theCBI in connection with abribery case involving his son.

Buta, who had earlier saidthe CBI did not have the au-thority to question a constitu-tional functionary without theCentre’s sanction, agreed toappear before the investigat-ing agency after it clarifiedthat he would be quizzed as awitness and not an accused.

He said he would be avail-able to the CBI on September

10 at 11am in his office.Justice Geeta Mittal, after

recording the statement givenby Buta’s counsel, asked theagency to question him onthat day.

The CBI had arrestedButa’s son Sarobjit on July 31for allegedly demanding abribe of Rs 1 crore from aNashik-based contractor toclose an atrocity case againsthim pending before the com-mission headed by his father.

The high court had on Au-gust 26 sought a response fromthe CBI on a petition filed byButa, accusing the agency of“illegally” summoning him.