General Awareness Updates – March 2010

Miscellaneous-2

Copenhagen Accord & India’s proposed Emission Cuts

India has submitted its proposed emission intensity cut targets of 20-25 per cent by 2020 to the UN, a day before the world body’s January 31 deadline for submitting the climate change mitigation steps under the Copenhagen Accord. However, India made it clear to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that all its domestic mitigation actions were entirely voluntary in nature and not legally binding, a position it had maintained at the Copenhagen Summit in Denmark.

India will endeavour to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25 per cent by 2020 in comparison to the 2005 level through domestic mitigation actions. In view of the current debate in the international climate change negotiations, India also made it clear that “while these actions will be in the nature of its contribution to the global efforts to address climate change, it will be entirely voluntary in nature and will not have a legally binding character.”

India’s announcement came just a day after the U.S. and European Union (EU) committed to the UN to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. has pledged to cut emissions by 17 per cent on 2005 levels by 2020, although it said the target was dependent on domestic climate change legislation being passed. The EU also retained its position at the Copenhagen Summit, committing to cut emissions 20 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 and promising to raise the target to 30 per cent if other large emitters made similarly ambitious commitments. Though the agriculture sector contributes around 14 per cent of the total GHG emissions, India has kept it out of the purview of the mitigations actions in its blueprint submitted to the UN to ensure food security and not compromise with the needs of a teeming population.

“The mitigation actions will also not apply to the agriculture sector. The emissions from the agriculture sector will be excluded from the assessment of emissions intensity,” says the submission. India also said it intends to implement its mitigation actions in accordance with the provisions of the relevant national legislations and policies and will elaborate in due course the actions required in various sectors to achieve the overall objective of the emissions intensity reduction.

India has already set up an expert group on low carbon growth economy under the chairmanship of economist Kirit Parikh to suggest ways for adaptation and mitigation actions sector-wise. While 194 countries, including the U.S., China and India, at the two-week UN summit in the Danish Capital took note of the Copenhagen deal, they were given January 31 as deadline to list actions and targets to curb greenhouse gases causing global warming.

Under the Copenhagen Accord, the developed country parties known as Annex I Parties undertake mitigation commitments with specific quantified targets to reduce their emissions, while developing countries like India will take mitigation actions in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability. The accord, which was accepted by 29 countries, must pledge to keep the increase in global temperatures below two degrees Celsius, and developed countries must commit U.S.$100 billion by 2020 to the developing world to help emerging economies deal with their emissions to check global warming.

Operation Moshtarak launched in Afghanistan

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has launched a major offensive against the Taliban’s last big stronghold in Afghanistan’s most violent province, a test of the U.S. President Barack Obama’s troop surge strategy. The assault, the first since the U.S. President ordered extra 30000 troops to Afghanistan in December 2009, is the start of a campaign to impose government control on rebel-held areas this year, before the U.S. forces start to withdraw in 2011.

The operation, codenamed Moshtarak (Arabic for “together”), may have been labelled as such to highlight that NATO and Afghan forces were working closely to bring stability to Afghanistan, a country battered by decades of conflict. Operation Moshtarak was described as the biggest joint operation of the Afghan war, with 15,000 troops involved, including some 7,500 in Marjah itself. The government says Afghan soldiers make up at least half of the offensive’s force.

Marjah, about 610 km southwest of Kabul, is the linchpin of the militants’ logistical and opium-smuggling network. Once Marjah is secured, NATO hopes to rush in aid and restore public services in a bid to win support among the estimated 125,000 people who live in the town and surrounding villages. The Afghans’ ability to restore those services is crucial to the success of the operation and to prevent the Taliban from returning.

The safety of civilians may be the vital issue for NATO in one of the eight-year-old war’s biggest offensives against the Taliban, which have re-emerged as a powerful fighting force since they were toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Any heavy civilian casualties would make it even more difficult for the American-backed Afghan government to win support in towns that have been held by Taliban insurgents.

Unlike previous military operations, the assault on Marjah has been widely flagged for months. It is hoped that this will persuade many fighters to lay down their arms or flee, reducing the eventual body count. Much may depend on whether the state can ensure long-term political and economic stability to erase the conditions that have encouraged militancy.

India test-fires nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile

India has successfully test-fired nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of 3500 km from the Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa, making the nuclear-capable platform ready for induction into the armed forces. The fourth test-firing of the Agni-III missile was for the full range; it hit the target with pin-point accuracy and met all the mission objectives. The launch was part of the pre-induction trial and now the missile system will be fully inducted into the armed forces.

A number of radars and electro-optical tracking systems along the coast of Orissa monitored the path of the missile and evaluated all the parameters in real-time. Equipped with a state-of-the-art advanced computer, the navigation system used for guiding the missile to its target is the “first of its kind”. The 17-metre long marker pen like Agni-III is 2 metres in diameter and has a two-stage solid propellant system with a pay load capability of 1.5 tonnes. The first trial of Agni-III, conducted in July 2006, had ended in a failure, but the two subsequent tests in April 2007 and May 2008 were successful.

Iran is a nuclear state, says Prez Ahmadinejad

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reiterated to hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians on the anniversary of the 1979 foundation of the Islamic republic that the country is now a “nuclear state”, an announcement he’s made before. Mr. Ahmadinejad claimed that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear programme a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions. He insisted that Iran had no intention of building nuclear weapons. “I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of 20 per cent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists,” he said.

Enriching uranium produces fuel for nuclear power plants but can also be used to create material for atomic weapons if enriched further to 90 per cent or more. It was not clear how much enriched material had actually been produced just two days after the process was announced to have been started.

David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said that any 20 per cent enriched uranium produced just a few days after the start of the process would be “a tiny amount”. The United States and its allies have accused Tehran of using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to build nuclear weapons but Tehran denies the charge, saying the programme is just geared towards generating electricity.

Govt says no to Bt Brinjal, for now

Facing intense opposition from within and outside, the Central government has refused to give a go-ahead to commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal, a genetically-modified version of the vegetable that is said to be more resistant to pests. Bt Brinjal is a genetically-modified vegetable which is infused with Cry1Ac gene from a bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis to make the plant resistant to the fruit and shoot borers and certain pests. Some scientists have been opposing it, arguing that the genes were toxic and would affect the health of the consumers.

Announcing the cautious approach of the government, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said there was “no clear consensus” among the scientists and stake-holders on giving permission to Bt Brinjal and more studies needed to be conducted. “There is no over-riding urgency to introduce it... When the public sentiments have been negative, it is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary and principle-based approach,” he said. “I will not impose a decision till such time independent scientific studies establish safety of the product from a long-term view of human health.”

He said it was a difficult decision to take but he had to balance many issues of science and society and producer and consumer. However, he made it clear that the decision applied only to Bt Brinjal and does not cover the future of genetically-modified crops, be it ladyfinger, cabbage or rice. Mr. Ramesh’s decision came after a series of public consultations in seven cities across the country that often turned acrimonious.

A number of state governments, including Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, have publicly opposed the introduction of Bt Brinjal. The Chief Ministers of all BJP-ruled states have already opposed introduction of Bt Brinjal. Noting that the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have opposed Bt Brinjal, Mr. Ramesh said non-Congress ruled states of West Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar accounted for 60 per cent of brinjal cultivation.

Milan Exercise on way to become task force for Asia-Pacific

The 13-nation Milan Exercise hosted by the Indian Navy has inched towards converting itself into a joint task force for Asia-Pacific region including Australia and New Zealand, with India having a leading role in combating maritime terror, poaching, gun and drug-running. Milan, a five-day biennial event which ended in Port Blair recently, witnessed the navies from nations across South Asia and South East Asia, apart from Australia and New Zealand, debating common concerns and threats in the region during a day-long table-top simulated exercise to arrive at a consensus on “jointmanship and inter-operability” as the only possible antidote.

“The 2004 Tsunami, when 30 navies operated in the region to provide relief and succour to the several thousands hit by the natural disaster, has come as a realisation for the nations in the region on the need to cooperate and work together to tackle issues that afflict the region. “Terror by non-state actors, gun-running, drug-smuggling, poaching in the exclusive economic zones and illegal migrants are common troubles that the nations in the region face. We have to come together and work jointly, learning from each other’s experience and expertise,” Andaman and Nicobar Command Chief Vice Admiral D. K. Joshi said in Port Blair.

Though the grouping may not transform into a “military bloc” or a grouping against any country including China, but it would ensure inter-operability among the Milan nations to work side-by-side in times of need and provide India a strong foothold among the naval forces of the region. “Already, India is holding bi-annual joint patrols with the Indonesian and Malaysian navies along the international maritime border. We may have to hold such patrols or operations with each of these navies in the Indian Ocean Region in the future,” Mr. Joshi added.

Besides exchanging notes on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief including community participation, logistics issues and means to prevent tragedy, the 13 navies to participate included Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei. They also talked about the possibility of joint efforts against piracy in the Indian Ocean Region as a whole. New Zealand’s Maritime Component Commander Commodore Ross Smith, when asked about Milan, said the initiative was good in the sense that India’s role as a major naval power in the Indian Ocean region was acknowledged by all nations.

“Indian Ocean is your (India’s) ocean. You need to man it. We are always looking for opportunity for joint exercises with the Indian Navy, which is big in size,” he said. As an indication of things to come, the nine participating warships from the countries in the region in Milan, saluted the Indian Landing Ship Tanker (Large) INS Kesari, a 5,600-tonne amphibious warship, as a parting gesture during a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the Bay of Bengal, as they left Port Blair on their voyage back to their respective countries.

Russia lowers nuclear threshold

Lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, Russia has said it reserves the right to hit back with nukes in case of an aggression, in a new doctrine which may be a veiled warning to China and rising NATO powers. “Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction against it and its allies, as well as an aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons jeopardizing the very existence of the state,” a military doctrine signed by President Dmitry Medvedev said.

Strategic experts believe that the lowering of threshold for the nuclear weapons could be a veiled warning to China, which has an overwhelming numerical advantage over Russia, which has a total population of less than 147 million. Some Russian analysts believe that while after the 1968 border conflict with China, the Soviet General Staff had virtually given up the concept of a conventional war with “our great Asian neighbour”, the new doctrine has publicly stated Russia’s new stance.

Expansion of NATO closer to the boundaries of Russia, deployment of missile shield elements on the perimeter of its land and maritime borders, international terrorism, proliferation of WMD and the growing number of nuclear powers have also been identified as external threats for the security of the nation.

Indo-U.S. nuke deal: IAEA safeguards agreement kicks in

The U.S. President Barack Obama has certified that the Safeguards Agreement between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on its civilian nuclear facilities has come into force, in yet another step towards full implementation of the Indo-U.S. atomic deal.

A memorandum in this regard was issued to the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as mandated by the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-proliferation Enhancement Act regarding the safeguards agreement between India and the Vienna-based global nuclear watchdog IAEA.

Mr. Obama also certified that India has filed a declaration of facilities – as mandated by the agreement – that is “not materially inconsistent” with the facilities and schedule described in the Separation Plan presented in the Parliament in May 2006, taking into account the later initiation of safeguards that was anticipated in the Separation Plan.