The government’s spin managers have finally been exposed. For months they have attempted to brainwash us by arguing that the Kyoto Protocol was as good as dead with the US refusing to ratify it, and so the only solution was to accept some emission cuts in order to bring the US on board. These “commitments”, it was underscored time and again, would not be binding upon India. And, it was added, the emission cuts India was talking of were not large enough to cause any great hardship.
This has been exposed by statements from the US officials who have openly said that the US will monitor the commitments that India has offered. In other words, what was till now “non-binding” will soon become binding. In one summit, India has frittered away the protection granted to it by the Kyoto Protocol.
The government’s spin doctors will now argue that, even if the US monitors India’s emission control, reducing emissions is in India’s interests! The government needs to explain what it achieved and compare this with what it lost at Copenhagen.
Arvind Gupta, New Delhi
