UNION law ministry has proposed sweeping powers for the Centre to act against illegal mining. In its suggestions to the group of ministers, the law ministry has said the power to confiscate the property and earnings from illegal mining should be vested with the Centre.

ENVIRONMENT minister Jairam Ramesh will represent India in the highlevel advisory panel on sustainable development being set up by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The panel is expected to be announced before the end of the month.

UNITED Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is stepping in to give climate change negotiations push in the right direction. The UN chief will be setting up a high-level advisory panel, which will not focus on the day-to-day nitty gritty of the negotiations, but on the reasons which make a global deal an imperative.

As it becomes clear that a global deal might elude Cancun, agreements on key issues can be expected at the December conference in Mexico. All attention is now being focused on smaller plurilateral groups. Smaller groups like the Major Economies Forum (MEF) are taking up discussions on substantive issues to arrive at some clear understanding ahead of the weeklong Bonn negotiations in August.

THE villain of the piece in 2009

Brazil, S Africa, India And China To Work Out Strategy On Kyoto Protocol

DEVELOPING countries continued to thwart attempts by the rich industrialised nations to steer climate change negotiations. The United States

India Must Ensure Kyoto, UNFCCC Not Jeopardised
Urmi A Goswami NEW DELHI

THE death knell for the Copenhagen climate change summit has been rung. With the US, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, throwing its weight behind the proposal to postpone a legally-binding climate deal till 2010 or later, the best that can be expected at Copenhagen is a political or vision statement.

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