Says Proposals On Services, IT & Environmental Goods Against Its Interest

New Delhi: India has decided to opt out of negotiations for agreements between select WTO member countries for liberalizing foreign direct investment and visa regimes in service sectors and for lowering import duty on 357 information technology products and 54 environmental goods, saying the talks were against its interests.

Countries will pay a heavy cost for reneging on their commitments and opposing progress at Doha

The past few years – more so 2012 – have seen a noticeable downswing in the global commitment for combating climate change. The disappointing outcome of the UN-sponsored summit on climate change at Doha this year, as also at earlier meets at Durban (2011), Cancun (2010) and Copenhagen (2009), bear this out. None of the major environment-polluting countries showed any keenness to pledge unconditionally emission-reduction targets for the post-Kyoto period from 2013 onwards.

Expectations were low at Doha. But the 18th conference of parties (Cop 18) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change surprised even the cynics by legitimising a couldn’t-care-less doctrine.

The quiet collapse of the most basic principle of UN climate negotiations in Doha - that all decisions should be taken only with complete consensus of 194 countries party to the convention -- has t

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Assam has been susceptible to the effects of climate change, and this has dramatically impacted the lifestyles and livelihood options of thousands of marginalised women and their households in the

Doha failed to fashion meaningful action on climate change but got all nations on one platform