Russia’s New Military Doctrine: An Overview
On December 26, 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new military doctrine. This is the fourth such declaration on national security following the ones that were adopted in 1993, …
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Green and Clean: US envoy says all eyes on India on climate change action
Green is the colour of the emerging India-US partnership. Underlining the centrality of India to the success of the global climate deal in Paris, the US has said that it regards India as its “best partner” and exhorted New Delhi to take the leadership role in curbing global warming.
US ambassador to India Richar Verma, the first Indian-origin envoy of Washington in New Delhi, stressed that the whole world is watching what India will do to help fructify the promise of an international climate deal.
“We’re not the only ones that are interested. India’s size, economic growth projections, and already significant greenhouse gas emissions means there is tremendous interest around the world regarding what India will do,” Mr Verma said at a conference themed “Green – the Color of Growth: The Business Case for Climate Action” at a luxury hotel in the Indian capital.
The envoy underscored the US’ interest in India’s future steps, and said it considered India as the “best partner in an entire array of areas and would also like to discuss and tackle the toughest issues on the planet.
The ambassador added that said that the US would like to work closely with India to tackle climate change, where the two countries will look to promote the transition to a low carbon and a clean energy future. He praised India’s recent proposal to the leading countries to cut down their use of HFCs: gases used in air conditioner, refrigerator and other insulating forms that are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Verma added that there is an essential need for the whole world to play a leadership role to effectively tackle climate change through innovation, partnership, and a commitment to a cleaner future.
Ahead of the crucial climate meet to be held in Paris later this year, the envoy pointed out that India is yet to submit its “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” (INDCs) – a voluntary commitment to take steps for clean energy, and produce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Read MoreNet Neutrality: Reading more than just economics
The issue of net neutrality has taken the social media by storm. Over 100,000 emails have been sent to TRAI through the website savetheinternet.in to plead for net neutrality. Videos are being shared to explain the issue to a wider audience (the latest one by AIB, of the infamous roast fame, has gone viral), endearing them to add their names to petitions pleading against any move to dilute the principle of net neutrality. The pro net neutrals are rooting for ‘saving the last bastion of equality’ which will be lost once the corporates takeover. They would be able to manipulate preferences, making it hostile to start-ups, small businesses and basically anyone who cannot pay. The anti- net neutrals gives the familiar neoliberal price/competition argument – the need to price supply as per demand allows for beneficial allocation in an increasingly shrinking space, and that those who put in the infrastructure should be incentivised (by the profit motive) to invest in making the space better.
As the battle continues, beyond the economics and technicality of the issue lie our worldview, one being framed by atomistic consumerist preferences and the constant compromise equality/ democracy makes in the onslaught of the Neoliberal- systems of economy and society we have nurtured (albeit sub/unconsciously), and affirm as the mainstream.
But first some quick facts.
What is net neutrality?
The principle that all content on the internet should be treated equally- one can access all websites (with equal speed of connection, on all possible devices), once you have internet access.
What is equal access?
Non-discriminatory access and equal distribution of content basically means that service providers should
not create high speed lanes for certain services (such as by, say, collusions between content providers and internet service providers to allow users to access their content much faster- making shopping at say, Ebay, much faster than rival Flipkart when using a certain ISP) and charge excessive tariffs based on demand and paying capacity of the user
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