A green discussion that wasn't

How would you rate someone who worked only 67% of the time they were supposed to work? Most of us would say, poorly. Well, that is as much as the Lok Sabha put in this high-voltage monsoon session. Bharati Chaturvedi writes.

How would you rate someone who worked only 67% of the time they were supposed to work? Most of us would say, poorly. Well, that is as much as the Lok Sabha put in this high-voltage monsoon session.

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It is true it debated many key issues, but had it worked 100% of its hours, it would have been able to keenly debated key green issues by now-climate change, particularly India's commitments both during forthcoming international talks and domestically.

What India does and says internationally at the climate talks is important both for developing countries who need to grow and puts pressure on developed countries, who are not reducing their carbon footprint. Given that the Kyoto Protocol ends this year, there are key positions India has to take, some of which bear strongly on its foreign policy too. These should have been debated at this point, when such positions are being finalised.

I would have liked to see our elected representatives discuss in detail what India's key positions should be, and our absolute no-nos. Discussing this in the winter session will be too late to influence anything, because the climate talks this year begin in late November in Durban. The next time, perhaps, the Lok Sabha can use the rest of its 33% wasted time to discuss key environmental issues.