Weather exacts too high a price - India among top 10 losers | |
| G.S. MUDUR | |
New Delhi, Dec. 8: Bangladesh, India and China are in the league of top 10 countries where extreme weather events claim the largest number of lives, the first analysis of the impact of climate change over the past 18 years has shown. The Global Climate Risk Index released today by a non-government agency at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen has shown that 11,000 extreme weather events have killed about 600,000 people and caused losses of $1.7 trillion. Along with the grim statistics came another fiery forecast: this year is likely to be the fifth warmest on record and the first decade of this century the hottest since records began to be kept, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said. All the 10 countries worst affected by the extreme weather events between 1990 and 2008 were developing countries from the low-income or lower-middle income groups. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh had pointed out in Parliament last week that India was the most vulnerable country to climate change — given its high dependence on the monsoon and the threat of climate change to several critical ecological zones. The extent of the loss of life adds a dimension larger than compulsions of development — the excuse by developing countries not to cut emissions — to nascent domestic efforts to launch clean-up initiatives without waiting for the West, the biggest polluters, to show the way. The climate summit is expected to finalise an accord to reduce or limit Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions. It is also tasked with the formulation of mechanisms to get industrialised countries to support developing countries through finance and technology to adapt to the consequences of climate change. Extreme weather claimed the highest lives in Bangladesh where the annual death toll was 8,241, according to the climate risk index, a tool used by the NGO Germanwatch to rank countries according to their vulnerability. "It may appear surprising India and China rank among the top 10 affected countries because both have large populations — so the relative impacts might be expected to be low," said Sven Harmeling, senior adviser on climate with Germanwatch. "But (the data show) both are regularly hit by extreme events such as flooding and storms," Harmeling told The Telegraph. India's annual death toll is 3,255 while China's figure is 2,023. "Hopefully, this will create additional pressure to develop an ambitious adaptation action framework, including an international insurance mechanism which assists countries hit by very severe events," Harmeling said. The climate risk index is a mathematical tool whose value for each country depends on the number of deaths and economic losses from extreme events, and the losses as a proportion of the country's gross domestic product. The WMO report for 2009 highlights the scale of global vulnerability — citing droughts in Australia, China, East Africa and India and intense storms and rain and snow events in Europe, Asia and North America. Warmest decade The WMO declared the first decade of the 21st century — 2000-2009 — as the "warmest decade" and put 2009 among the top 10 warmest years on record since instrumental weather observations began in 1850. The hottest year on record, 1998, coincided with a powerful El Nino, and a new El Nino developed this year. "It's getting warmer and warmer. The warming trend is increasing," WMO head Michel Jarraud told Reuters. | |
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Aligarh girl has more queries - Issues 'shy' student could not raise with Rahul | ||
| TAPAS CHAKRABORTY | ||
Lucknow, Dec. 8: If Rahul Gandhi had the time, Aligarh Muslim University student Umme Kulsum would have asked him to define competence and chart a roadmap for the community's GenX. A 21-year-old science undergraduate, Kulsum had yesterday asked Rahul if a Muslim could ever become the country's Prime Minister. Speaking to The Telegraph from her Aligarh home, Kulsum said today that while she broadly agreed with Rahul's contention that capability, not religious or community considerations, was the key, she would like him to explain what he meant by competence. "Barack Obama, going by Rahul Gandhi's definition, is the most competent, most educated man in America to qualify as President of the country. But Obama emerged from the movement of the African-Americans in the US. Does Mr Gandhi believe Obama has as much academic qualification as Dr Manmohan Singh? Who will decide what kind of qualification prepares a politician for the top post?" Kulsum asked. A shy girl, Kulsum's question yesterday — which has made her a bit of a celebrity on the AMU campus — was an impromptu one, asked to Rahul at the fag end of the Congress leader's interactive session at Kennedy Hall. "She did not consult me before she left home yesterday," said Kulsum's father S.N.A. Jaidi, a government employee in Aligarh. To the third-year student's pointed poser yesterday — "can a Muslim ever become Prime Minister of India" — Rahul had replied that "it is what you bring to the table, what capability you have" that would determine who would get the top job. Kulsum said she agreed competence was a factor, but argued that Muslims had come a long way since Independence. But unlike in the US, the movement for the community's emergence in India had not thrown up a leader like Obama. "I agree competence is a must, but what kind of competence is he (Rahul) talking about?" Kulsum asked. She said Rahul didn't have the time, but if he had, she and her fellow Muslim GenX would have more questions for him. "Like," Kulsum said, "Muslim youths want to increase their participation in politics but who will give them a platform? Who will make the Muslim youths feel they are not second-class citizens? Who will give the Muslim students a real sense of responsibility?" Will Kulsum, if given a chance, take on a leadership role? The student has her mind set on a management degree, but insisted she had a strong interest in politics as well. As the country's lawmakers persisted with an acrimonious debate in Parliament on the Liberhan report, the student said that like most others of the new generation of Muslims in India, she wants to go beyond Babri and the terrorist stigma haunting the community, which she thinks are a thing of the past. "Our worry is the lack of opportunities for the new generation. We are still not sure what is in store for this generation of Muslims," she said. Kulsum said Indian Muslims had proved themselves in all fields — research, fine arts, management — yet they suffer from a sense of insecurity. She herself has scored over 75 per cent in all her examinations. "Our generation of students is ambitious. We want to be achievers but we wonder why there is this sense of insecurity," she said. |
Sonia moots rehab panel | ||
| SUMAN K. SHRIVASTAVA & JAYESH THAKER | ||
Sisai/Ghatshila, Dec. 8: Sonia Gandhi touched upon on all aam admi concerns in Jharkhand today and raised the hope on one of the primary issues facing the tribal state, promising to set up a National Rehabilitation Commission to ensure adequate compensation for people willing to part with land for development projects. Addressing two mammoth election rallies in Ghatshila and Gumla today, the Congress president took off from where her son and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi left during his visit to Bermo and Latehar last week when he played on stability and the need for synergy between the Centre and state governments for the sake of development. "The rehabilitation commission would ensure that villagers who are willing to part with their land for development were compensated adequately and rehabilitated properly," the Congress chief explained, touching a chord with the over 20,000 tribals who had gathered at a rally in Sisai in Gumla to garner support for party nominee Geeta Shree Oraon, daughter of veteran leader, late Kartik Oraon. "We want development but not at the cost of displacement of tribals," she said, having echoed similar sentiments hours earlier at Ghatshila. At a rally in support of state Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu, Sonia recalled the party's strong bond with adivasis and how Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi worked for their betterment post-Independence. Sonia's statement, that seeks to institutionalise relief and resettlement of the displaced is a fresh idea from the party's backroom that could have far-reaching implications in tribal areas of central and eastern India. Congress sources said more such ideas relating to land acquisition are incubating in Rahul Gandhi's mind as the UPA's initial commitment of restoring tribals' rights over forests is not resolving problems. In her second leg of campaigning in Jharkhand, Sonia also referred to Naxalites but stuck to a tough line even as she reiterated what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has always maintained about holding talks with rebels only if they abjured violence. Development work, as Singh has said, and the law and order machinery would exist simultaneously. "But it is our responsibility to face the violence being perpetrated by anti-democratic forces," she said. She refrained from mentioning former chief minister Madhu Koda by name but indicated the party's regret at having supported a regime of Independents for close to two years. Listing the various people-friendly initiatives taken during President's rule in the state, Sonia said: "We promise to provide a stable and corruption-free dispensation in Jharkhand." She didn't spare the Opposition BJP too. "Hamare virodhi jaat aur dharam ke nam par rajnitik rotiya saek rahen hain. Yeh log yeh kaam Jharkhand ke saath saath dusre rajyo mein bhi kar rahen hain (The Opposition is trying to score political points in the name of caste and religion. Besides Jharkhand, they are doing this in other states too)," she said. | ||
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