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from India Insight:
The news this weekend: LPG, Kejriwal, toilets, politicians… and Somali pirates
It's shaping up as a busy weekend for India's politicians...
The price of LPG -- liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, or cooking gas -- has risen 11.42 rupees per cylinder because dealers are getting higher commissions. TV channels attacked the government because this "shocker" comes right after the imposition of a cap on subsidized cylinder sales was imposed.
Bharatiya Janata Party politician Smriti Irani said the party will hold a nation-wide protest on Oct. 12, saying the higher prices are “anti-women”. This is presumably because they do more of the daily cooking than men, whose potential inversely proportional waistline shrinkage could be in their favour.
We all know who the main attraction is on news channels nowadays: social activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal. Here are the pots that he's stirring: Accusing Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, and DLF, India’s top listed real estate developer, of being involved in shady deals which could have favoured Vadra. Vadra has replied, as has the DLF. Short story: they committed no illegal acts. Protesting against higher electricity prices in New Delhi. He then restored an electricity connection himself, which of course is illegal.
Kejriwal is keeping others busy too. The BJP is supporting Kejriwal, while Congress politicians are doing their best to defend Vadra.
from India Insight:
Will necessity help coal trump environment concerns?
Coal accounts for 60 percent of India's energy use, runs most power stations and factories and enabled state-run company Coal India to have a blockbuster IPO last year raising a record $3.5 billion.
But despite having the world's fourth largest coal reserves, India remains a major importer and the coal industry is pointing fingers at the environment ministry for part of the failure to properly develop coal fields.
from Environment Forum:
Copenhagen…DOpenHAgen…DOHA?
Some politicians are mentioning "Copenhagen" and "Doha" in the same breath -- a worrying lament less than 2 months to go before a U.N. climate deal is meant to be wrapped up in the Danish capital.
So is there a risk -- if negotiators are not smart -- that the new U.N. accord to fight global warming will stall like the long-running Doha round on freeing world trade, launched in 2001?
