New Delhi, India: December 2, 2007 -  IR Summary - India has made out a strict plan to keep its carbon emissions per person lower than those of the rich countries to be taken up at the next week's climate change talks in Indonesia.

As per data,an average American emits 20 times more carbon than the average Indian, not least because more than 600 million Indians still live in homes without so much as a light bulb, according to government data.

India has pledged to do the maximum in this regard.  The absence of such targets for developing nations like India and China is reported to have long been a sticking point with the United States, and was one reason it remained outside the Kyoto Protocol, which binds 36 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

India is expected to negotiate from this position as it meets with about 190 nations in Bali this month to begin a two year process to find a new agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

"The prime minister has said that we will make our development path in such a careful way that 20, 30 years down the line we still don't cross the per-capita emissions of the developed world," Jayant Mauskar, a senior environment ministry official, told the Reuters. (IR Summary).

News Factor by Reuters:

India's widely awaited climate change strategy is yet to be published, but Mauskar said this idea remained the "bedrock" of India's position.

"It provides a challenge to the developed countries," said Rajendra Pachauri, an Indian scientist and member of the prime minister's climate change council.