PM Manmohan Singh on Monday released the much-awaited National Action Plan on Climate Change which aims to boost solar power generation in the country besides launching seven other programmes in mission mode towards greenhouse gas reduction and adaptation to inevitable climate change. TOI had earlier reported about the eight missions which the first draft of the plan had laid out. The essence of these remains intact in the final document. But the most interesting addition to the draft is a clear signal that India will not budge from its position in the international arena that these voluntary steps are being taken at a domestic level. India will continue to fight for an "equitable" global compact that demands greater and mandatory emission cuts from the rich countries. The release of the plan had earlier got stalled with PM's council on climate change debating how much of the country's international stance should be incorporated in the document. Some had suggested that the plan should be looked upon as a purely domestic document while others were keen to ensure that the domestic plan be written in the context of the global negotiations that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The latter group seems to have got its point across more emphatically in the final version.

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