Geopolitics

Is India's Antarctica science really an eye-wash -- more bureaucracy than science? One cannot, of course, deny the fact that India needs to keep that toehold.

"No case for a multilateral framework"

Is there the need for a multilateral framework to govern investments? Interviewee:  Nagesh Kumar

Tobacco control

The World Heath Assembly adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at its 56th session in Geneva on May 21, 2003. The member countries affirmed that they would adopt and ratify the tobacco treaty at the earliest. FCTC can come into force only after 40 countries ratify it. Despite the fact that Germany and the US were opposed to the treaty, they did not impede the process.

Row over investments

a crucial decision confronts the forthcoming Fifth World Trade Organization (wto) Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003: whether or not to launch negotiations on a possible multilateral framework on investment. Issues such as the very need for this type of an arrangement under the wto, and the pro-investor tilt in proposals put forward by the North will also have to be dealt with simultaneously.

Smoke alarm

sidestepping health concerns, the us government has asked other nations to support the reopening of negotiations on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (fctc). The treaty aims to curb tobacco menace.

Pact under pressure

A controversy over the design of the Baglihar hydroelectric project on Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir is threatening to plunge the already strained ties between India and Pakistan into crisis. The row has put the 43-year-old bilateral Indus Water Treaty (iwt) to its severest test to date.

Indus water row resurfaces

in a major development, the Jammu and Kashmir (j&k) legislative council has passed a resolution urging the Union government to review the Indus Water Treaty in the best interests of the people of the state.

Confessional compulsory

A new international pact will force companies to disclose the pollutants they emit, factory by factory. The treaty, negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ece), was finalised in Geneva by more than 30 countries of Europe, Central Asia and North America.

Joint venture

on june 10, 2002, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (asean) signed the first ever agreement on transboundary haze pollution to deal with the recurring smoke and haze problem in their region.

Facilitator or barrier?

the Union cabinet's recent approval of the proposal to ratify two global conventions--one on plant genetic resources and another on plant variety protection-- is being looked upon with scepticism by experts. Both the treaties will aim to harmonise India's regulations on agricultural intellectual property rights with international norms.