I have seen most of your films and loved them. I started with English August ,Mr. & Mrs Iyer, 15 Park Avenue and went on till Antaheen. I learnt later that you worked as acopy writer with Rediffusion, where I had a short stint after you left. Why dont you write and direct a film on your own, its going to be marvellous. Your depth and style will definately have a mass appeal. Imagine me and my husband watching you as a top cop in Antaheen with friends in the UK at several weekends.

Your style is unique and different in every film. Each character you portray make the viewers feel as if that particular character was tailor made from you.

It will be great to hear more from you.

I saw this incredible film last fortnight.  The setting was appropriately big-budget – snowstorms, howling winds, grey Dr Zhivago skies, helicopters, police from three countries, and a supporting cast of hundreds of thousands from over 100 countries. It started slow and then gathered pace very quickly. The main actors made impressive entries. As the movie wore on the supporting performances surprised  you with their chutzpah, but come the climax and inevitably, the lead actors reasserted themselves to take centrestage. In between there was melodrama, violence, tears and lots of love. The ending? Ah. Let’s call it bittersweet. The name? COP15. It’s Danish. Well…it’s from everywhere actually. What a fortnight it was. In the time-honored tradition of telling you about the movie, here are, what Hindi movie producers call ‘the highlights’.

Dec 12.  I walk into Copenhagen on day 7 of the COP. I have just landed from Oslo where I was invited to attend the Nobel Peace Prize concert. Wyclef Jean and Will Smith are still ringing in my years when, coming out of the airport, the wind takes over. Today is the Global Day of Action. Over 3000 rallies urging governments to take action against climate change are planned across the world.  This is the primary reason I am here.  As a Global ambassador of Oxfam International I have been invited to address a public rally at Christianborg Spotsplads (Parliament Square). You couldn’t get a more eclectic bunch of speakers -  Angelique Kidjou the Grammy award-winning Benioise singer, Danish politician Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greepeace International and Constance Okollet, Ugandan peasant farmer and climate refugee. I hug Angelique who I know from before and exchange frost-breath hellos with the rest. They are estimating 30000 people will attend. As I step out  the car, COP15 hits me on the face. The square is throbbing with 100,000 people. Multiply the Mumbai Marathon by four. Banners saying “Get Real!” and “Bla  Bla Bla”, women in polar bear suits, a man on stilts. And the police. Everywhere, silent, stunned by this singing, chanting ocean of people from countries they will never hear of again in their lives. The din is electric, the wind is biting, music starts to thump, the crowd starts to roar. It’s time. One by one we speak. I start by telling the crowd I am not going to talk about climate change. Nor am I going to talk about cinema. I am going to talk about soccer. Bemused silence. I say I am going to talk about a soccer league that has rich, privileged teams playing as well as minor league teams playing. The catch is the rich teams are caught cheating. The crowd gets it. They listen intently as I talk about equity and moral justice through this allegory, and then I am off stage doing press. Star TV appears out of nowhere as does DD – the most underestimated channel in the world – they manage to appear everywhere. Bytes done, we grab some lunch and head out to the end of the rally, where I am asked to speak again – something I have not prepared for. I run my speech by Claire Lewis, the Oxfam genius who looks after all global ambassadors across the world. She thinks it’ll fly. It’s night (the sun sets here at 4 pm), and even colder. One of my favourite people, Mary Robinson, ex-Prime Minister of Ireland is speaking, she will be followed by Tom Goldtooth, a Native American environmental leader, some politicians and then me. This time I talk about the increasing pressure the developing world is going to be under in the next seven days to compromise. I end with the words – do not budge, do not bend, do not break. It goes down well. There is a roar and I walk off thinking – Hmm. That could be addictive. Have to be careful. Drive straight out of there to Helena Christensen’s (yes, the supermodel Christensen) photo exhibition of Peruvian farmers and their lives. Am a little wary of the substance of what I am going to see but am pleasantly surprised to be looking at photographs of density with a definite worldview behind them. So much for stereotypes. Sleep the sleep of the dead. And the frozen.

Dec 13.  It’s Sunday, a day off at the conference. The COP venue, Bella Centre, is closed. Am locked in a seven-hour session with 60 policy wonks of Oxfam world wide. It is exhilarating. Never before have I been surrounded by so many incredibly intelligent, buzzing, informed, intensely committed people from all over the planet. There is Katya from Brazil, Jan from Germany, Antonio from Colombia, Barry from New Zealand, Anna from England and of course, Jeremy Hobbs, the head honcho from Australia. It is a session that reviews the seven days completed and considers the possible outcomes at the end of the next week. Different sets of strategies and action points are discussed for each possible outcome. I leave them knowing the process of recalibrating responses, rewonking policy and relooking at lobbying strategies will continue right uptil the final hour on the 18^th when 130 leaders will emerge out of the Bella Center with a piece of paper. My phone beeps at 5 pm. Jairam Ramesh is happy to meet some of us at 8pm at the Marriott. It is decided there will be four organizations at the informal meeting – Climate Action Network, South Asia (CAN-SA),  World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) and Oxfam. Mr. Ramesh who I have met before he became the  environment minister is his usual self. Listening to his repartee you would have no idea he is the man on so many spots – the G77 plus China spot, the developing countries v developed countries spot, the mediator between warring factions spot. Part funny, part flip he may seem, but Mr Ramesh never drops the ball. It proves to be a deeply insightful hour for me. My profession has taught me to watch and listen to people. I watch the dynamics in the room swirl around the minister as tough questions and scenarios are put in front of him. The youth network kids are massively informed and opinionated and are unrelenting in getting answers.  Riveting. Sleep a less urgent sleep. Thawing.

Dec 14. Today is the last day when all accredited junta are allowed into the Bella Centre. Tomorrow the numbers will be cut by 75%. I line up like everybody else at 7am. It is dark. (The sun rises at 8am). We are approximately 200^th in line. People have been waiting since 6. The Centre opens at 8. Claire is good company. She tells me negotiations went on till late last night with no movement. Surprise, surprise. The queue grows longer behind us. nothing happens. A few people are let in. Immediately people wake up. I feel like I am queueing to get into Wankhede. India v Pakistan. East stand. I stamp my feet awake, hush my growling stomach to sleep. No luck. We wait and wait. Navika from Times Now is ahead of us in the line. She does a byte with me in the queue. Ravinder from Headlines Today spots us and does another byte with me. A lady from AP starts clicking pictures. Claire is thrilled. I am not. People are staring. Who the hell is this guy? Doesn’t look remotely intelligent (or terribly dressed) enough to be a climate change sort.  6 hours later we give up and return to town. Reports of the most amazing cock-up in modern convention history start pouring out of the Bella Centre. The police were so staggered by the queues they froze. So did I. Claire reschedules all my interviews to the next day. As we return to the Oxfam hub (Hotel Copenhagen – a friendly dive – think any hotel on Colaba Causeway and give it a bit of a clean-up), we hear news of the walk out by the African bloc. As expected it is followed by the walk-back-in but not before shaking things up a little bit. It is patently clear the developed world is not serious about the two-track (Kyoto Protocol and the Long-term Climate agreement –the LCA) configuration of talks which was decided two years ago in Bali. There is an increasing Kafkaesque sense of running to stand still, furious negotiations to agree on what was agreed two years ago. What would Joseph Heller have said?

Dec 15. The day when lesser mortals fall by the wayside and the creamy, 25% layer of delegates that are deemed to be superior human beings stride into the Bella Center in slow motion, chins quivering with purpose. The Secondary Pass ( I kid you not) Issue  Day. Two lines have been made. In one, stand accredited delegates, in another the New Inductees. The police see them. And freeze. Clearly the brain of the Danish policeperson is inversely proportional to his/her size. They merge the two lines together. Barbara Stanwyck, head of Oxfam, Great Britain, waits outside for five hours till she is fast tracked in. Fast-tracked. I am thinking – if any of this had happened in India what a  caning we would have gotten. “Indian Cops in Hot Water – pour cold water on COP!”.  “Emerging Economy doesn’t let anyone in!” Today is a big day for Oxfam. It is the day of the Climate Hearings where Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson will preside over the hearing of the testimonies of climate refugees from Sudan, Bangladesh, Rwanda and Mali. It is a wonderful, moving session. Hindustan times votes Oxfam Star Charity of the Week. Desmond Tutu issues a statement to the press urging not 2 degrees to be the global warming limit, but 1.5 degrees. Africa will go under with the extra 0.5 degrees, he says. I am not sure this is falling on listening ears. Get to the Bella Centre at 6pm. Have an on-camera chat with one of my favourite ‘green’ journalists, Bahar Dutt for CNN-IBN. She switches with Prabhanjan who was shooting while he interviews me in Hindi for IBN 7. Nifty. A lady from the American CNBC stops, asks Claire if she can interview me. By now you know Claire. Do  the interview, sprint out of there on numb legs. Sleep terrifically as if weightless. Perfectly understandable as I cannot feel my body.

Dec 16. Get to the Bella Center at ten. Make no effort to get inside. Am here to do a few more interviews. But what do we have here? Police, police and more police. The snow is not the only thing swirling around here. Rumours fly hot and fast of protesters taking ‘direct and violent action’ at the Centre. Nobody has a clue what that means. Just then 300-odd protestors are thrown out of the Bella Centre. They are chanting, “Climate change now! Stop talking! Start doing!”  The tension ratchets up. Then the first truncheon comes out of a policeman’s holster and the mayhem starts. Blood, whistles, screams, arrests. It was an angry, but physically peaceful protest. I start doing my interviews thinking, ‘why are the police the same everywhere in the world?’ How many times have you read the ‘police resorted to a lathi-charge outside the East Stand at Wankhede Stadium.’ Which blood-thirsty Indian cricket fan have you seen proving to be a threat to ‘internal security’? I calm down and finish up with NDTV and The Telegraph. I am continually impressed by the Indian journalists. From Samar Halarnkar of Hindustan Times to Betwa Sharma of PTI, they know their stuff. My friends in the field back in India say the reportage out of Copenhagen has been pretty good. I make the latter half of the day free to visit the National Gallery of Art. See some stunning installations themed ‘Global Warming’ by a Venezuelan artist and some early Monet. Very satisfying. Round off the day with a drink with my Danish friend, Anna Kastberg, an ex-student of the Mahindra United World College. Pack and lie down with the thought of going for a run in warm welcoming Mumbai and then thinking -  the marathon is coming up.

Dec 17. It’s snowing. The pavements have iced up. Happily I get into the airport limo, though it would have been interesting to stay. The next 48 hours are going to be when everything turns political at COP15. Yusuf, the Somalian taxi driver is astonishingly well-informed of the goings on at COP. He has been ferrying delegates from the Congo in and out of the Centre. He is outraged at the stupidity and the mismanagement of the entire conference. He apologises on Denmark’s behalf. I accept on behalf of 194 countries. He tells me Obama has delayed his trip. He will be coming in that night. We talk Obama, climate change, China and India. Yusuf has to be the most well informed taxi driver I have ever ridden with. Then he tells me he studied political science back home. At the airport they tell us they have to de-ice the plane before we take off. It involves bathing the plane in a chemical-solution. Sounds pretty primitive but it works. As we take off I can’t help wondering what the carbon footprint of the plane will be.

Epilogue – The conference was a disaster. Nobody showed the leadership. Nobody showed the humility. Nobody showed the courage. Mark Lynas’ piece in the Guardian is kicking up a storm on the internet. He was in the room when leaders led by Obama were battling to cobble together an agreement. He indicts China, saying it scuppered a great deal that was being offered by the developed countries because it knew it would not be able to keep its side of the green bargain. India too, has blood on its hands, he suggests – it tacitly supported China. Seems too incredible to me, but we’ll just have to wait for an official response. As a life-deepening experience COP15 was right up there. As an exposure to the machinations of politics vs what you and I think leaders care about it was only a half-surprise. As an exposure to the mind of policy makers, lobbyists and negotiators, it was engaging. As a week spent in a “Woodstock for climate change”, it was unforgettable. Now if only there hadn’t been any snow. Then again, the cowardice of COP15 will look after that very shortly.

We have been discussing and straining our brains to find out methods to reduce global warming. We were told by scintists and glaciologista that the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035 and the earth will be under complete jeopardy. Imagine the shock when we find that nothing like that is going to happen. I cannot understand how these supposed to be responsible lot can be so irresponsible???

in fact the present research shows that melting or not has nothing to do with Global Warming. In fact after studying 35 glaciers they have arrived at a conclusion that all 35 are behaving in a different way; had there been any relation between the two all the glaciers would have behaved in a similar way. In fact the datas reveal that major rivers originating from the Himalayas would continue to flow for the future generation to see, that glaciers are here to stay.On the contrary the melting that is taking place is a natural phenomenon.Some of the glaciers have melted so little that it might take thousands of years to melt completely if at all.

The result might be that such a big mistake on the part of the glaciologists miht affect the global movement on carbon reduction to a great extent. General public may loose faith in what the scintists say about the rise in global temperatue and its direct relation with rise in atmosphere’s carbon content.

Our focus therefore must not change. We must stop the unwise use of energy from all fronts as much as possible. Global warming is a global warning and it is a proven fact without any issues. We must therefore continue our efforts to educate people on this concern and ensure that it is addressed properly from all quarters.

The tiger is a member of the felidae family; the largest of the four “big Cat” in genus Panthera. India is home to the world’s largest population of tigers in the wild. According to the world wildlife fund, of the 3,500 tigers around the world, 1,400 are found in India. A major concerted conservation effort, known as Project Tiger, has been underway since 1973, which was initially spearheaded by Indira Gandhi. A tiger census carried out in 2007, whose report was published on February 12, 2008, stated that the wild tiger population in India declined by 60% to approximately 1,411.

Valmiki is the 18th Tiger Reserve of the country and the second in Bihar. The core area of the Reserve was declared as a National Park in 1989.Valmiki Tiger Reserve spreads across 880 sq km in West Champaran district of the northern Indian state of Bihar, along the Indo-Nepal border.

But local villagers involve in illegal trading of tiger and one of constraint face by forest department of Bihar and enable to protect the tiger. Since beginning of the project found massive decrease of tiger by many agencies. According to socio economic survey was conducted in a total of 107 villages situated within 4 km of the park boundary. It revealed that about 74% of the villagers depend on forest for fuel wood, bamboo and small timber. While agriculture was the main source of livelihood, about 95% of the villagers reared cattle, with about 40% of them dependent on the forest for grazing and fodder. The survey also revealed lack of awareness regarding the conservation value of the reserve; about 90% considered forest as a source for firewood, fodder and housing material.

The outcome of the study stressed the need for urgent interventions to salvage Valmiki’s status as a tiger habitat. It was also observed that density estimation of tigers as well as their prey would be necessary for implementation of effective wildlife management measures. Regular monitoring would be needed to evaluate the progress of the interventions.

Census

Shortcoming of project:

i. Ignorance by GOVT. Of Bihar

ii. Vested interest of forest Department

iii. Deforestation

iv. Less importance community based conservation policy

v. Lack of community forestry program

vi. Lack of proper implementation of anti poaching and trade control etc.

Scope of tourism

According to Govt. Of Bihar, There is a vast scope of eco-tourism; the essential facilities will be generated in future. At present due to the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, non-forestry activity is not allowed.

So it time to wake up and protect the Tiger and tiger project because App jagoge to sara Sansar jagega with this word finished my writing and request to all ‘wake Up’ now.

RAJNIKANT GEORGE

After all the hue & cry about global warming and CO2 emission and that the Himalayan glaciers are retreating fast due to global warming, and that 2035 and we are gone, we are now told by another group that it has been what we say a ‘ comedy of errors.’ Coz  now a report released by India’s Ministry of Environment last week claims that the picture of fast retreating glaciers is inaccurate.

The report, by a senior glaciologist called Vijay Kumar Raina, says that earlier studies based on the measurements of a handful of glaciers did not present a true account, and that in fact, India’s 10,000 plus Himalayan glaciers are not shrinking rapidly in response to climate change.

 The report disputes the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) 2007 report, which stated clearly that Himalayan glaciers ‘are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035, and perhaps sooner, is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate.’

Raina’s report, ‘Himalayan Glaciers: A State-of-Art Review of Glacial Studies, Glacial Retreat and Climate Change’ has created a storm of controversy amongst scientists and journalists. The report draws on studies and findings, including remote-sensing satellite data and surveys conducted at sites often higher than 5,000 metres.

The report even claims that the Siachin glacier in Kashmir, where Indian and Pakistani forces are stationed at 6,000 metres, has not shrunk that much at all. Stories written in the popular press that Siachin is shrinking are wrong, says Raina. His report notes that the glacier has ‘not shown any remarkable retreat in the last 50 years.’

There is an increase in melt in lower elevation glaciers and the hazards of moraine damned lakes are real, but the rate of retreat of the glaciers has been exaggerated . The glaciers in the Indus Basin may also be quite healthy.

No one had gone up in person to the glaciers in these mountains to do the study — the research was done mostly by satellite imagery provided by NASA and other information. There could be a large margin of error in several statements made regarding the glaciers melting very very fast and so on. The problem is that there is a lack of information and the higher we go, the less data we have as no research is done regularly on this region.

Another scientist who does agree with Raina’s report is Kenneth Hewitt, a geo-scientist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada, who recently returned from an expedition to K2. He observed five glacier advances and a single retreat in the Karakorams. Such evidence certainly challenges the view that the glaciers in the region are disappearing fast.

Growing glaciers, however, are not exactly good news. According to Hewitt, ‘Surging glaciers are dangerous because they store water. The Hunza River has declined by 20 per cent due to the advance of glaciers in the area. These glaciers are storing ice… This is a different problem and needs to be investigated’.

http://blogs.bigadda.com/ari5000363/

Hai rahul ,
u look so decent . And i admired u most in the film chameli. Its a best beautifull performance i liked u a lot with that . U mesmerised the starrers . A real hero, nice choosy .. subjects like wise . U deserve a best performer. i expect some touchy humanness subjects from u more. May it be acting, but i feel u possess personally some goodness inside u. RIGHT !
And I wish u a very happy forecoming days by this newyear. Fine!

By
^_^

hi rahul sir m karan from delhi your great fan and your adda is great i mean cosidering about our world is gud nd i have seen your all movies and your taste of movies are great i wanna no wat happend wid the cophegon summit and will it cause our country’s developmant

only we can do it

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 when the need to save the earth for future use (sic) was badly felt. The protocol puts most of the developed countries ( rather all, I would say) into a group called the Annex I. These countries are legally bound to bring down their emissions to about 5.2 % below the 1990 level between 2008-2012. However the protocol got delayed for about 8 years because of resistance by the world’s largest emitters (well, who wants to be bossed around , hmm?).

At last the protocol came to force on 16 February 2005.It has wonderful mechanisms for global carbon emission. The instruments include caps, trade and Joint Implementations (JIs) for annex I countries and Clean Development Mechanism aka CDM for non-Annex I countries.

Caps are the annual green house emission quotas which are made mandatory by any government through legislation. For example, if the cap on a factory is 2000 carbon emission units then it will be illegal for that factory to emit more than 2000 tones of carbon gas. But let’s suppose that the factory normally emits much more than the limit, then what ?

Then Joint Implementations come to play. The Annex I countries will establish a sort of joint venture with another country in which setting up of a green manufacturing plant is economically viable ( Yes! It is very expensive in the developed world) . The annex I countries may otherwise also co-operate with other countries, if they wish so.

But the most fascinating instrument in the Kyoto Protocol is the CDM.CDM allows annex I countries to reduce their emissions by paying for the green house gas reduction in the non-annex I countries. It’s the trade of carbon credits , to be precise.

In CDM, the non-annex I countries are awarded a carbon credit for every  1 tonne reduction in the carbon credit.

Now let’s take the above case again. Let the annual emission was about 3000 units. Now the company needs to reduce 1000 tonnes of carbon emission. If the company buys about 100 carbon credits from a non-annex I country, then the gap between the goal and the present level decreases.

So Big Countries, don’t be afraid. There is something in the Kyoto Protocol for you too.

On the 12^th I travel from Paris to Copenhagen for the conference on climate change as a global ambassador for Oxfam international. As conflicting reports fly out of Copenhagen, I am reminded of a question I was most asked two months ago in whilst in Canada as a representative of the Climate Action Network. “So is there going to be a deal in Copenhagen?”  The journalist had waited, her pen poised. I had thought back to the front page article in the Vancouver papers that day – it quoted government officials righteously querying why there could not be different degrees of emission cuts in different parts of Canada (!).  I answered, “Probably not.”  Predictably her next question was “Why?”.

Here is the answer.

The entire climate change debate boils down to ethics. Developing countries broadly accept climate change is a clear and present danger that is going to affect all countries. They believe all nations should cut back on consumption of energies that emit carbon and greenhouse gases. Some rich countries are even reasonable enough to say that the cuts can be in proportion of the percentage of pollution each country is responsible for. Sounds pretty fair, doesn’t it? Hold your horses.

Developing countries have a very different reading of the situation. They believe the present state of affairs has been caused by the developed world and so those countries should cut first and deepest. That sounds fair,too. But, they go on to say, and here lies the rub, that no developing country should have any legally binding compulsion to cut its emissions. Oops, that sounds a bit biased, surely? Or maybe not. Listen on. Their argument is, if (and now these are my words) a nation has to grow into a developed country, it needs to achieve the basic triangle of education, health and employment. For this it needs massive amounts of energy to build schools, roads, hospitals, factories…you get the point. While no nation-builder worth his or her own salt is ever going to stop the consumption of energy that serves this triangle, the developing world accepts that there must be some way this energy can be extracted from sources cleaner than coal and oil. Well said. And voila, today, without getting too technical, clean technologies such as wind, water and solar, exist. But the catch is no developing country is going to sink thousands of crores every year in accessing and converting to these technologies, because it means taking thousands of crores out of nation-building and investing it, over long periods of time, in the new tech. But, they aver, they are willing to make the shift and sacrifice the time taken provided these technologies are transferred to them by the developed world for free. This they see as the price developed countries should be only too willing to pay for their unbridled, profligate consumption of fossil fuels over the last hundred or so years. Not only this. They go even further and demand an equal amount of aid to invest in methods that make their future development activities climate-resistant. How much are these two, technology-transfer and climate change –resilient development models – going to cost? A $200 billion each per year, spread over 77 countries. (If that sounds steep then compare that to the $1000 billion the U.S. alone spent in a year on the bailout of one country.)

This is as good a time as any to tell you I am on the developing world side of the fence, not because I belong to that part of the world, or that I am an ambassador of a non-profit organisation that advocates, if anything, a more stringent position than even the G-77 (group of developing countries) plus China holds, but because in my opinion ethics have to go hand in hand with equity and the current position of the developing world is clearly the most just ideological stance on the issue. Here are my reasons why :

Climate change hits the poor hardest. Almost all of the world’s poor reside in the developing world. In our country, 7 out of 10 Indians depend on the predictability of the weather for their livelihood. They are our farmers, fisherfolk and foresters. A one degree rise in temperatures will wipe out the incomes of 55 million Indians – families of our poorest farmers who already live on a knife edge of loans, low rainfall, fragile soils and poor market access.

Climate change hits women hard, and poor women hardest. 70% of those living below the poverty line are women. Yet they are responsible for the preparation of 80% of all food. They help cultivate crops, collect water and fuel. Climate change makes them walk more miles for water, go deeper into the forest for fuel, exhausting them more and feeding them less.

Climate finance is needed in poor countries for two purposes: One, money for low-carbon development (or mitigation finance) is needed to cover the incremental costs of clean development – of the extra costs of investing, for example, in a new wind farm over a new coal-fired power plant. Two, spending on adaptation to climate change can range according to local needs: to cope with more severe hurricanes- upgrading early warning systems and community awareness. To cope with lower, more erratic rainfall- researching, testing and growing drought-tolerant crop varieties. To cope with increased flooding- building new homes and schools on raised foundations;

And yet there will be no agreement in Copenhagen. Because today’s developed nations are behaving in the same way a team that has cheated its way to the finals of a tournament behaves when it is caught. It says, stop everybody else cheating and we will too. The question is – who started the rot? Who benefited the most from cheating? It all boils down to owning up to one’s faults, having the character to live by a moral code. A code of ethics.