India should reduce dependence on fossil fuels: Shyam Saran

July 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's Special Envoy on Climate Change Systems Shyam Saran and his US counterpart Todd Stern will hold talks on climate change today. Stern, who was accompanying US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is staying back here for talks.

July 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday began the Delhi leg of her five-day India visit with a conference on climate change and green technologies - a subject close to her heart and an emerging theme in burgeoning India-US ties. Dressed in a turquoise blue business suit, a beaming Clinton landed at the ITC Green Building in Gurgaon, a township adjoining Delhi, soon after arrriving in the capital on a two-day visit that will focus on expanding the scope of strategic dialogue between the two countries.

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India has finalised two of the eight missions under its National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran said here Thursday. The missions are on solar energy and energy efficiency.

May 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - There should be high level talks between Brazil, Russia, India and China on a global pact to combat climate change before the first BRIC summit in Russia next month, India's top climate negotiator Shyam Saran said here Thursday. The talks should be at the level of either politicians or senior officials, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Saran told delegates from all BRIC countries at a summit preparatory meeting organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

April 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Asserting that it cannot accept a cap on development, India has proposed a collaborative approach to the problem of global warming to achieve sustainable development with a strategic shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. 'We cannot accept a cap on our development,' Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Issues Shyam Saran said Tuesday, proposing a rapid adaptation of technology that takes into account the overriding interest of development.

April 9th, 2009 BONN - India has told the UN that there is no such thing as an 'advanced developing country' - a category that was sought to be introduced by Japan at a just-ended inconclusive global meet on climate change. The 10-day meet was the first in a series organised by the UN leading up to a December summit where countries will seek to hammer out an agreement on how to tackle climate change.

March 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama in London, India Monday said it 'won't stand in the way' of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) provided it 'actively contributes to nuclear disarmament'. 'We won't stand in the way...

March 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - India and the US have agreed to continue their high level dialogue on climate change in the run up to the Copenhagen conference to evolve a new global regime on the issue. The agreement came as Prime Minister's Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy on climate change, Shyam Saran, Wednesday concluded the first high-level interaction with Obama administration on climate change and related matters.

March 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - India has suggested a strategic partnership between Indian and US business focusing on three Rs - renewables, reusables and recyclables - to meet the twin challenges of climate change action and energy security. 'If energy is not to become a constraint on our growth - the growth of India and the US and the global economy as a whole, then a relatively rapid and significant shift to renewable and non-conventional energy sources becomes inevitable,' Shyam Saran, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy for Climate Change, said here Tuesday.

March 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - India wants the US to take the lead in evolving a new 'fair and equitable' global regime on climate change that supports sustainable development in developing countries. India's main interest in the multilateral negotiations leading up to the 15th Conference of Parties in Copenhagen in December this year under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is to ensure the emergence of such a global regime, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy for Climate Change Shyam Saran said here Tuesday.

March 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy on nuclear issues and climate change Shyam Saran is holding talks with the Obama administration focusing on cooperation in the field of renewable and clean energy. Saran Monday articulated India's view on how to tackle the crucial issue taking into account the concerns of developing and emerging economies at meetings with Todd Stern, US Special Envoy on Climate Change and Nancy Helen Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

March 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change, Shyam Saran, on Monday underlined the need to make the strategic shift from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Saran added that the shift needs to be made now and should not be delayed any further.

March 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India had sent a 'very strong demarche' which led to the US removing India from the mandate of special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, according to the prime minister's special envoy on climate change, Shyam Saran. Saran said this during a question and answer session, after delivering a speech on the geo-strategic implications of the financial crisis Saturday evening, adding that India was able to communicate its concern on including India in Holbrooke's mandate as an example of an early dialogue with the Obama Administration.

February 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Friday stressed that the global economic crisis should not become a cause for developed countries to cut down spending on projects to counter climate change. 'The economic slowdown should not be an excuse to reduce, but to re-double efforts on funding for climate change,' prime minister's envoy on climate change Shyam Saran told reporters here at an interaction.

January 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Shyam Telelink Ltd, a joint venture between Russian telecom giant Sistema and India's Shyam Group, Friday announced the change of its name to Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTS). 'Sistema is the majority shareholder in this venture with Shyam Group being the other partner.