Minister Jairam Ramesh quits to focus on poll strategy

September 19th, 2009 NEW YORK - Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said developed countries should not expect miracles at the Copenhagen Climate Summit to be held in December. Ramesh said the goals sought for emission control by the developed countries should be more realistic.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday urged the SAARC countries to develop a combined mechanism to mitigate problems of green house gas emission leading to climate change. Addressing SAARC Clean Development Mechanism Conference here today, he said the, environment has trans-border implications, and hence, the issue has to be dealt with in the same manner.

August 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, said on Saturday that about 11 per cent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) is being absorbed by the country's forests. According to the World Resources Institute, India's total GHG emissions stood at 1,853 million metric tons equivalent of carbon dioxide, about 4.9 percent of global emissions in 2005.

July 19th, 2009 GURGAON - Underlining differences with developed countries over climate change, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Sunday said India can't accept legally binding greenhouse emission targets. "I like to make it clear and categorical that we are simply not in position to take on legal binding on emission reduction targets," Ramesh said at a conference on climate change at the ITC Green Centre in this satellite town of Delhi.

July 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, known for his opposition to the use of English, Wednesday asked union minister Jairam Ramesh to reply to his question in Hindi, saying this was "the Lok Sabha, not London". Mulayam Singh had raised a query during question hour for Ramesh, the minister of state for environment and forest, on the "indiscriminate felling of trees in Lucknow and Noida".

July 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI J - Minister of State for Environment and Forest, Jairam Ramesh said here today that India would be a rabies free country within next ten years. Speaking after releasing a book on animal birth control, Ramesh said, government has taken up the issue of rabies control as a challenge, and allotted 200 crore rupees for the project.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government plans to strengthen the wildlife protection act so that poachers are convicted more quickly, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here Thursday. "I met (the Supreme Court's) amicus curae (on environment) Harish Salve and he had some very good ideas on how we can strengthen the act," Ramesh told the media.

July 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh Wednesday said the government would pursue a policy of encouraging bio-degradable plastic and argued that banning polythene bags was no solution. It is the failure of the solid waste management by (the) local bodies that is forcing the state governments to ban the use of plastic bags, Jairam Ramesh, who holds independent charge of environment ministry, said in parliament.

July 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Water security was a key area in the governments national action plan on climate change, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Wednesday and described the drying up of natural lakes across the country as a matter of serious concern. The minister of state with independent charge of environment however said his ministry faced a problem of resources and suggested that the issue could be more aggressively addressed if the water resources ministry joined hands with him.

June 6th, 2009 HYDERABAD - The Union Government will soon initiate a new proposal, 'Modernisation of Forest Administration', in order to develop the forest administration and simultaneously tackle the growing Naxalite menace. Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said the Centrally-sponsored scheme would be launched in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa which are facing the Maoist problem.

April 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A week before the Lok Sabha elections start, Congress strategist Jairam Ramesh has conceded it will be a 'tough fight' although he is optimistic that his party will win again. Ramesh said his party would contest around 440 seats out of 543 seats as against 417 in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

February 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday appointed former union minister Jairam Ramesh as the party's co-ordinator for the coming Lok Sabha elections. 'The Congress president has approved the appointment of Jairam Ramesh as co-ordinator for Lok Sabha elections-related affairs,' a statement released by Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.

February 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Minister of State for Commerce, Industry and Power Jairam Ramesh resigned from the council of ministers Wednesday to concentrate on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Ramesh, who is a Rajya Sabha member from the Congress, told IANS: 'Yes, I have resigned as a minister.' Asked about the reasons, he said: 'To concentrate on campaigning yaar (friend).'

January 31st, 2009 SHIMLA - Intiatives to improve trade with Pakistan will remain suspended till it cracked down on architects of the Mumbai terror attacks, said Minister of State for Commerce, Industry and Power Jairam Ramesh here Sunday. 'Trade improving initiatives (with Pakistan) cannot be resumed till the conspirators of Mumbai terror attacks are brought to justice,' Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of a function.

January 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian Inc. needs to shift its focus from trade to investment in order to compete with China, Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh said here Monday.