The plan reiterates that maintaining a high growth rate is essential for increasing living standards of the vast majority of people who remain vulnerable to climate change. The draft was discussed on Monday by the Prime Minister’s 22-member council on climate change.

There was no major dissension to the proposed action plan. The plan has been drafted by a group led by Kapil Sibal. Another document prepared by R Chidambaram, principle scientific advisor to the PM, will form its background paper.

One of the main reasons for taking this safe path is India’s stance in multilateral negotiations. India has maintained that it believes in “common and differentiated responsibility” and hence will wait for developed countries to cap their emissions that are several times higher. At the same time, India has to demonstrate to the world that it is on a “clean development” path. The final action plan is expected to be ready in a month before the next major round of international negotiations on the post-Kyoto framework.