There is something fascinating about the way our engagement with the rest of the world almost always gets hemmed in by the Us-versus-Them syndrome. The climate change agenda has also meshed beautifully into that chain.

I venture to think this form of engagement has become so much a part of our response to the current debates, the Indian government as in this case has put up a defensive wall about our position, without even bothering to accurately gauge the way Indian citizens have arraigned themselves on this topic.

It would be interesting then to inquire into the response of the Indian public to the issues of climate change through a referendum. The format has never been used by the Indian polity but there is absolutely no reason why this of all issues should not be voted upon by the people.

The government was within its rights to feel that the nuclear deal debate, for instance, was arcane enough not to lend itself to such methods. Also, despite the romance involved in asking an entire

1.1 billion population to vote on all and sundry issues, the scale involved would make the decision-making process impossible through such measures.

But I can think of just no other issue that lends itself to a nationwide vote more than the one on climate change. The implications are clear, the issues up for debate are clear too, as we shall see in a moment. Unlike any other topic that at best can involve only a section of the population in terms of the impact, the climate change agenda involves each person on this planet.

... contd.