India wants to emulate China on various issues concerning use of technology and management controls to reduce emissions and poisoning of
rivers, Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for environment and forests (independent charge), said on Tuesday.
Ramesh also told his Chinese hosts that India would like to be made part of a mechanism on climate control issues, which have China, Japan and South Korea as members. The hosts have promised to take up New Delhi's request with the two other member-countries.
"We must be plugged into what they are doing," he said.
Ramesh was full of praise for the Chinese Academy of Research on Environmental Sciences, which he visited today. He was also impressed by Chinese successes in cleaning up some of their lakes and rivers using modern technology.
"It would be a good idea for India to emulate. We do not have a major scientific institution in the area of environment although we have major institutes in the fields of agriculture and industry," he told Indian journalists on Tuesday.
His ministry will send two delegations for studying Chinese methods of dealing with industrial pollution and cleaning of lakes and rivers by 2009 end, Ramesh said. The Indian teams will mainly focus on the kind of technologies used by China in the environmental field."China has followed a more scientific approach in cleaning rivers and lakes than what we have done," the minister said while lamenting that hundreds of crores spent on cleaning up the Ganga and Yamunna rivers have not yielded significant results.
India and China are due to sign an agreement to collaborate on several areas of climate change tomorrow. Another agreement for joint research on Tibetan plateau will also be inked tomorrow.
New Delhi is also seeking Chinese participation in the research for management of coastal zones. It wants an institution from China to join hands with the National Institute of Sustainable Coastal Zone Management, which is being set up at the Anna University in Chennai.
The minister invited Chinese environment scientists to attend the next conference of the Indian Science Congress in Shillong in January.
Ramesh said China have five times the installed capacity of electricity compared to India. National Thermal Power Corporation, which is India's largest electricity company, would rank seventh if compared to Chinese companies, he said. He was impressed by the high degree of maintenance and housekeeping at a power plant near Beijing, which he visited on Tuesday.