Smoke signals

Mumbai and Delhi run on gas but the ubiquitous chulha, used by millions of poor in rural India, is now
in the dock for contributing to climate change.
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While few doubt the desi stove's potential to pollute, there is growing concern that the West may use this desi weapon against India.

The US Congress has introduced a bill to regulate black carbon and which links aid to black-carbon-reduction projects abroad, including replacing sooty chulhas with improved, cleaner ones.

Environmentalists are concerned that by shifting the focus on black carbon emissions in developing nations, the West may be deflecting the focus from its own less-than-impressive record in the curbing carbon emissions.

Will the poor end up paying the price for the greenhouse gas emissions of the affluent? Clearly the debate has only just begun and desi carbon credit traders had better watch out.