A ?clash? of sorts broke out between Mani Shankar Aiyar, minister for panchayati raj, and Kapil Sibal, minister for science and technology and earth sciences, on Monday, over ways in which the country is dealing with climate change.

It was the national action plan on climate change, drafted after many consultations with various ministries a few months back, that was the prime focus of the debate.

The government, in June 2008, had announced the plan to deal with climate change, under which, eight missions were formed. These focused on areas like solar energy, enhancing energy efficiency etc.

Aiyar, speaking at a seminar here, questioned the effectiveness of such action plans, as they do not involve local communities or panchayats. He stated categorically that his ministry ?was not consulted? for the discussion while the paper on the action plan was being formulated. ?It reflects a major lacunae in what we want to do to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on local communities,? Aiyar said.

Kapil Sibal, countering Aiyar?s views, said the purpose for setting up the eight missions was to understand and study the impact of global warming from the scientific point of view and the different missions would submit detailed implementation strategies to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in December.

?We do not know enough about the science of climate change,? he said. Sibal also added that till scientific data is collected, and the causes and impacts of climate change established, it would difficult for the government to involve panchayats or local communities in the mitigation.

Sibal also emphasised the need for developing or transferring green technologies, and said there that a lot of research and data collection has to be made before initiating mitigating strategies. ?We need to marry technology with local needs as panchayats, NGOs, scientists must work in tandem for addressing the vulnerable section who would be adversely impacted by climate change,? he said.

Both the ministers were speaking at a seminar on ?National policy dialogue on adaptation to climate change? jointly organised by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the MS Swaminathan Foundation

Under the Kyoto Protocol (2008-2012), ratified under the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC), India does not have any legal or binding obligation to reduce carbon emission.

A national action plan on climate change has however been formed, so that the country gradually shifts from carbon-based energy production to non-carbon based production from renewable sources.

The plan also stresses on the importance of solar energy by stating that photovoltaic cells are becoming cheaper with new technology. ?The Himalayan ecosystem has 45 million people who practice hill agriculture and whose vulnerability is expected to increase on account of climate change,? it says.

While actual data on India?s present greenhouse emissions is yet to be compiled, the present data goes back to 1994, when the per capita emission was just 0.87 tonne per person per year, which, according to an estimate, has increased to 1.1 tonne per person now. This is still very ?low? compared to developed countries like the US, which emits roughly 20 tonne of green house gases, and China, which emits 4 tonne.