This is slightly off-topic but I just couldn’t resist:-) I was googling for Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon’s speech at Delhi University on January 19 when Google turned up another speech of his in December 2007 out of which 2 paragraphs(547 words) on International Terrorism and Energy Security had been copied in their entirety and pasted into the 2009 speech. Given that the Foreign Secretary doesn’t make so many speeches (there are only 2 listed in 2008 and 6 in 2007 on the MEA website) and that so much has happened on these two fronts over the year, it seems like a case of extreme laziness on the part of his speechwriters. And for all you know, even the other parts of the speech might also be copied and pasted, hopefully from his own speeches. I dare not google further for fear of being proved otherwise.

These are the operative paragraphs taken from 2009 speech. The earlier speech was delivered on December 13, 2007 at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London.

Paradoxically, some of the same forces of globalization – the evolution of technology, the mobility of capital and so on – which have led to the decline or collapse of the Westphalian state order are also the source of our greatest dangers. Our major threats today are from non-state actors, from trans-boundary effects of the collapse of the state system, or, at least, of its inadequacy.(Paradoxically, the doctrine of absolute sovereignty created by the strong European states and rulers in earlier centuries is now the last defence of the weak against the strong.)

Looking ahead, the real factors of risk that threaten systemic stability come from larger, global issues like terrorism, energy security and environmental and climate change. With globalization and the spread of technology, threats have also globalised and now span borders. These are issues that will impact directly on India’s ability to grow and expand our strategic autonomy. It is also obvious that no single country can deal with these issues alone. They require global solutions.

International Terrorism

Among these global threats, international terrorism remains a major threat to peace and stability. We in India have directly suffered the consequences of the linkages and relationships among terrorist organizations, support structures and funding mechanisms, centered upon our immediate neighborhood, and transcending national borders. Any compromise with such forces, howsoever pragmatic or opportune it might appear momentarily, only encourages the forces responsible for terrorism. Large areas abutting India to the west have seen the collapse of state structures and the absence of governance or the writ of the state, with the emergence of multiple centres of power. The results, in the form of terrorism, extremism and radicalism are felt by us all in India.

Energy Security

As for energy security, this is one issue which combines an ethical challenge to all societies with an opportunity to provide for the energy so necessary for development. For India, clean, convenient and affordable energy is a critical necessity if we are to improve the lives of our people. Today, India’s per-capita energy consumption is less than a third of the global average. (Our per capita consumption is only 500 kgoe compared to a global average of nearly 1800 kgoe). For India a rapid increase in energy use per capita is imperative to realize our national development goals.

Global warming and climate change require all societies to work together. While the major responsibility for the accumulation of green house gasses in the atmosphere lies with the developed countries, its adverse affects are felt most severely by developing countries like India. When we speak of ‘shared responsibility’, it must include the international community’s shared responsibility to ensure the right to development of the developing countries. Development is the best form of adaptation to climate change.

What we seek is equitable burden-sharing. We have made it clear that India will not exceed the average of per capita GHG emissions by the industrialized countries, as we continue to pursue the growth and development that our people need.
Also, the transfer and access to clean technologies by developing countries, as global public goods on the lines of what was done for retrovirals to fight AIDS, is essential to effectively limit future GHG emissions. The IPR regime should include collaborative R&D and the sharing of the resulting IPRs.

Me thinks he should get the Ctrl-C Ctrl-V keys disabled on the computers in his office.

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