As pressure increases on India to accept legally binding carbon emissions cuts, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan today stressed on "equity" as a central tenet of the climate change talks.

"Without a response based on equity we cannot solve the problem," Natarajan said at a side-event at the UN climate talks in Durban.

"The architecture we create and promote should be based on recognition of these fundamental principles," she said adding that "Equity is absolutely central to the climate change debate."

"India's position will be based on clarity, consistency and compassion," Natarajan said.

Speaking at the side-event on equity, organised by the Indian government and the Centre for Science Environment, Sunita Narain, India's leading environmentalist, stressed that the developed world should carry the burden of reducing carbon emissions.

"They (developed countries) have legal commitments to reduce and not to increase," she said.

"There is a tremendous effort to shift the blame so the rich countries do as little as they can," she added.

After losing out in last year's talks in Cancun, the Indian delegation insisted that negotiators here revisited the issue of equity as part of its three point agenda, which it submitted in the first week of the climate talks.

The three point agenda-- equitable sharing of atmospheric carbon space, technology sharing and intellectual property rights (IPR) and unilateral trade barriers--has received a lukewarm response.