Kalpakkam fast breeder reactor

India's Fast Breeder Reactor: A Civilisational Bet on Nuclear Self-Reliance and Sustainability

The reactor that has now gone critical at Kalpakkam, on the Bay of Bengal coastline in Tamil Nadu, is not the end of that journey. It is, more precisely, the end of the beginning. The real test is whether India can now scale fast breeder capacity rapidly enough to make a material difference to its energy-mix building on the Kalpakkam template, the industrial supply chains it has validated, and the engineering confidence it has earned. 

Dying Rivers, Disappearing Species: Zoological Cost of Pollution in Pakistan and India

The Indus and the Ganges are dying slowly, and with them disappear species that evolved over thousands of years within these waters. If current patterns continue, future generations may inherit rivers that exist geographically but are biologically empty. South Asia still has an opportunity to reverse this trajectory, but only if environmental protection becomes a shared regional priority rather than an afterthought.

Climate Migration: The Next Global Humanitarian Crisis?

Climate migration isn’t just about the loss of land. It is about the loss of memory, culture and home. When people are driven out of the places where they were born, few things that matter are merely economic. Over the next decades, the world will confront a fundamental dilemma. Can humankind handle the climate crisis in a surer way? Or will the future consist of millions searching for a new place to call home?

India Should Scale up its Fast Breeder Reactor Program to Meet Rising Energy Needs

The constraint on India’s expansion is fissile inventory, particularly between 2035-2045. At present, the breeder program depends on plutonium from a limited set of eight unsafeguarded reactors. Meanwhile, India has accumulated spent fuel from uranium imported for its safeguarded reactors. This significant plutonium is lying idle because we lack safeguarded reprocessing facilities. 

More on Climate, Sustainability and Energy

Indian woman helms top UN body: Her message: 'To the girls out there, we all can make it'!

At the Security Council, Kamboj is the chair of its high-profile Counter-Terrorism Committee and organised in India a rare special session outside the headquarters to bring home the dangers of international terrorism.

India takes over UNSC presidency December 1; will focus on terrorism

India last presided over the Council in August last year when T.S. Tirumurti was the permanent representative and before that in 2011 and 2012 during current Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s tenure as the envoy to the UN.

India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to send helicopter units to UN peacekeeping mission in strife-torn Mali

Several countries have pulled out of or announced plans to withdraw from the peacekeeping operations in Mali. MINUSMA is one of the deadliest operations having claimed the lives of 292 peacekeepers.

India calls for unified UNSC action against North Korea

Kamboj’s mention of nuclear and missile technology proliferation putting India at risk is a reference to the well-documented swap of Pakistan's clandestine nuclear technology for North Korea's missile technology, although she did not name the countries.

India lashes out at countries preventing 'concrete outcome' on UNSC reform; China opposes text or timetable for reforms

The paralysis of the Council, the UN’s highest decision-making body that is charged with taking action to end conflicts and ensure international peace, has brought a sense of urgency to the reform process.

India asks UNSC Monitoring Team to stay vigilant against terror groups in Afghanistan; Pakistan, China abstain on German resolution condemning Taliban

We keep mentioning and talking about our unpleasant experiences often. They are also frequently important to bring focus on specific issues, but it is also equally important to speak about the good ones - ones that make you happy and amazed at the same time.

UN reforms: Ghana president suggests mechanism for UNSC, UNGA to take up proposals together

The barrier to UN reforms is a group of 13 countries led by Italy and which included Pakistan that has blocked the adoption of a negotiating text on which to base the discussion.

India abstains on Russia-sponsored UNSC resolution involving Ukraine; only China votes with Russia

This was at least the 11th time India had abstained on a substantive resolution at the Security Council and the General Assembly involving Ukraine.

Rohingya extremists should be held accountable for massacre of Hindus in Myanmar: UN expert calls for 'unified action' against junta

An Amnesty International investigation found that “up to 99 Hindu women, men, and children” had been massacred by ARSA fighters, who also abducted Hindu villagers in August 2017 in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

Security Council reform: UNGA president finally appoints leaders for renewed negotiations

A small group of countries - which includes Pakistan - have so far blocked the reform process by preventing the adoption of a negotiating text which has meant that the IGN functions without a proper agenda or a record of the negotiations.

China blocks yet another Pakistan-based terrorist leader from sanctions

US and India have asked the Security Council committee dealing with sanctions on the Islamic State and al-Qaeda along with affiliated groups like the L-e-T to impose sanctions on Mahmood, who runs its international operations.

Guterres visiting India; to pay tributes to 26/11 victims; will visit Gujarat

At the Ekta Nagar in Gujarat's Kevadia, Gutteres is to join Modi to launch the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), the MEA said. Gujarat is Modi’s home state.

India abstains again on UNGA resolution condemning Russia in Ukraine conflict

The Assembly session also witnessed a sideshow by Pakistan, which stuck to its gimmick of bringing up Kashmir regardless of the topic on the agenda. Kamboj dismissed it as an attempt to misuse the UN forum with “frivolous and pointless remarks”.

India votes with West on three UNGA procedural matters, while remaining silent on crucial Ukraine vote

India joining the West against Russia on procedural matters is not necessarily a precursor to a change in New Delhi’s neutrality in voting on substantive matters involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

UN Counter-Terrorism Committee to meet in India in rare away session

Holding the meeting in India is a special effort by New Delhi to draw world attention to the terrorist attacks and the threats it faces and to prepare the international community to deal with the emerging technologies that could be force multipliers for terrorists.