As the world grapples unevenly with the effects of COVID-19, “a parallel and equally horrific pandemic” has threatened half the world’s population, the UN chief said on Tuesday, in the lead up to the Generation Equality Forum in France
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
India warns of cross-border terror via cyberspace
India has called for international action to achieve a framework for global cybersecurity, raising an alarm about the emergence of cyberspace as a vehicle for cross-border terrorism by nations and terror organizations
Worrying trend of more children being recruited for terrorism-related activities, says India
Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has voiced his concern that the world is witnessing a dangerous trend of an increase in the number of children being recruited and involved in terrorism-related activities
No place for children in conflict, UN chief tells Security Council
The disregard for children’s rights amid war and upheaval “is shocking and heartbreaking”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday during a high-level open debate in the Security Council, held virtually
UN rights office highlights policing reforms to address systemic racism
Radical policing reforms are needed to address systemic racism affecting people of African descent around the world, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday, as her Office published a series of recommendations prompted by the killing of George Floyd in the United States
WHO guidance on Artificial Intelligence to improve healthcare, mitigate risks worldwide
Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds “enormous potential” for improving the health of millions around the world if ethics and human rights are at the heart of its design, deployment, and use, the head of the UN health agency said on Monday
Water-related disasters throw up complex challenges, threaten lives and jobs: UN chief
The global climate crisis is “exacerbating and intensifying” water-related disasters, jeopardizing lives and livelihoods, the UN chief said on Friday at a major sustainable development symposium
Governments must protect those who help torture victims, say UN rights experts
Top UN rights experts appealed on Thursday for all governments to ensure that victims of torture receive the rehabilitation services they need, along with guarantees that those who help them do not suffer reprisals
COVID pandemic fuelling major increase in drug use worldwide: UN report
Around 275 million people used drugs worldwide in the last year of unprecedented upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, up by 22 per cent from 2010
UN chief urges European Parliament to support COVID vaccines for all
The European Union (EU) must use its leverage to ensure people everywhere have access to COVID-19 vaccines, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday
UNHRO criticizes Sri Lankan presidential pardon to former MP
The United Nations Human Rights Office has dubbed as “selective” and “arbitrary” the presidential pardon granted to a former Sri Lankan MP convicted to life imprisonment for the murder of a fellow politician
Sri Lanka asked to address 'harmful legacies' of war: UNHRC Core Group
The UNHRC Core Group on Sri Lanka has called upon the island nation’s government to address the harmful legacies of war and protect human rights, including those from religious minorities
UN envoy to Afghanistan criticizes Taliban’s intense military campaign
Deborah Lyons, the United Nations envoy in Afghanistan, has criticized the Taliban’s recent “intensive military campaign”, warning that it would lead to continued violence in the country
India, G4 allies force amendment to UNGA decision on SC reforms, despite Pakistan, China opposition
India and its G4 allies have forced General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir to accept an amendment to the decision on rolling Security Council reform negotiations to the next Assembly session during a meeting at which he and Germany's Permanent Representative Christoph Heusgen clashed openly, dropping the genteel style of diplomacy
Peace in Afghanistan requires zero tolerance for terrorism: India
As Afghanistan prepares for the pullout of the US troops, peace there requires zero tolerance for terrorism and those supporting terrorists must be held accountable, according to India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar
