India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the foreign misters of Brazil, Germany and Japan, whose countries make up the G4, met virtually on Wednesday and called for "decisive push" UN Security Council reforms
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
Gender empowerment and climate change: Interlinkages seen through the lens of the SDG framework
The potential of women as agents of change for climate mitigation and adaptation remain untapped. In terms of economic and social participation, their potential contribution to climate mitigation by being part of the economic cycle is not sufficiently exploited, writes Sanjukta Mukherjee for South Asia Monitor
Sri Lanka for Indian Ocean’s neutrality: Rajapaksa
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that his country is against any country dominating the Indian Ocean and that it would stay neutral
Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi says world sees UN as a ‘talk shop’
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the 75th General Assembly on Monday evening that the United Nations was now derided across the world as a “talk shop,” which could not implement its own resolutions
World should hold China responsible for COVID-19 pandemic: Trump
US President Donald Trump lashed out against China on Tuesday demanding that the UN hold Beijing responsible for the consequences of unleashing the plague of COVID-19 on the world
Turkish president raises Kashmir at UN General Assembly
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is vying for the leadership of Islamic nations, brought up the Kashmir issue again at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday calling it a “burning issue.”
UN chief calls for solidarity, says COVID-19 is a dress rehearsal for global challenges to follow
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that COVID-19 presages crises yet to come, “a dress rehearsal for the world of challenges to come.”
Bhutan PM to address UNGA on September 25
Bhutanese Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering will address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25, themed “The future we want, the United Nations we need
Afghan President Ghani in UN speech reiterates call for ceasefire
President Ashraf Ghani delivered a statement on Monday night at the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the UN, underscoring the important role of multilateralism, and particularly the UN, in addressing the challenges that continue to impact Afghanistan and the world
President: Maldives will continue to uphold principles in UN Charter
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, on Monday, reaffirmed Maldives’ commitment towards upholding the principles and values enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Charter, and continued support for efforts to fulfill objectives
UN faces crisis of confidence, needs new template of multilateralism: Modi
In an under-four minute video message, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed United Nations the mirror and urged it to take a long, hard look at its "crisis of confidence" while ratcheting up the call for a new template of multilateralism that "reflects today's realities" on the first day of the United Nations high level week being live streamed to the world from the UN headquarters in New York City
UN's unfinished task is tackling Pakistan's terror epicentre, says India
The UN's unfinished agenda item is tackling terrorism emanating from its epicentre in Pakistan, India has said here replying to Pakistan bringing up the Kashmir issue at the international organisation's 75th Anniversary Commemoration session
Multilateralism is the way forward, Bangladesh PM tells UN
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the coronavirus pandemic has shown that both developed and developing nations need the United Nations more than ever
UN's 75th Anniversary Declaration commits to Security Council reform
The UN General Assembly committed itself to put “new life” into the stalled reform of the Security Council in its Declaration for the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations on Monday
At 75, UN is in crisis: Need to reform multilateralism to shape future narrative
There has been no informed discussion in the UN Security Council about Covid 19, its origin, its spread, its impact and the search for remedies and an effective vaccine. The UN Secretary General has been seen to be half-hearted in his response, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
