Tag: United Nations

UNGA president cites Kerala floods to urge faster action on climate change

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa cited the recent devastating floods in Kerala, among other natural disasters wrecking havoc across the world, to make a call to the world leaders to achieve progress on agreements aimed at slowing climate change.

Espinosa, who was elected this year as only the fourth woman to lead the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in over 70 years, also referred to heatwaves, forest fires and storms that are leaving behind a trail of death and destruction.

She formally inaugurated the 73rd General Debate of the UNGA on Tuesday.

In her address to the world leaders, she listed her priorities, saying she will work for gender equality and empowerment of women, implementation of the new global compacts on migration and refugees, creation of decent work opportunities for all as well as greater attention to environmental protection.

“We will work to give greater attention to environmental protection and to make progress on the agreements aimed at slowing climate change. Heatwaves, forest fires, storms and floods are leaving behind a trail of death and destruction,” she said.

“In August, the state of Kerala in India suffered its worst monsoon flood in recent history, which killed 400 people and displaced a million more from their homes. Hurricanes killed thousands of people in 2017, making them one of the deadliest extreme climate disasters in history,” she said.

Kerala was affected by the severe floods, the worst in nearly a century, due to unusually high rainfall during the monsoon season.

Around the world, millions of people are suffering from violence, war, want and the effects of climate change, she said, adding that ” We have a responsibility to slow the production and consumption policies and habits that are destroying our planet.”

With a call to multilateralism and shared work towards sustainable development and equality for all, Espinosa affirmed that the contribution of the UN to humanity has been immense, citing the principles that govern the international coexistence emanated from the forum she leads.

“The reality is that the work of the UN remains as relevant as it was 73 years ago. Multilateralism is the only possible answer to the global problems we face. Weakening or putting it in question only generates instability and bewilderment, distrust and polarisation,” she said.

Espinosa said that as the world becomes more interconnected, global dialogue and multilateral responses can tackle many of those issues, proposing that UN Member States take up the multilateral agenda with a renewed commitment.

Turning to the assembly’s other priorities for the coming years, she also noted strengthening the political commitment with people with disabilities, the revitalisation of the UN and the role of young people in conflict prevention.

Espinosa called for more attention to be paid to the needs of the most vulnerable countries, so that they can reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensure respect of human rights. She urged leaders gathered in the Assembly to live up to the needs of the people and to build a more peaceful, secure and humane world order that guarantees the dignity of the people.

“Let us then build a United Nations that is more relevant to all people,” the Assembly President said.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trump at UN: 2nd summit with North Korea likely ‘quite soon’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Confronting the dangers of North Korea’s nuclear threat, President Donald Trump arrived at the United Nations on Monday striking a far less ominous tone than a year ago, announcing he likely will hold a second summit with Kim Jong Un “quite soon.”

Twelve months after Trump stood at the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly and derided Kim as “Rocket Man,” the push to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula is a work in progress, although fears of war have given way to dreams of rapprochement.

The president’s bellicose denunciations of Pyongyang have largely given way to hopeful notes.

“It was a different world,” Trump said Monday of his one-time moniker for the North Korean leader. “That was a dangerous time. This is one year later, a much different time.”

He added that preparations are underway by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a second presidential meeting with Kim “quite soon.”

Trump arrived at the UN on Monday morning for a meeting on the global drug trade, ahead of a sit-down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who comes bearing a personal message to Trump from Kim after their inter-Korean talks last week.

Trump and Moon are expected to sign a new version of the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, one of Trump’s first successes in his effort to renegotiate trade deals on more favorable terms for the U.S. Even so, some U.S. officials worry that South Korea’s eagerness to restore relations with the North could reduce sanctions pressure on Kim’s government, hampering efforts to negotiate a nuclear accord.

The nuclear threat was on the agenda at Trump’s first meeting in New York, a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manhattan on Sunday night. Abe stands first among world leaders in cultivating a close relationship with the president through displays of flattery that he has used to advance his efforts to influence the unpredictable American leader.

“We have our eyes wide open,” Pompeo told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There is a long ways to go to get Chairman Kim to live up to the commitment that he made to President Trump and, indeed, to the demands of the world in the U.N. Security Council resolutions to get him to fully denuclearize.”

Trump, redoubling his commitment to “America First” on the most global of stages, will stress his dedication to the primacy of U.S. interests while competing with Western allies for an advantage on trade and shining a spotlight on the threat that he says Iran poses to the Middle East and beyond.

Scores of world leaders, even those representing America’s closest friends, remain wary of Trump. In the 12 months since his last visit to the U.N., the Republican president has jolted the global status quo by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, starting trade conflicts with China and the West and embracing Russia’s Vladimir Putin even as the investigation into the U.S. president’s ties to Moscow moves closer to the Oval Office.

Long critical of the United Nations, Trump delivered a warning shot ahead of his arrival by declaring that the world body had “not lived up to” its potential.

“It’s always been surprising to me that more things aren’t resolved,” Trump said in a weekend video message, “because you have all of these countries getting together in one location but it doesn’t seem to get there. I think it will.”
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in a preview of Trump’s visit that the president’s focus “will be very much on the United States,” its role and the relations it wants to build.

“He is looking forward to talking about foreign policy successes the United States has had over the past year and where we’re going to go from here,” she said. “He wants to talk about protecting U.S. sovereignty,” while building relationships with nations that “share those values.”

In his four-day visit to New York, Trump will deliver major speeches and meet with representatives of a world order that he has so often upended in the past year. On Monday he participated in a Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem and later was to meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and French President Emmanuel Macron, in addition to Moon.

Trump’s address to the General Assembly comes Tuesday, and on Wednesday he will for the first time chair the Security Council, with the stated topic of non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The subject initially was to have been Iran, but that could have allowed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attend, creating a potentially awkward situation for the U.S. leader.

Aides say the president will also use the session to discuss North Korea and other proliferation issues. While Trump is not seeking a meeting with Rouhani, he is open to talking with the Iranian leader if Rouhani requests one, administration officials said.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

About 8,02,000 infant deaths reported in India in 2017: UN

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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About 8,02,000 infant deaths were reported in India in 2017, the lowest in five years, according to the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME).

A new UNIGME report said 6,05,000 neonatal deaths were reported in India in 2017, while the number of deaths among children aged 5-14 was 1,52,000.

About 8,02,000 infant deaths were reported in India in 2017, the report said.

“India continues to show impressive decline in child deaths, with its share of global under-five deaths for the first time equalling its share of childbirths,” Yasmin Ali Haque, Representative, UNICEF India said.

“The efforts for improving institutional delivery, along with countrywide scale up of special newborn care units and strengthening of routine immunization, have been instrumental towards this,” she said.

The number of infant deaths has come down from 8.67 lakh in 2016 to 8.02 lakh in 2017.

In 2016, India’s infant mortality rate was 44 per 1,000 live births.

In 2017, sex-specific under-five mortality rate was 39 in 1,000 for male and 40 in 1,000 for females.

“Even more heartening is the fourfold decline in the gender gap in survival of the girl child over last five years,” Haque said.

The investment on ensuring holistic nutrition under the POSHAN campaign and national commitment to make India open defecation-free by 2019 are steps that will help in accelerating progress further, she added.

According to the report, an estimated 6.3 million children aged below 15 died in 2017, or 1 every 5 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank Group.

A vast majority of these deaths – 5.4 million – occur in the first five years of life, with newborns accounting for around half of the deaths.

“Without urgent action, 56 million children under five will die from now until 2030 – half of them newborns,” said Laurence Chandy, UNICEF Director of Data, Research and Policy.

“We have made remarkable progress to save children since 1990, but millions are still dying because of who they are and where they are born. With simple solutions like medicines, clean water, electricity and vaccines, we can change that reality for every child,” she said.

Globally, in 2017, half of all deaths under five years of age took place in sub-Saharan Africa, and another 30 per cent in Southern Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 13 children died before their fifth birthday. In high-income countries, that number was 1 in 185.

“Millions of babies and children should not still be dying every year from lack of access to water, sanitation, proper nutrition or basic health services,” said Princess Nono Simelela, Assistant Director-General for Family, Women and Children’s Health at WHO.

“We must prioritize providing universal access to quality health services for every child, particularly around the time of birth and through the early years, to give them the best possible chance to survive and thrive,” Simelela said.

Most children under five die due to preventable or treatable causes such as complications during birth, pneumonia, diarrhea, neonatal sepsis and malaria, the report said.

By comparison, among children between 5 and 14 years of age, injuries become a more prominent cause of death, especially from drowning and road traffic. Within this age group, regional differences also exist, with the risk of dying for a child from sub-Saharan Africa 15 times higher than in Europe, it said.

“More than six million children dying before their fifteenth birthday is a cost we simply can’t afford,” said Timothy Evans, Senior Director and Head of the Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice at the World Bank Group.

“Ending preventable deaths and investing in the health of young people is a basic foundation for building countries’ human capital, which will drive their future growth and prosperity,” the report read.

For children everywhere, the most risky period of life is the first month. In 2017, 2.5 million newborns died in their first month.

A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa or in Southern Asia was nine times more likely to die in the first month than a baby born in a high-income country. And progress towards saving newborns has been slower than for other children under five years of age since 1990.

Even within countries, disparities persist. Under-five mortality rates among children in rural areas are, on average, 50 per cent higher than among children in urban areas. In addition, those born to uneducated mothers are more than twice as likely to die before turning five than those born to mothers with a secondary or higher education.

Despite these challenges, fewer children are dying each year worldwide.
The number of children dying under five has fallen dramatically from 12.6 million in 1990 to 5.4 million in 2017. The number of deaths in older children aged between 5 to 14 years dropped from 1.7 million to under a million in the same period.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Shashi Tharoor says centre must review policy on foreign aid for Kerala floods

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said that central government must review the policy on foreign donations for flood relief efforts in Kerala.

Tharoor also defended his visit to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, and said that he had a a conversation with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan before his departure to Geneva.

Talking on Rahul Gandhi’s four day visit to Europe, Tharoor said Congress president is systematically going to different regions to project the message of the party and to engage with overseas Indians.

Edited excerpts:

Q: You issued a fairly detailed statement today and in that you say that prior to undertaking your meetings you had consulted personally and directly with the chief minister of Kerala? Did he give you the go ahead to engage with UN, WHO officials because our conversations to the Kerala health secretary, categorically stated that they were already in touch with WHO both in India as well as in Geneva?

A: I have no reason to doubt that they were in touch at the working level and they should be—members of the WHO for example and WHO should naturally reach out to us. I have no difficultly in accepting that must certainly what must have been happening with the health secretary. My conversation was with the chief minister and he indicated very clearly what he thought would be useful for me to establish while I was and there and I made it very clear that I was going in a personal capacity at my own expense, not pretending to represent anybody. The idea was to exploratory and informal discussions with people who I have known because of my international networks after 29 years of the United Nations myself.

I have come back with a clear set of ideas as to what would be possible for the international system to offer us immediately, as well as possibly in the long term.

So, this is it and I have conveyed that to the chief minister who is the only person who can decide whether to request the government of India (GoI) to approach the international system. I also pointed out there isn’t even a need for a formal request from the GoI, these are things that the UN will be happy to offer us.

We are members of the UN system, we are members of the United Nations and the entire principle of multilateral cooperation is ‘one for all and all for one’. If we need something that we immediately cannot get ourselves from our own resources, there is absolutely nothing embarrassing in taking it from them.

For example, WHO has a stock of two million anti-cholera vaccines, we don’t have anything remotely like that. If there is a need established that we should take steps to prevent cholera from all the water borne pollution, from the polluted water that people have been standing neck deep in, then we should certainly go ahead and  get those vaccines. There is no embarrassment in that. It is a matter of human lives.

Q: I don’t think there is any question of embarrassment and I do believe your conversations have been with the CM, I am only alluding to the fact that the Kerala health secretary in conversation with us even on that specific recommendation that you have made on the anti-cholera vaccination seem to suggest that as of now there is no need for any further intervention from the WHO, what is required is in operation on the ground  – have you heard back from the CM, you said you have updated him on your conversations that took place?

A: I am not in Kerala, so I have written to him rather than have a discussion with him, which I will do in person when I get back, but I absolutely want the government to take the decisions and the responsibility.

I happen to represent a political party that is neither in power in Kerala nor in Delhi, I am simply using my good offices, I would have felt it immoral somebody with the networks and the contacts and background that I have not to have done whatever I could to see how I could leverage to help my people in distress.

If the state government in its wisdoms things there is no help required, then that is perfectly all right with me. It is their responsibility and I am not even implying otherwise. I have been unfairly attacked for pretending to say and do things, I have never pretended to do and say things. As far as I am concerned, I went to use my good offices, I have come back, but I hope a very detailed and professional set of findings, conclusions and recommendations. The Kerala government is the one that decides on any of these recommendations that needs to be followed up.

Q: Would you like to get your reaction to the letter that has come in from Oommen Chandy stating that the central government should review its decision to not allow foreign aid, given the fact that UAE has committed to putting in Rs 700 crore towards Kerala’s rescue relief rehabilitation operations. Do you believe there should be a rethink or review?

A: Absolutely, I am 100 percent with Oommen Chandy, because we need to do a professional needs assessment. But given the fact that we have lost 85,000 kms of road damage, 39 bridges damaged or destroyed, 50,000 homes washed away/damaged- we are looking at a colossal rebuilding task. When the Gujarat earthquake hit the town of Bhuj, what did we do – we got international assistance, chief minister Narendar Modi called a conference, donors came and $1.7 billion was pledged and Bhuj was rebuild that is precisely the sort of thing, we might need to do in Kerala.

Now, if Kerala government says this is our estimate – let us say Rs 20,000 crore and central government says we will give you Rs 20,000 crore fine, but the central government has so far offered a total of Rs 500 crore and it may well be necessary for Kerala to say that what you are suggesting is simply inadequate for the colossal scale of the damage. That is an issue that needs to be thrashed out between the state and central government. But if indeed, the estimates are of what we need is much higher than resources available, then I see absolutely no shame in accepting what is being offered. We are not going out with begging bowl or stretching out our hand looking for aid, people have come spontaneously and offered and at the same time, we feel clearly there is a need and that is essentially the issue and Oommen Chandy is quite right in flagging the issue in this way.

Q: What is the agenda for Gandhi’s four day visit to Europe?

A: He has been systematically going to different regions to project the message of the Congress party and to engage with overseas Indians, whom of course the PM has also been meeting on his official travels.

So it is part of series of such things – it began with Berkeley, where I happened to be with him. He did Princeton, he has been to Silicon Valley, and he has come out to other parts of the region. He has been to Singapore, Malaysia and South East Asia. He is in Germany today and tomorrow in London, the next two days after that. Then I expect him to come to Kerala and see the flood victims as the waters recede and he is able to walk about and mingle with people. He rightly didn’t think he would do too much good by doing a helicopter survey as the PM has done, because he has no executive responsibility for delivering aid as result of helicopter survey.

But as a people’ representative, he would like to be with people and he would be coming very soon next week.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

UN continues to encourage support for Iran nuclear deal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The United Nations continues to encourage support for all governments for the Iran nuclear deal, a UN spokesperson has said, after Washington vowed to re-impose sanctions on Iran lifted under the deal.

Farhan Haq, a UN spokesperson, said on Monday that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues to view the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the Iran nuclear deal) as a diplomatic achievement and continues to encourage support for all governments for that, just as he did when these sanctions were being contemplated, Xinhua reported.

Despite global outcry, Washington said in May it would re-impose tough sanctions on Tehran when it declared to leave the 2015 multilateral deal. It also laid out two wind-down periods of 90 days and 180 days for business activities in or involving Iran.

On Monday, the final day of the 90-day wind-down period, the White House vowed to re-impose and fully enforce sanctions on Iran lifted under the Iran nuclear deal.

The first batch of sanctions, which will take effect on Tuesday, target Tehran’s purchase of US banknotes, trade in gold and other precious metals, as well as the use of graphite, aluminum, steel, coal, and software used in industrial processes.

They will also affect transactions related to the Iranian Rial, the issuance of sovereign debts, and the country’s automotive sector.

Another round of sanctions, to be reinstalled on November 5, will be on Iran’s port, energy, shipping and shipbuilding sectors, its petroleum-related transactions, and business deals by foreign financial institutions with the Central Bank of Iran.

In response to concerns of possible humanitarian impact of the sanctions, Haq said “we will have to see what effects of these measures are,” while stressing “regardless of the steps that are being taken,” it is important that “Iran and the other parties comply with the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action.”

He added the deal is the best way of resolving this particular situation, “so we would encourage all countries to do what they can to support the agreement.”

Following the White House’ announcement, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that the Iranians would make the US regret for re-imposing the sanctions.

Rouhani also said that the US administration “is not trustworthy for any negotiations” after its withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Divided EU leaders convene for emergency talks on migration

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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European Union leaders gather in Brussels on Sunday in an attempt to bridge their deep divisions over migration, an issue that has been splitting them for years and now poses a fresh threat to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Though arrivals across the Mediterranean are only a fraction of what they were in 2015, when more than a million people reached Europe, a recent opinion poll showed migration was the top concern for the EU’s 500 million citizens.

Under heavy pressure from voters at home, EU leaders have been fighting bitter battles over how to share out asylum seekers in the bloc.

Unable to agree, they have become more restrictive on asylum and tightened their external borders to let fewer people in. They have given money and aid to countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East to keep people from heading for Europe.

Only 41,000 refugees and migrants have made it to the EU across the sea so far this year, UN figures show.

But the issue has in the meantime won and lost elections for politicians across the bloc from Italy to Hungary, with voters favouring those advocating a tougher stance on migration.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France favoured financial sanctions for EU countries that refuse migrants with proven asylum status.

Merkel is under pressure because her longtime conservative allies, Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), have threatened to start turning away at the German border all asylum seekers already registered elsewhere in the EU unless the bloc reaches an agreement on distributing them more evenly.

They mostly live in countries like Greece and Italy – both long overwhelmed with arrivals – or wealthy states like Germany or Sweden, where they choose to try to start a new life.

The ex-communist states in the EU’s east led by Hungary and Poland have refused to host any of the new arrivals, citing security risks after a raft of Islamist attacks in Europe.

The bloc has been unable to break the deadlock, the bad blood spilling over to other areas of their cooperation, including crucial talks on the bloc’s next seven-year budget from 2021.

With Germany being the main contributor to the bloc’s joint coffers, the southern gateway countries were promised more money to handle migration, while the reluctant easterners face cuts in development aid.

Hastily Arranged

Merkel is now pushing other EU states, including Italy, to do more on migration so that fewer people get to Germany and she can convince the CSU not to go ahead with their plan.

She opposes the idea by the CSU, which will face the anti-immigration AfD party in Bavarian elections in October, because it would mean rigid border controls inside what is normally the EU’s coveted control-free travel zone.

To placate the CSU, Merkel must get something from Sunday, arranged hastily among more than a dozen EU capitals, and also from the full summit of the bloc’s 28 leaders on June 28-29.

All EU leaders agree they must further curb immigration by working with third countries, though that often proves slow.

Berlin’s other idea is to send back those asylum seekers who make it to countries like Germany to the states of their first arrival, like Italy.

But Rome has already rejected measures that could see it handle even more people and the Sunday talks are all but certain to see the two countries clash.

In the mid-term, the EU is only going to become tougher on migration, something rights groups denounce as turning it into a “fortress” beyond reach for those less privileged.

The U.N. refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi reminded the bloc that the height of their migration crisis was back in 2015.

“Despite today’s dramatically lower arrival rates, the shockwaves of that event still reverberate – at the political level, and in the tendency towards restrictive, unilateral approaches that some European countries have pursued,” he said.

“EU policies on asylum can and should set an example on how to manage refugee situations with compassion and solidarity,” he added, urging the bloc to overcome its divisions to help those in need rather than focus on just winning the next election.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India in ‘good position’ to face fallout from possible trade tensions, says UN economist

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India is in a “good position” to deal with any fallout from global trade tensions and with right policies can reach an 8% plus growth rate and hold it, according to a UN economist monitoring the country.

If global trade is impacted negatively due to trade tensions in the near future, “India is in a good position to navigate it,” Sebastian Vergara, the United Nations economic affairs officer, told IANS in an interview.

Asked about the projection of a worst case scenario of global growth falling to 1.8% if the trade wars got out of control, he said, “India will, of course, be affected, but the effect will not be very strong, because of the productive structure of the Indian economy and because its driver of the growth nowadays is private consumption.”

Last week, Dawn Holland, the head of the UN Global Economic Monitoring Branch, warned that if the trade war initiated by US President Donald Trump were to spiral out of control with retaliatory measures spreading to other sectors and to countries, the global economic growth next year could plunge to as low as 1.8% next year.

But she also told IANS, “India is slightly sheltered from the spillovers” because it is “not nearly as open to trade as many of the other East Asian economies are.”

However, the UN projection for global growth next year under current conditions is 3.2%.

Vergara said India’s service sector exports – which includes back office operations software and technology services – are not vulnerable to the protectionist trends in the medium term.

India’s services sector exports remain globally competitive and have a huge potential, he added.

“For India, despite the short-term tensions, the prospects in the medium term for the export of services are excellent, so India needs to take advantage of that competitiveness,” he said.

Vergara said the economic situation in India is improving, with, growth predicted to increase faster this year at 7.5% and 7.6% next year.

But that is below its potential.

“The Indian economy can grow at least at 8%, not just for a year or two, but for 15 years,” he said.

“India has to have that growth rate as its target and it can then really achieve a big jump in its development and become an engine of (global) economic growth in the medium term,” he added.

One of the key steps needed to boost India’s growth is improving the productive capacities through innovation, he said.

The others were further reforms in the financial sector, promotion of foreign direct investments, and developing new policies and programmes for growth, he said.

He noted that investment has been subdued for a long time now, and new reforms and targeted measures have to be introduced to revive it.

“The government has already introduced some policies last year, for example the recapitalisation of public banks, and definitely they are going in the right direction.,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US, Russia clash at UN over chemical weapons attacks in Syria

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Russia and the United States tangled on Tuesday at the United Nations over the use of chemical weapons in Syria as Washington and its allies considered whether to strike at President Bashar al-Assad’s forces over a suspected poison gas attack last weekend.

Moscow and Washington halted attempts by each other in the UN Security Council to set up international investigations into chemical weapons attacks in Syria, which is in the throes of a seven-year-old civil war.

US President Donald Trump and Western allies are discussing possible military action to punish Assad for a suspected poison gas attack on Saturday on a rebel-held town that long had held out against government forces.

Trump on Tuesday cancelled a planned trip to Latin America later this week to focus instead on responding to the Syria incident, the White House said.

Trump warned of a quick, forceful response on Monday, once responsibility for the Syria attack was established.

Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria in next 72 hours.

On the diplomatic front, the United Nations Security Council failed to approve three draft resolutions on chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Russia vetoed a US text, while two Russian-drafted resolutions failed to get a minimum nine votes to pass.

Moscow opposes any Western strike on its close ally Assad and has vetoed Security Council action on Syria 12 times since the conflict started.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council that adopting the US-drafted resolution was the least that member nations could do.

“History will record that, on this day, Russia chose to protect a monster over the lives of the Syrian people,” Haley said, referring to Assad.

At least 60 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Saturday’s suspected chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma, according to a Syrian relief group.

Doctors and witnesses have said victims showed symptoms of poisoning, possibly by a nerve agent, and reported the smell of chlorine gas.

RUSSIA ACCUSES

Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Washington’s decision to put forward its resolution could be a prelude to a Western strike on Syria.

“I would once again ask you, once again beseech you, to refrain from the plans that you’re currently developing for Syria,” he said after the council failed to approve a third draft resolution on chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

International chemical weapons experts are expected to go to Douma to investigate the suspected poison gas attack.

France and Britain discussed with the Trump administration how to respond to the Douma attack. Both stressed that the culprit still needed to be confirmed.

The Douma incident has thrust Syria’s conflict back to the forefront of the international stage, pitting Washington and Moscow against each other once again.

Trump said that he would make a decision about how to respond within a few days, adding that the United States had “a lot of options militarily” on Syria.

Assad’s government and Russia have said there was no evidence a gas attack had taken place and that the claim was bogus.

Any US strike is likely to involve naval assets, given the risk to aircraft from Russian and Syrian air defence systems. A US Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean.

A key issue being considered by US defense and intelligence agencies and war planners is the effectiveness of Syrian air defenses and the extent to which Russia is helping to organize, and ultimately, direct Syrian air defense operations, according to two US government sources.

Last year, the United States launched strikes from two Navy destroyers against a Syrian air base.

US military action similar to last year’s would likely not cause a shift in the direction of the war that has gone Assad’s way since 2015 with massive aid from Iran and Russia.

There was little expectation that members of Congress would object if Trump launched an attack on Syria, despite some calls for lawmakers to exert their power to authorize military action. Most members of Congress – Democrats as well as his fellow Republicans – praised Trump after the strike last year.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that any strikes would not target the Syrian government’s allies or anybody in particular, but would be aimed at the Syrian government’s chemical facilities.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROBE

The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Syria had been asked to make the necessary arrangements for the deployment of an investigation team.

“The team is preparing to deploy to Syria shortly,” it said in a statement.

The mission will aim to determine whether banned munitions were used but will not assign blame.

The Assad government and Russia both urged the OPCW to investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma, a move by the two countries that was apparently aimed at averting any US-led action.

“Syria is keen on cooperating with the OPCW to uncover the truth behind the allegations that some Western sides have been advertising to justify their aggressive intentions,” Syria’s state news agency SANA said.

A European source said European governments were waiting for the OPCW to carry out its investigation and for more solid forensic evidence from the attack to emerge. Any plan by Washington and its allies to take military action was likely to be on hold until then, the source said.

In Syria, thousands of militants and their families arrived in rebel-held parts of the country’s northwest after surrendering Douma to government forces.

Their evacuation restored Assad’s control over eastern Ghouta, formerly the biggest rebel bastion near Damascus, and gave him his biggest battlefield victory since 2016, when he took back Aleppo.

Aggravating the volatile situation in the region, Iran – Assad’s other main ally – threatened to respond to an air strike on a Syrian military base on Monday that Tehran, Damascus and Moscow have blamed on Israel.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, meanwhile, said there was no threat of the situation in Syria resulting in a military clash between Russia and the United States. TASS news agency quoted him as saying he believed common sense would prevail.

A Russian warplane flew over a French warship at low altitude in the eastern Mediterranean this weekend, a deliberate breach of international regulations, a French naval source said on Tuesday.

The weekly magazine Le Point said the Russian plane had flown over the frigate Aquitaine and was fully armed. The Aquitaine is equipped with 16 cruise missiles and 16 surface-to-air missiles. It is currently operating off Lebanon alongside US ships as part of France’s military contingent fighting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

Despite the international revulsion over chemical weapons attacks, the death toll from such incidents in Syria is only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of combatants and civilians killed since the war began in 2011.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow