22/09/2017 Friday Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher.
Ministry of External Affairs External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said that the horror of terrorism continues to haunt global peace and security. She was addressing the BRICS Ministerial Meeting in New York last night on the side lines of the United Nations General Assembly session. Hinting at Pakistan, the Minister said, terror groups draw sustenance from support systems in South Asia. Ms Swaraj said that terrorists continue to find support and shelter in countries which use terrorism as an instrument of State policy. The External Affairs Minister said countering terrorism must not be a matter of political convenience and efforts, including by States, to use religion to justify, sustain and sponsor terrorism against other countries must be condemned.
Ministry of External Affairs
Ms Swaraj said, there is a need for collective efforts to disrupt terrorist networks, their financing and movement. She also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a BRICS Counter- Terrorism Strategy for Joint Action at the Xiamen BRICS Summit in China. The Minister called upon BRICS leaders for early conclusion of negotiations and adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations. The Minister said the situation in West Asia remains precarious and the crisis in the Gulf has further added to uncertainty. She said the spiral of violence in Afghanistan manifests the complexity of the challenge and the action and rhetoric of North Korea has been a source of growing global concern.
Ministry of External Affairs India has emphasised on the need for an "early comprehensive" reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council. Addressing a trilateral meeting of India, Brazil and South Africa, on the side lines of the annual UN General Assembly Session in New York, Mrs Swaraj said that the IBSA forum believes in a multilateral trading system that is fair, open and transparent with the World Trade Organization at its centre. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, quoted Mrs Swaraj as saying that the IBSA should play its rightful role in shaping global discourses and share its wisdom with the world community. "The reference to UN reforms and there was an agreement for the need for comprehensive reform of the United Nations Security Council and to increase representation of developing countries."
The Foreign Ministers of the IBSA stressed the need for early reform of the UN Security Council in order to make it more representative, inclusive, legitimate, and effective. They discussed and exchanged views on the Global political situation, Global Economic and Financial Situation, Reform of Global Governance and Sustainable Development. Emphasizing the growing importance of South-South cooperation, the IBSA Ministers reviewed the progress of the implementation of the lbsa Fund, progress on Poverty and Hunger alleviation. South- South Cooperation has emerged as a mechanism that fosters mutual benefit, recognises sovereign identities and engages fellow developing countries in variety of linear linkages.
President of India President Ramnath Kovind today visited Deekshabhoomi to pay respects to Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Dr. Ambedkar was fed up with caste system. He was accompanied by Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, State s Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Mayor Nanda Jichkar. President also inaugurated a Vipassana Meditation Centre at Dragon Palace temple in Kamptee. Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Kovind said, like Yoga, Vipasana is not linked to any religion and it is for the well being of mankind. The President will also inaugurate Suresh Bhat Auditorium in the afternoon at Nagpur.
PMO Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting his Parliamentary Constituency Varanasi this afternoon on a two-day visit. Today, he will inaugurate a trade facilitation centre at Bada Lalpur village. Union Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and Minister of State for Textiles Ajay Tamta will also participate in the function. Mr Modi will also meet weavers. He will be accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and State BJP President Mahendra Nath Pandey. The Prime Minister will also flag off the Mahamana Express through a video link. This train will connect Varanasi with Surat and Vadodara in Gujarat. At the same venue, he will also inaugurate banking services of the Utkarsh Bank, and will lay the foundation stone of the headquarters building of the Bank, which specializes in micro-finance.
Pressure on China the key to North Korea This year s session of the UN General Assembly, the first one to be addressed by US President Donald Trump, served to highlight the inability of the world to tackle a problem like North Korea. The US president threatened to destroy the nation of 25 million people, if the US and its allies are threatened or attacked. If this raised eyebrows rather than curdled blood, a further threat to undo the Iran nuclear deal served to reinforce scepticism about the value of any American promise or assurance. The fact is that successive US administrations have had little success with their North Korea policy. President Bill Clinton managed to use diplomacy for the US-DPRK Agreed Framework to put a freeze on North Korea s plutonium programme and later enabled a moratorium on missile tests. That was in the era of Kim Jong-il, present leader Kim Jong-un s father.
Pressure on China the key to North Korea
But since then, Washington has eschewed the path of direct diplomacy and unlike his father, Kim Jong-un does not have truck with foreign leaders. The fact is that there are no good options. But continued high decibel rhetoric from Washington does not help. Rather, it only serves to strengthen the North Korean resolve given that the country has built its entire existence around the idea that the US is out to destroy them. Trump s tough talk is playing into North Korea s victim complex. The US must rely on containment, deterrence, sanctions and diplomacy. North Korea is not willing to give up its nuclear capabilities; the experience with Libya has made that clear for Pyongyang. There is a sense that China, which accounts for 90% of trade with North Korea, can do more. The global community must put more pressure on China to put its leverage to good use. Beijing should not have the luxury of pretending that it is trying its utmost to make the Kim regime behave responsibly
Energy Basket and its future To combat climate change, the world is taking recourse to production of green and renewable energy like solar and wind, along with other forms of clean energies like hydro, biomass, natural gas and nuclear. Achieving solar and wind energy targets in particular is very important for India. Solar and wind energy targets planned to be achieved by 2022 100 GW from Solar 60 GW from Wind We may raise the bar in 2027 to 275 GW. This means we will overtake thermal power. We should meet our energy needs mostly through solar and wind resources for which, fortunately, India has a rich potential of 900GW and 300GW, respectively. Joule had asserted that India could run 100% on energy through renewable sources sun, wind and water by 2050. This would be a landmark step towards creating a New India, if and when it happens.
Where do we stand? Our total installed solar energy capacity is 14.28GW (12.28GW of ground mounted and 2GW of roof-top power). Our target for these two is 60GW and 40GW, respectively, by 2022. Challenges? Yes we do have some A. Solar Roof-top solar power generation is just 2GW, and this has to be raised to a huge 40GW. The roof-top clientele is small as of now, because there is no sound legal framework for roof-top power contracts. This would have to be put in place, otherwise it may lead to NPAs and, as a result, people would lose jobs. We have a production capacity of 1,400MW of solar cells and 5,600MW of solar modules, which are also struggling to be globally competitive. We need to pay attention to this aspect meaningfully for enhancing solar energy production
B. Wind India had an installed wind power capacity to the tune of 32.28GW till the end of 2016-17. While we installed 5.4GW (exceeding the target of 4GW) in 2016-17 and 3.423GW (a record then) in 2015-16, its energy programme may be choked for 2017-18 and 2018-19, because it added just about 0.228GW in the first quarter of the current year. The reason is that state discoms have practically stopped signing PPAs for projects agreed upon earlier when tariffs were higher (Rs 4-6) and now they have come down to Rs 3.46 the latest bid is even lesser, at Rs 3.42. The government needs to move fast to resolve this issue, otherwise our ambitious wind energy would be seriously hit.
Our current requirement of about 330GW of energy, which is estimated to increase by about 120% in 2030. Definition of electrified village: A village is taken as electrified if just 10% of its households have been provided power, which is a flawed concept in itself. Some solutions 1. Upgrade skills of people in this sector every two years. 2. R&D is the need of the hour. 3. Credit rates are high. 4. Better management of resources
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