The Chhattisgarh

Tag: United Nations

  • United Nations Praises Modi Government Over Poverty Alleviation Steps Using ‘Smartphones’; Watch |

    NEW YORK: Stressing the use of digitisation for rapid development, the President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, lavished praise on India for its work in this direction, which has lifted 800 million out of poverty in the last 5-6 years. He highlighted how people in rural areas of India, are able to make payments and pay bills just on the touch of a smartphone.

    “Providing the basis to rapid development, such as through digitalisation. Take, for example, the case of India…India has been able to lift 800 million people out of poverty over the last 5-6 years simply by the use of smartphones,” Francis said during his lecture at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN on the topic of ‘Accelerating progress towards Zero Hunger for the current and future generations.’

    UNGA President Dennis Francis praises India’s digital transformation under PM Modi with the success of the Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and Mobile (JAM) initiative, which has enabled rural farmers to conduct transactions on smartphones. pic.twitter.com/X7Es3o91mr
    — Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) August 1, 2024

    Francis emphasised the high internet penetration in India as a major factor why India has been able to benefit but not many other countries of the Global South. “Rural farmers in India who never had a relationship with the banking system, are now able to transact all their businesses on their smartphone. They pay their bills, they receive payments for orders. 800 million people lifted out of poverty. Because there is a high level of internet penetration in India, almost everyone has a cellphone,” he said.

    “That is not the case in many parts of the Global South. So, there has to be equity demands, there has to be some effort, initiative to address this inequality as an initial step in negotiating the global framework for digitalisation,” the UNGA President added. Notably, digitisation has been one of the main focuses of the Narendra Modi government in the last 10 years. A rapid rise has been witnessed in digital payment transactions in the country in the last decade and UPI has emerged as a major contributor to it.

    PM Modi has promoted the use of digitisation through the JAM initiative — Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and Mobile. Under this, people have been encouraged to open their bank accounts and every account has been linked with Aadhar. This has helped in connecting people across the country, even in the rural areas with various government schemes and the social benefit payments reaching directly into the ban account of people.

  • Israel’s FM Calls UN Decision To ‘Blacklist’ Israel’s Military ‘Shameful’ |

    TEL AVIV: Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed the UN Secretary General’s decision to include the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) in a blacklist of countries and entities that harm children during conflict, saying Israel rejects this move “with disgust” and calling it “shameful .” Katz pointed out that the decision to include the IDF on the list is entirely up to the UN Secretary General and is “further evidence of his hostility towards Israel and his deliberate disregard, and not for the first time, of the Hamas attack on October 7 and Israel’s right to self-defence. This is the same UN Secretary General who chose to ignore Hamas’ sex crimes, despite the report written on the subject by UN Special Representative Patten.”

    “The Secretary-General’s report regarding Israel and the Palestinians is based on unverified and distorted data, part of an industry of distorted and biased reports by organizations such as OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), which just recently reduced the number of children and women killed in the war in Gaza by half in one day without any explanation and relies on data from the Ministry of Health of Hamas. Israel will expose these distortions of these reports to the world,” said Katz.

    “The IDF is the most moral army in the world – and no fictitious report will change that,” he declared, adding that the move will have “consequences” for Israel’s relations with the UN.

  • ‘India Does Not Need Lessons From…’: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar After US, Germany, UN Comment On Arvind Kejriwal’s Arrest |

    New Delhi: Countering recent comments by the US, Germany and the UN on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar has affirmed India’s stance as a sovereign nation with a robust judicial system. Addressing attendees at the 70th Founders’ Day celebrations of the Indian Institute of Public Administration in New Delhi, VP Dhankhar emphasized that India does not require lessons from any country on the rule of law. “Recently, people are telling us about the rule of law. One country in Europe, a developed democracy, they need to think within. They need to attend to their own affairs,” stated Dhankhar, asserting India’s capability to manage its internal matters independently.

    “Equality before the law is a ‘new norm’ in India today and the law is holding those accountable who thought themselves as beyond law,” he said. “But what do we see? The moment law takes its course, they take to the streets, high decibel debates, camouflaging the culpability of the worst nature by human rights. This is happening under our nose,” he added.

    Challenges To The Rule Of Law

    Dhankhar highlighted the challenges faced by Indian democracy, noting that some individuals resort to street protests and high-decibel debates when faced with legal proceedings. He condemned attempts to evade accountability by masking wrongdoing under the guise of human rights advocacy.

    Strengthening Judicial System

    The Vice President praised India’s judicial system as robust, pro-people, and independent, urging deeper reflection on the tendency to circumvent the rule of law. He emphasized that corruption no longer offers immunity, stating unequivocally that “corruption is not a passage to opportunity, employment, or a contract anymore. It is a passage to jail.”

    Defending Institutions

    Expressing concern over attempts to undermine Indian institutions, Dhankhar questioned the legitimacy of unregistered political entities and called for accountability and transparency in political engagement.

    India’s Global Standing

    Asserting India’s rightful place on the global stage, Dhankhar highlighted the nation’s contributions to global governance and advocated for India’s inclusion in the United Nations Security Council. He argued that India’s constitutionally structured democracy uniquely qualifies it to represent the interests of diverse nations.

    In addition to his remarks, Vice President Dhankhar inaugurated the renovated premises of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) and unveiled several publications. The event was attended by dignitaries including Surendra Nath Tripathi, DG, IIPA, and Amitabh Ranjan, Registrar, IIPA.

  • As Pakistan Knocks United Nations’ Door Over Ayodhya Ram Temple, Can UN Intervene?

    The dispute over the temple and mosque ended after decades in Ayodhya but Pakistan has formally written a letter to the United Nations (UN) to complain about the temple.

  • UN chief praised India’s G-20 presidency, reforms in Security Council, these issues were also discussed

    External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with the top leadership of the United Nations here and discussed with them India’s G20 presidency, regional affairs and global challenges, Sustainable Development Goals and Security Council reforms. Jaishankar has United Nations A day before addressing the general debate at the high-level session of the General Assembly, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the President of the 78th session of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis, met at the headquarters of the global organization on Monday. He also met United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner. Jaishankar said it was a pleasure to meet Guterres. He said that the two leaders discussed how India’s G20 presidency has contributed to strengthening the sustainable development agenda of the United Nations.

    Appreciation of India’s cooperation and leadership in G20
    Jaishankar wrote on social media platform X that we coordinated closely in this regard last year. He praised Guterres’ strong commitment to reforming international financial institutions. Giving information about the meeting, the Office of the United Nations Spokesperson said that Guterres appreciated India’s cooperation in the United Nations and its leadership in the G20. He said that Guterres and Jaishankar also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, Myanmar and other global challenges. The UN Secretary General participated in the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 during India’s G20 Presidency. Jaishankar also held a meeting with Francis before meeting Guterres and thanked him for appreciating the results of India’s G20 chairmanship.

    Discussion on Global South
    Jaishankar said that he is confident that it will contribute to the deliberations of the United Nations General Assembly. The importance of improving multilateralism and giving the Global South its due on the pressing issues of our time was discussed. The term Global South is used for those developing and underdeveloped countries, which are mainly located in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Francis said via telephone that he was pleased to meet Jaishankar and congratulated the foreign minister on India’s successful G20 presidency, particularly India’s strong commitment in support of the Global South. Francis said they discussed key issues, including the priorities of the 78th UNGA session and reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and taking forward the outcomes of the Sustainable Development Goals summit.

    Jaishankar also thanked Francis for his presence at the special ‘India-UN for Global South Delivering for Development’ event. The minister had hosted this event in New York on Saturday. Jaishankar, in his meeting with Steiner, appreciated UNDP’s participation in the initiatives taken during India’s G20 presidency. He said, we can work together to take forward Indian success stories for global benefit.

    Jaishankar also met Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan
    Jaishankar also met UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in New York. He later wrote on I commend the rapid progress of our bilateral cooperation. I value our regular exchange of perspectives on regional and global issues. The Foreign Minister said that he also held a meeting with Madagascar’s Foreign Minister Yvette Silla. Development partnership, millet and rice production, digital access and defense cooperation were discussed, he tweeted.