Renewable energy

South Asia’s Renewable Transition: Energy Security, Geopolitics and the BRICS Factor

The regional opportunity is particularly significant in electricity. Nepal and Bhutan can potentially export hydropower; India can provide the scale of demand and investment required to create a regional electricity market; Bangladesh can become an important electricity consumer; and Sri Lanka and Pakistan can expand solar and wind. Greater cross-border electricity trade could allow countries to exploit complementary renewable resources and reduce the need for expensive domestic backup capacity.

The Himalayas Need a Common Language of Warning: Emergency Cooperation Must be Institutionalised Into Durable Regional Architecture

A genuinely regional approach could eventually include - besides Nepal, China and India - Bhutan and, where relevant, downstream institutions in Bangladesh. Organisations with established Himalayan expertise, particularly the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, could offer scientific and institutional support.

The Himalayas are Sending a Warning: Need for Timely Trans-Border Sharing of Environmental Information

The Himalayas are not collapsing because humanity exists, but humanity is creating a warmer world in which the Himalayas are becoming less predictable. The real question is no longer whether climate change will alter the mountains. It already is. 

When an Entire Village and Bazaar in Nepal Disappeared in an Instant

My eldest aunt was swept away. So was her son, my dai Madhu, and his wife. My other aunt — gone too, they told me. Her grandson Sijan and his wife, caught in the same water. His own son and daughter-in-law, unreachable, unaccounted for. My maternal uncle had gone out that morning to cut grass for the cattle. He never came back.

More on Climate, Sustainability and Energy

US calls for text-based negotiations for UNSC reform; backs India, Japan and Germany for permanent seat

India and several countries have been pushing for the adoption of the negotiating text and the the US adding its weight gives it added impetus.

India presses for Africa's participation in UNSC, says discord hampering peacekeeping

“It is now time to move forward with the establishment” of the memorial honouring the more than 4,000 UN Peacekeepers who have made the supreme sacrifice”, he said, noting that 182 Indian peacekeepers have died “upholding the cause of international peace and security”.

UN team to visit Dhaka to discus human rights violations during recent unrest

The report said that “according to available public reports by media and the protest movement itself, between July 16 and August 11, more than 600 people were killed. Of these, nearly 400 deaths were reported from July 16 to August 4, while around 250 people were reportedly killed following the new wave of protests between August 5 and 6 August”.

Africa's permanent membership essential to make UN Security Council effective, says India; Pakistan, China oppose expansion

Munir Akram, the permanent representative of  Pakistan which is also a member of UfC, opposed expanding permanent membership but said that Africa can be considered a special case and be given long-term seats in the Council

Bangladesh interim government should be inclusive, consider voices of minorities, respect human rights:UN chief

According to Rana Dasgupta, a leader of the minorities organisation Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad, about 100 Hindus have been injured and two killed. Anti-Hindu violence took place at 97 places last week, and at least 10 temples were attacked, according to him.

Afghanistan must be prevented from again becoming terrorism hotbed: Top UN counter-terrorism official

While China has been providing an umbrella from sanctions for some Pakistan-based terrorists like Lashkar-e-Tayiba leader Sajid Mir, its Permanent Representative Geng Shuang spoke out at the meeting against double standards.

Simla agreement also to be basis in settling Kashmir dispute

Although Pakistanis and their supporters cite the Security Council resolution asking for a plebiscite to be held in Kashmir, they ignore the Council’s demand that Pakistan and Pakistani nationals completely withdraw from the occupied areas.

As world temperatures soar, UN chief calls for global action

“All countries must deliver by next year nationally determined contributions – or national climate action plans – aligned to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius”, he said

India facing ‘completely unjustified’ pressure over Russia ties, says Lavrov; attacks West for criticising "Asian giants"

Bracketing China with India, Lavrov attacked the West’s criticism of these “Asian giants”. He said, “A multipolar world is a reality. It's not just a made-up of fiction”.

India to be most populous nation into next century; Pakistan third most populous

According to the data accompanying the report, India’s population is projected to grow from the 1.45 billion now to a peak of 1.7 billion in 2064 when the decline begins and register 1.5 billion in 2100, a 12 per cent drop.

UN warns of ‘risk of full-scale’ war on Israel-Lebanon border

The Indian peacekeepers are a part of the 10,000-strong 49-nation UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) charged by the Security Council to work with Lebanese national forces to keep order in the volatile section known as the Blue Line that separates Lebanon and Israel.

Pakistan’s desperate attempts to raise Kashmir at UN gets no traction; India is dismissive

While India does directly take on Pakistan by naming it by exercising its formal right of reply on major issues, New Delhi does not name it on other occasions like on Tuesday to deprive Islamabad of an opportunity to prolong the issue, which is ignored by almost all the other 192 members of the UN, but at the same time making a clear rebuttal.

UNSC needs comprehensive reform to remedy structural dysfunction, declares India

It is high time to bring the Council in line with its Charter responsibility to act on behalf of the entire Membership”, but “this will not be achieved without enhancing the membership in both the categories” permanent and non-permanent, he emphasised.

UN chief urges global fight against tyranny of algorithm-driven digital media promoting disinformation

Turning to the role of governments, he said, “Commit to creating and maintaining a free, viable, independent, and plural media landscape”.

Yoga Day: An island of mindfulness in New York’s frenetic Times Square

The “Mind Over Madness” yoga celebrations at Times Square on Solstice Day has been going on for 22 years, starting a dozen years before the United Nations General Assembly created the International Day of Yoga.