The Indian Weekender, September 25, 2020

14
INDIA
Friday, September 25, 2020 The Indian Weekender
India: Coronavirus cases
Confirmed: 5,118,253 | Deaths: 83,230
Recovered: 4,025,079
World: Coronavirus cases
Confirmed: 30,037,107 | Deaths: 945,097
Recovered: 21,804,247
Without comprehensivereforms, UN
faces crisis of confidence: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra
India’s Permanent Representative
Modi said the United Nations
to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti
faces a “crisis of confidence
introduced Modi’s pre-recorded
without comprehensive reforms”,
adding that the world requires
statement from the UN General
Assembly Hall.
a reformed multilateralism that
“We support the ongoing reforms
bespeaks the realities of today, gives
by the Secretary-General, we
voice to all stakeholders and engages
with contemporary challenges.
Modi made these remarks ahead of
India taking a seat at the UN Security
Council as an elected non-permanent
reiterate our call for reforms of
three of the principal organs of the
United Nations.
"We commit to instil new life in
the discussions on the reform of
member for a two-year term that
the Security Council and continue
starts on January 1, 2021.
the work to revitalise the General
Speaking in a video address to
Assembly and strengthen the
The PM pointed out that the
the high-level meeting of the UN "We
Economic and Social Council,”
declaration too took cognizance of
General Assembly to begin the 75th
Modi said.
the need for reform of the UN.
cannot
anniversary of the United Nations,
He added that India has been
He said, “While much has been
Modi said, “We cannot fight today’s
fight today’s
leading decades-long efforts to
achieved, the original mission
challenges with outdated structures.
remains incomplete.
challenges
reform the Security Council, saying
Without comprehensive reforms, the
a structure established in 1945 does
"The declaration we are adopting
UN faces a crisis of confidence.”
with outdated
not fully show the contemporary
today acknowledges that work
As part of its 75th anniversary, the
structures. Without realities of the 21st century and is
still needs to be done in preventing
UN General Assembly has adopted
conflict, ensuring development, comprehensive
not adequately-equipped to take on
a declaration in which the heads of
current challenges.
addressing climate change, reducing
states and governments reaffirmed
reforms, the UN
Modi also underscored the fact
inequality.”
their commitment to leave no one
faces a crisis of
that as a founding signatory of the
This year’s high-level UN General
behind, preserve the planet, promote
UN charter, India shared values,
Assembly is being organised virtually confidence
peace and prevent conflicts, abide
which showed India’s own tenets of
as world leaders did not travel to
by international law and ensure
‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’, which
New York for the annual meeting due
justice, place women and girls at the
recorded video statements for the views all creation as a family.
to the coronavirus pandemic.
centre, build trust, improve digital
high-level week, including the “Our world today is a better place
Heads of states and government
cooperation and upgrade the United
special commemoration of the UN’s because of the United Nations,” the
and ministers submitted their pre-
Nations, among other issues.
75 years and the General Debate. PM added.
Officer from Varanasi set to be
first woman pilot to fly Rafale
Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is set to
become India’s first woman fighter pilot
to fly the Rafale aircraft that was formally
inducted into the Indian Air Force on September
10, officials familiar with the matter said.
Singh, who hails from Varanasi, is currently being
trained to fly IAF’s newest fighter based in Ambala.
She is undergoing conversion training to fly the
Rafale jet and will soon join the Ambalabased
No. 17 squadron, also known as
"The
struggle
of two decades
has culminated into
this storm! In the past
three years so much has
progressed and now we
are seeing yet another
door opening"
“Golden Arrows.”
The officer, who is one of IAF’s
10 women fighter pilots, joined
the air force in 2017. After joining
IAF, she has been flying the MiG-21
Bison aircraft and was till recently
serving at a fighter base in Rajasthan,
the officials added on condition
of anonymity.
Ten women have been commissioned as fighter
pilots after the experimental scheme for their
induction into IAF’s combat stream was introduced
in 2015, a watershed in the air force’s history.
IAF is operating its Rafale fighter jets in the
Ladakh theatre where the military is on its highest
state of alert, amid heightened border tensions with
China. IAF’s current fleet of five Rafale fighters
is fully operational and ready to undertake any
mission, officials said.
India ordered 36 Rafale jets from France in a
deal worth Rs 59,000 crore in September 2016.
The air force formally inducted the planes at the
Ambala air base on September 10 though they
landed at their home base on July 29.
The next batch of three to four Rafale jets is
expected to reach Ambala from France in October
followed by a third batch in December. All
deliveries will be completed by the end of 2021.
G4 nations call
for ‘urgent’ UN
reforms
The G4 countries – Brazil,
India, Japan and Germany
– expressed disappointment
at attempts to derail reforms of the
United Nations and called for textbased
negotiations within a fixed
timeframe to revamp the world body.
The foreign ministers of the four
countries, during a virtual meeting
during the 75th session of the UN
General Assembly, highlighted the
urgency of reforming the world
body and updating its main decisionmaking
bodies to better reflect
contemporary realities.
The move is in line with India’s
position on the reforms of the UN,
including expansion of the permanent
and non-permanent membership
of the Security Council, its main
decision-making organ.
The foreign ministers – Brazil’s
Ernesto Araújo, India’s S Jaishankar,
Japan’s Motegi Toshimitsu and
Germany’s minister of state in the
federal foreign office, Niels Annen,
who represented foreign minister
Heiko Maas, said the declaration
adopted by all heads of state and
government on the 75th anniversary
of the UN reaffirmed the “common
resolve to finally take decisive steps
towards the early and comprehensive
reform of the Security Council”.
The head count of women in the
military adds up to more than 4,000,
but combat roles were off limits to
them until IAF took the lead in crushing
internal resistance to induct them into
the fighter stream.
Tanks and combat positions in the infantry
are still no-go zones for women, who were allowed
to join the armed forces outside the medical stream
for the first time in 1992.
Warships are no longer a no-go zone for women
naval aviators with two of them set to become the
first women in the navy’s history to operate from
flight decks of warships and stay on board the
vessels, the navy announced on Monday.
Sub Lieutenants Kumudini Tyagi and Riti Singh
have been selected for the helicopter stream.
“The struggle of two decades has culminated
into this storm! In the past three years so much
has progressed and now we are seeing yet another
door opening.
"Absolutely delighted that the air force has not
dithered and true to its grain has handed over the
newest machine to Shivangi. Go girl ....Touch the
sky with glory,” said Wing Commander Anupama
Joshi (retd), from the first batch of women officers
commissioned in the IAF in early1990s.