[CA] Modi's speech in United Nations

Current Affairs

Modi’s Speech in UNGA

Modi’s UNGA 2014 Speech

- India and its philosophy

- Democracy everywhere

- To Pakistan

- Terrorism

- Three spaces

- Need for UN reforms

- Poverty

- Climate change

------------------------------------------------------------------------

India and its philosophy

·        India= one-sixth of humanity.

·        Undergoing rapid socio-economic transformation rarely seen in history.

·        Every nation’s world view is shaped by philosophical tradition. Ours is “Vasudheva Kutumbkam” i.e. India’s ancient wisdom sees the world as one family.

·        Hence we strive for co-existence, cooperation, openness, diversity and multilateralism.

Democracy everywhere

·        Today, there is a surge to democracy across the world

·        Afghanistan proved to Talibans that democracy will prevail.

·        Nepal Maoists have left violence and working towards democratic Constitution.

·        Bhutan’s young democracy is flourishing as well.

·        Democracy finding a voice in West Asia and North Africa; Tunisia’s success makes us believe that it is possible

·        We can see a trend towards Peace and stability everywhere- Africa, Latin America, Asia and beyond.

To Pakistan

·        Kashmir is a bilateral issue, (Sharif) raising it at UN platform, won’t solve it.

·        Instead of asking for Kashmir plebiscites and referendums, we need to solve J&K flood problems. India even offered help to PoK (but Paki Government is too arrogant to accept it.)

·        India prepared to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan in a peaceful atmosphere, without the shadow of terrorism.

·        But Pakistan must also take its responsibility seriously to create an appropriate (peaceful) environment for it.

Terrorism

·        World is witnessing tensions and turmoil rarely seen in recent history.

·        There are no major wars, but tensions and conflicts abound. (Recall Pope said similar- “piecemeal third world war”)

·        Europe faces risk of new division.

·        West Asia = extremism at its zenith.

·        Africa= rising terrorism + Ebola health crisis.

·        Asia= Maritime security and resource exploitation (indirect reference to claims over South China sea)

·        Terrorism is taking new shape and new name.

·        No country, big or small, in the north or the south, east or west, is free from its threat.

·        But we are still hobbled by our politics, we are making distinction between good and bad terrorists?

·        Yes, India wants to combat terrorism in West Asia- because it’ll affect countries near and far.

·        But this should involve the support of all countries in the region. (= need to include Iran + Russia, may be even Syria.)

·        Even today, some states (=Pakistan) provide sanctuaries to terrorists, and use terrorism as their state policy.

·        But we should put aside our differences and adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

Three spaces

·        On the one side, we say that our destinies are inter-linked, but we still think in terms of zero sum game- If the other nation benefits, I stand to lose.

·        In today’s inter-depended world, the countries are more united as world, but still we are divided in various groupings.

·        While seas, space and cyber space are new avenues of prosperity. They too becoming theatre of conflicts (China testing anti-satellite missile, NSA-spying, Chinese hackers, Russian hackers and so on)

·        Therefore, need for United Nations, is stronger than before.

·        Not a single country (=America) can decide the fate of the world. We should work together to ensure that all countries observe international rules and norms.

·        Must work for global disarmament and non-proliferation.

Need for UN reforms

·        Institutions that reflect the imperatives of 20th century won’t be effective in the 21st century. (UN, IMF, world bank)

·        Therefore, Nations grouping themselves into G9, G20. Why can’t we become G1 or G-All (using UN platform)?

·        United Nations, and Security Council must become more democratic and participative. (said similar in Tokyo declaration)

·        Else, they will become irrelevant and we won’t be able to solve future crisis (such as WW3 or ISIS v.2.0 or Subprime 2.0)

·        Developing countries provide most of the soldiers (blue helmets) to UN Peacekeeping mission. They must be involved in decision making of UN peace keeping plans.

Poverty

·        International trade agreement should accommodate concerns of everyone. (with respect to Bali Summit, TFA and Food security)

·        Our policy should be mutually supportive, not mutually damaging.

Climate change

·        Common but differentiated responsibilities. (Meaning first world should provide truckload of funds to third world and transfer secret technologies to combat climate change.)

·        India is prepared to share its technology and capabilities. We even announced a free satellite for the SAARC countries.

·        Energy not consumed is the cleanest energy. We need to change our lifestyles accordingly.

·        Even without reckless (resource) consumption we can still achieve same level of development.

·        Sustainable development doesn’t mean that economies will suffer; these economies will take on a different character.

·        Indians respect for nature as part of spiritualism, all natural bounties are sacred.

·        Listed benefits of Yoga and asked for designating International Yoga Day.

==============================================

More Topics on Current Affairs

[Study Materials/Notes] Indian Polity

[Study Materials/Notes] Culture

[Study Materials/Notes] Economics

[Study Materials/Notes] Other Topics