‘Impaired’ Organ!
   Date :19-Nov-2020

Time and Tide_1 &nbs
 
INDIA’S reminder to the United Nations to initiate a decisive movement to achieve the long-delayed reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should set the process in motion rather than making it a platform for futile debates. Mr. T S Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, used the right expressions to make his lament known to the powerful body that seems to have been caught in a time warp and keeps paying mere lip-service to the proposed reform. Time is now right for a makeover of the UN’s most powerful body and change its status from being an ‘impaired’ organ due to the smokescreen erected by a handful of countries which do not want India on the board. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, too, had made a similar call in his address at the UN General Assembly. Mr. Modi’s message resonated India’s motto of development for all through Sustainable Development Goals, something that the United Nations can easily replicate if it decides to reform itself to stay relevant. A serious result-oriented platform for larger good of the world community cannot remain silent spectator to a rightful demand.
 
CAUTION NEEDED
 
WHILE the Indian players who appeared in the Indian Premier League (IPL) talked about living a difficult life in bio-bubble, cut-off from the rest of the world, their sojourn in Australia makes it mandatory for all to strictly follow the health protocols following fresh coronavirus outbreak in Adelaide, one of the Test venues. The Australian cricket board is now taking desperate measures to save the series as the virus threatens disruption in the upcoming summer. Cricket Australia had to airlift its players from Adelaide to keep them safe for the series. Both the teams have a lot of travelling in the schedule for the limited overs as well as four-Test series. It will be a test of their safety protocols as even one positive case can derail the entire tour. Though the long tour can be very challenging in a bio-bubble, the Indian players have no other option than to adapt to the conditions and keep the tensions and boredom out of their thinking process while entering the field. Cricket Australia is already drafting contingency plans but it will require austere adherence to the protocols by the players. There cannot be a compromise.