PM’S CONCERN
    Date :10-Dec-2019

Time and Tide_1 &nbs
 
THE letter written by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to the Secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) about how each effort by India to elicit greater collaboration from SAARC got challenged with acts of terror, shows his concern as one of the major global leaders of the time. The letter highlights the concern of India and the Prime Minister about how the scourge of terrorism needs to be fought collectively and resolutely if common developmental goals were to be attained. The Prime Minister’s letter demonstrates the Indian concern and his personal lament that shared objectives of so many countries often get defeated when some elements are constantly daring peaceful efforts in favour of effective joint action by pushing the agenda of terrorism. In fact, one of the reasons why SAARC slowed down in achieving its objective quite a bit in the past some time was that terrorism continued to be a tool of some countries State policy. This letter by the Prime Minister should be treated as a genuine wake-up call for the Asian region.
 
HUGE CHALLENGE
 
THAT only 57% of the waste collected in the jurisdiction of 93% of municipal councils is duly processed on a regular basis, indicates the hugeness of the task before the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. This means that as much as 43% of the waste still goes unprocessed, and that all the municipal councils are not covered under this effort is yet another concern that needs to be addressed. However, the current statistical details are good enough to arouse a sense of assurance that things are moving in the right direction. When the country adopted the unique Swachh Bharat Abhiyan about five years ago, the people got hooked on to it for the novelty of the concept, and also by the fact that for the first time a Government had picked up the subject for nationwide implementation. From that standpoint, the progress made so far is good enough against the background of the massive challenge. There is little doubt that in the next few years, still better progressed would be achieved on this count if the whole nation gets involved duly.