Karnataka to host Khelo India University Games 2021
Bengaluru, Feb 21: Karnataka will host the second Khelo India University Games (KIUG) later this year, state chief minister BS Yediyurappa and Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Games to be held in the city-based Jain University and other venues, Rijiju told a press conference here.
"We have decided that the second edition of Khelo India University Games will be given to Karnataka and the university is Jain University," he said, in the presence of Yediyurappa and state Youth Empowerment and Sports Minister K C Narayana Gowda.
The union minister said he was confident that the Jain University would organise one of the best university games in the country's history.
It would be held in partnership with Association of Indian Universities (AIU).
KIUG is the largest University Games in the country and is aimed at tapping sporting talent, who can represent India in international events, including the Olympics.
The first edition of KIUG was held in Bhubaneswar in February last year and saw a total participation of 3,182 athletes in the U-25 age group, across 158 universities and colleges from all states.
This year, Yogasana and Mallakhamb have been added to the roster, with an effort to preserve and promote the century-old sporting disciplines of the country.
With the inclusion of these disciplines, the athlete participation figure is expected to cross 4000, this year.
Earlier in the day, Rijiju visited Shivamogga where he announced a Rs 50 crore project comprising a multi-purpose sports centre of high standards in the district.
Rijiju underlined that a large and young country like India with the highest number of young people in the world must be in the top rank in the Olympics in the future.
"India cannot afford to be satisfied with one or two medals. We Indians have talents, Indians have all the potential but unfortunately we could not focus, we lacked vision in the past," he pointed out.
The Minister explained that the Centre has also started indigenous games and recognised five indigenous games, which are Malkhamb, Kallaripayattu, Gatka, Thang Ta and Yogasana.
"We are going to provide lots of funding of indigenous sports. We have to play international sports and we have to play our traditional indigenous sports," he added.
Rijiju said the state will have many facilities similar to the Sports Authority of India facility in Bengaluru.
Yediyurappa said about 150 universities are likely to participate in the event.
The sports meet will be organised at the Kanteerava Stadium and hockey matches will be organised at the General Cariappa Hockey Stadium. All the arrangements will be borne by the state government and the university, the Chief Minister said.
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US vetoes Palestinian bid to gain statehood at the United Nations
United Nations, Apr 19: The US has vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council on the latest Palestinian bid to be granted full membership of the United Nations, an outcome lauded by Israel but criticised by Palestine as “unfair, immoral, and unjustified".
The 15-nation Council voted on a draft resolution Thursday that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
The resolution got 12 votes in its favour, with Switzerland and the UK abstaining and the US casting its veto.
To be adopted, the draft resolution required at least nine Council members voting in its favour, with no vetoes by any of its five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Palestinian attempts for recognition as a full member state began in 2011. Palestine is currently a non-member observer state, a status that was granted in November 2012 by the UN General Assembly.
This status allows Palestine to participate in proceedings of the world body but it cannot vote on resolutions. The only other non-member Observer State at the UN is the Holy See, representing the Vatican.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz praised the US for vetoing what he called a “shameful proposal.”
“The proposal to recognise a Palestinian state, more than 6 months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and after the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists was a reward for terrorism”, Katz wrote on X, after the US veto.
US Ambassador Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, said in the explanation of the vote at the Security Council meeting on Palestinian membership that Washington continues to strongly support a two-state solution.
“It remains the US view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners,” he said.
“This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgement that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties.”
Wood said there are “unresolved questions” as to whether Palestine meets the criteria to be considered a State.
“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas - a terrorist organisation - is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” he said, adding that “For these reasons, the United States voted “no” on this Security Council resolution.”
Wood noted that since the October 7 attacks last year against Israel by Hamas, US President Joe Biden has been clear that sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution, with Israel’s security guaranteed.
"There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and with dignity in a state of their own. And there is no other path that leads to regional integration between Israel and all its Arab neighbours, including Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, sharply criticised the US veto, saying that it was “unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.”
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, said that “our right to self-determination has never once been subject to bargaining or negotiation.
“Our right to self-determination is a natural right, a historic right, a legal right. A right to live in our homeland Palestine as an independent state that is free and that is sovereign. Our right to self-determination is inalienable...,” he said.
Getting emotional and choking up as he made the remarks, Mansour said that a majority of the Council members “have risen to the level of this historic moment” and have stood “on the side of justice, freedom and hope.”
He asserted that Palestine’s admission as a full member of the UN is an “investment in peace.”
On April 2, 2024, Palestine again sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requesting that its application for full UN membership be considered again.
For a State to be granted full UN membership, its application must be approved both by the Security Council and the General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting is required for the State to be admitted as a full member.
Earlier in the day, Guterres, in his remarks to a Council meeting on the Middle East, warned that the region is on a “knife edge”.
“Recent escalations make it even more important to support good-faith efforts to find lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” Guterres said.
“Failure to make progress towards a two-state solution will only increase volatility and risk for hundreds of millions of people across the region, who will continue to live under the constant threat of violence,” he said.
The UN, citing the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that between October 7 last year and April 17, at least 33,899 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 76,664 Palestinians injured. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 33 children, have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on October 7.
As of April 17, Israeli authorities estimate that 133 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld.
