PM Modi, Biden and over 100 world leaders to address UNGA in person next week
United Nations (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden will address the UN General Debate in-person next week, as over 100 heads of state and government arrive in New York to attend the annual high-level General Assembly session, which had gone virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Modi will address world leaders from the iconic UN General Assembly hall on the morning of September 25, a day after he participates in the Quad Leaders' Summit in Washington DC hosted by Biden on September 24.
Modi, Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga will participate in the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington and review progress made since their first virtual Summit on 12 March 2021 and discuss regional issues of shared interest, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Modi will address the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25. The theme for this year's General Debate is Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the United Nations', the MEA statement said.
As per the second provisional list of speakers for the General Assembly, about 109 heads of state and government will address the General Debate in person and nearly 60 will deliver speeches through pre-recorded video statements.
Biden will travel to New York to deliver his first address to the 193-member General Assembly as American President. The US is traditionally the second speaker after Brazil at the General Debate, which this year will run from September 21 to 27.
Afghanistan's diplomat is listed as the last speaker on the last day of the General Debate. Currently the Afghan envoy at the UN is Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai, who was appointed by former President Ashraf Ghani as Kabul's envoy to the UN in June 2021. The interim Taliban government in power has not yet made any submission challenging Isaczai's credentials.
The diplomats of Myanmar and Guinea are also listed to speak on behalf of their countries on the last day of the debate. However, following the coup in Myanmar, its military rulers have said the country's Ambassador at UN Kyaw Moe Tun has been dismissed and they want Aung Thurein to replace him.
In response to a question on who should represent Myanmar at the UNGA, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had said that it is a matter that is strictly in the hands of the Credentials Committee and, of course, we will abide by what member states decide in the Credentials Committee or eventually, if necessary in the General Assembly. This is an area where the Secretariat has no power whatsoever.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are among the world leaders who will address the session in person.
The 76th session of the UN General Assembly will begin on Tuesday. Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid will be President of the year-long session.
Modi had last addressed the UN General Assembly session in 2019. Last year, world leaders had submitted pre-recorded video statements for the United Nations General Assembly session in September, as heads of state and government could not physically attend the annual gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It was the first time in the UN's 75-year history that the high-level session had gone virtual. This year too, the option has been kept open for the world leaders to send in pre-recorded statements since the pandemic continues to rage across several nations around the world.
The other events during the 76th session of the General Assembly are the meeting to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action on September 22, Dialogue on Energy convened by UN Secretary-General Guterres on September 24 and the plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 28.
Guterres and UK Prime Minister Johnson will hold an informal, closed-door roundtable with a small but representative group of heads of state and government on the sidelines of the General Assembly on September 20.
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Cong slams govt on rising pollution, demands review of National Ambient Air Quality Standards
New Delhi (PTI): Expressing concern over rising pollution levels, the Congress on Sunday demanded an urgent review and upgradation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, 2009, and asserted that they must be enforced as well as monitored more effectively everywhere.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "PM 56-inch has been exposed, PM 2.5 is for real."
Ramesh also said the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) itself needs a laser-like focus on PM2.5.
"PM2.5 that is, particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers or lower measured in micrograms per cubic meter of air as emerged as the cause for a severe environment-public health crisis across the country," the former environment minister said on X.
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A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in December 2024, based on data from 655 districts over 2009-2019, found that every 10 microgram per cubic metre increase in PM2.5 concentration leads to an 8.6% increase in mortality, Ramesh pointed out.
The 2025 Lancet Countdown estimates that about 17.2 lakh Indians die every year from exposure to PM2.5, a 38% increase since 2010, he said.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has repeatedly told Parliament in 2024, 2025 and again in 2026 that deaths on account of air pollution "cannot be conclusively established", he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Health Ministry's own research body, has endorsed the Lancet findings, attributing 12.4 lakh deaths in 2017 to air pollution, that is 12.5% of all deaths that year, Ramesh said.
Now, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has done a detailed analysis of the data generated by the continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations operated by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), he said, adding that the data covers the period October 1, 2025 to February 2026 for 238 cities.
The conclusions are very disturbing and should be yet another wake-up call to all those who are in denial mode, he said.
Citing the analysis, Ramesh said none of the 238 cities complied with the WHO safe guidelines for PM2.5.
"In 204 of the 238 cities PM2.5 concentrations were above the levels set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) that were promulgated way back in November 2009. Subsequently, the WHO announced its updated safe guideline in September 2021," Ramesh said.
The Indian standard for the annual average concentration of PM2.5 is now 8 times weaker than the WHO guideline, he said.
The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) launched in 2019 has made very little impact on PM2.5 concentrations, he claimed.
PM2.5 concentrations complied with the NAAQS, 2009 safe level only in 12 of the 96 NCAP cities, Ramesh pointed out.
"Over Rs 13,400 crore has been released under NCAP and XV Finance Commission grants since inception, with 68% spent on road dust management.The NCAP benchmarks itself against PM10, the coarser and less lethal pollutant, not PM2.5," he said.
While the top polluted cities are in the National Capital Region covering Delhi and parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, other states like Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have a very high proportion of polluted cities that exceed the standards, Ramesh said.
There are 50 cities where continuous data availability is less than 80%, while there are some monitoring stations where no data was available for even a single day, Ramesh said.
"The National Ambient Air Quality Standards, 2009 need urgent review and upgradation. They also must be enforced and monitored more effectively everywhere. In addition, the NCAP itself needs a laser-like focus on PM2.5," the Congress leader asserted.
