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Tag: abolish

  • Abolish veto rights or give them to newbies in reformed UNSC: India

    Abolish veto rights or give them to newbies in reformed UNSC: India

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    United Nations: Pressing its case for reforming the UN Security Council, India has said that either the veto rights should be abolished or be given also to new permanent members in a reformed Council.ha

    “Either all nations are treated equally in the context of voting rights or else the new permanent members must also be given the veto,” Pratik Mathur, a counsellor at India’s UN Mission said on Wednesday at the General Assembly.

    “Extension of veto to new members, in our view, will have no adverse impact on the effectiveness of an enlarged Council,” he said countering arguments made by some countries against expanding permanent membership.

    MS Education Academy

    He said that the question of veto should be addressed as part of a comprehensive reform of the Council through clearly defined timelines in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) for reforms.

    The IGN has virtually stalled because a small group of countries have manipulated the process to prevent progress.

    Mathur was speaking at an Assembly debate held on the first anniversary of the landmark resolution requiring a discussion by the Assembly within ten days of a veto being cast in the Council.

    While the Assembly cannot override a veto in the Council, by having a discussion it hopes to bring moral pressure on the vetoers or expose them to the world.

    Mathur said that the veto resolution adopted by consensus “unfortunately, reflected a piecemeal approach to UNSC reform, thereby highlighting one aspect, ignoring root cause of the problem”.

    The root cause in the view of India and many countries is the architecture of the Council that reflects the post-World War II scenario and gives veto-wielding permanent seats to the five victorious allies, Britain, China, France, the US and Russia, which hold the seat originally given to the Soviet Union.

    Mathur said: “As rightly called out by our African brothers, it goes against the concept of sovereign equality of states and only perpetuates the mindset of the Second World War, ‘To the victor belongs the spoils’.

    “Let me flag what our African Brothers have repeatedly stated in the IGN: ‘The veto as a matter of principle should be abolished. However, as a matter of common justice, it should be extended to new permanent members so long as it continues to exist’.”

    During the debate, Kenya’s Deputy Permanent Representative Michael Kiboino reaffirmed the same point citing the Common African Position on Council reform.

    “If the pursuit of the purposes of the UN Charter is based on the principle of sovereign equality of states, then the veto is a contradiction that should be abolished.

    “But if it is to be retained in a reformed Security Council, it must be extended to new permanent members with all its attributes, including the prerogatives and privileges of permanent membership,” Kiboino declared.

    The most vigorous push for Council reform comes from the 54 nations of Africa, a continent without any permanent members on the Council where the majority of actions relate to it.

    South Africa’s Permanent Representative Mathu Joyini said that the Assembly’s veto resolution requiring discussions of it “should not be seen as an interim or ad-hoc solution to the need for urgent Security Council reform, which will address the structural challenges within the Council itself”.

    “We must continue our efforts for urgent Council reform and the revitalisation of the General Assembly. Ultimately, focus should be on giving greater momentum to the reform of the Security Council itself,” she added.

    The Assembly’s resolution in April 2022 on holding debates on vetoes was adopted after the Council was paralysed by Russia’s veto of a resolution in February last year condemning its invasion of Ukraine.

    Russia vetoed another resolution in September condemning its referendums in areas of Ukraine it had annexed.

    Last year, Moscow also vetoed a resolution on border crossings for sending aid to rebel-held areas of Syria and joined China to shoot down a resolution condemning North Korea’s intercontinental and other ballistic missile tests.

    The Assembly held debates on those three vetoes.

    Assembly President Csaba Korosi called the veto resolution, “a breakthrough, a gamechanger” that “opened the door for a new form of collaboration and accountability” between the Assembly and Council.

    While India has insisted on veto rights for all permanent members in a reformed Council, it had also offered to forgo the veto power temporarily as compromise.

    During an IGN meeting in 2016, Syed Akbaruddin, who was then India’s permanent representative, said: “Our own national position has been and remains that the veto should, as long as it exists, be extended to new permanent members. As a measure of flexibility and willingness for compromise, the use of the veto can be deferred till the Review Conference.”

    The UN Charter provides for a conference to review and amend the veto rights but such a meeting has never taken place.



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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Karnataka to abolish 4% reservation for minorities, places them under EWS category

    Karnataka to abolish 4% reservation for minorities, places them under EWS category

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    Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has announced its decision to scrap the four per cent quota for minorities and add it to the existing quota of two dominant communities of the poll-bound state.

    The 4 per cent reservation given to Muslims under 2B classification of the OBC category will now be divided into two equal parts and added to the existing quota of Vokkaligas and Lingayats for whom two new reservation categories of 2C and 2D were created during the Belagavi Assembly Session last year.

    The cabinet decided to bring the religious minorities under the EWS category.

    The decision comes ahead of the Assembly elections.

    Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting on Friday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the religious minorities quota would be done away with and brought under the 10 per cent pool of the EWS category without any change of condition.

    “The four per cent (reservation for minorities) will be divided into two between 2C and 2D. The four per cent reservation for the Vokkaligas and others will be enhanced to six per cent and Veerashaiva Panchamasali and others (Lingayats), who are getting five per cent reservation will now get seven per cent,” the CM explained.

    The Cabinet had abolished 3A and 3B categories of reservation for Vokkaligas and Lingayats respectively and replaced them with two new categories of 2C and 2D last December.

    Defending the decision to abolish the quota for Muslims, Bommai said there was no constitutional provision for religious minorities.

    Citing a court verdict striking down the reservation provided for minorities in Andhra Pradesh, the CM said the architect of the Indian Constitution B R Ambedkar too had said that reservations were for caste.

    “However, we cannot drop that community entirely. With a view that there should not be any problem, the religious minorities…if someone challenges reservation to them, we decided to take a proactive decision. In fact they will go from 4 per cent to the 10 percent pool of the EWS group without any change of condition,” Bommai explained.

    Muslims are divided into three reservation categories 1, 2A and 2B.

    The extremely backward religious minorities, who form the sub-sects of Muslims such as Pinjara, Nadaf, Daroji, Chapparband and are enlisted in category 1, will remain undisturbed and in the same reservation list.

    Similarly, the government did not touch the Muslim communities under 2A category.

    “Some other Muslim sub-sects in the 2B category will not be disturbed. They will only be moved to the EWS quota on the same conditions,” Bommai said.

    There are some more small backward communities, who find mention in the Backward Commission’s report.

    “They never figured in any list including the backward list. They are not in any category. Regarding them, the Backward Commission has mentioned in its second list. I will study the report in detail. Our government will take further decision on it in the coming cabinet.

    Already, a recommendation has been sent to the Centre to include two shepherd communities Kadu Kuruba’ and Gonda Kuruba’ spread over four districts in the ST category.

    Further, the Union government has made some references to two to three communities including Kadu Gollaru and Koli communities seeking the opinion of the department.

    Bommai also said that the government will notify the communities under the EWS category.

    Also, a decision was taken with regard to the SC community that 6 percent reservation would be given to SC left sub-category, 5.5 per cent to SC right, 4.5 per cent to touchables and 1 per cent to others.

    Hailing the announcement, Adichunchanagiri Math pontiff and Vokkaliga leader Nirmalanandanatha Swami said the demand was made for 12 per cent reservation keeping in view the condition of the community.

    “Given the situation, the government has increased the reservation from four per cent to six per cent for which we thank the government. We welcome the move,” he said.

    The Panchamasali community of the Lingayat sect and the Vokkaligas have been demanding a hike in reservation for quite a long time.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • BJP govt can also abolish Article 371A: Cong’s Jairam Ramesh in Nagaland

    BJP govt can also abolish Article 371A: Cong’s Jairam Ramesh in Nagaland

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    Kohima: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the signing of the framework agreement for a solution to the Naga Political Issue was an outcome of years of painstaking negotiations led by governments of his party but the details of it are known by no one.

    Addressing a press conference here, he appealed to the people of the state to show the door to those who have made hollow promises and talk of “double-engine” government that does not have any tracks.

    “On August 3, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the signing of the framework agreement for the resolution of the Naga Issue, and this was welcomed as everybody, and the Congress particularly, wants peace, social harmony and development in Nagaland. But eight years have gone by and we are still waiting for the details of what the agreement was,” said Ramesh.

    “Based on the years of political contact made by the Congress (with leaders of Naga groups) since the mid-1990s, finally in 2015, the framework agreement was signed,” he said.

    The priority of the successive Congress governments was to bring peace back to Nagaland without which neither the administration nor economic activity would be successful, he said.

    Maintaining that the BJP-led government at the Centre abolished Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Ramesh said a government that can do away with Article 370 can also abolish Article 371A, which provides for certain special provisions for Nagaland.

    Congress created Nagaland and introduced Article 371A in Constitution to protect, preserve and promote the interest of the people of the state, he said.

    “This is a very important election in the history of Nagaland and an opportunity to reject the forces which made false promises in 2018, and an opportunity to put trust and confidence in a party that respects and celebrates India’s many diversities,” Ramesh said.

    Development has come to a complete halt in the last five years in the state, while corruption has increased astronomically, he alleged.

    Asked about the prospects of the Congress’s 23 candidates contesting the February 27 election to the 60-member assembly, Ramesh said he was hopeful of a government in which the Congress will have a very important role to play.

    Congress does not have any members in the present assembly.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )