Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 74th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday and said the world needs to unite and have a consensus on fighting terrorism.
“Terrorism is one of the biggest challenges before humanity,” Modi said in a 20-minute speech. “The largest number of supreme sacrifices made by soldiers of any country for UN Peace keeping missions is from India. We belong to a country that has given the world, not war, but Buddha’s message of peace. And that is the reason why, our voice against terrorism, to alert the world about this evil, rings with seriousness and the outrage,” he said. “We believe, that this is one of the biggest challenges, not for any single country, but for the entire world and humanity. The lack of unanimity amongst us on the issue of terrorism, dents those very principles, that are the basis for the creation of the UN,” he went on to say. “And that is why, for the sake of humanity, I firmly believe, that it is absolutely imperative, that the world unites against terrorism, and that the world stands as one against terrorism,” he added.
Modi also spoke about fighting climate change and highlighted India’s big contribution to fighting climate change despite being one of the lowest emitters of carbon emissions. “Per capita wise India’s contribution to global warming is very low, but we are a leading nation in mitigation plans,” Modi said in his address. “I am pleased to inform this august assembly that even as I am addressing you today, a very large campaign is being started across the entire country to make India free of single use plastic. In the next 5 years, apart from promoting water conservation, we are going to ensure water supply to 150 million homes,” he said.