At a special session marking 75 years of the United Nations on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for reform of its “outdated structures”, pointing out that in the absence of comprehensive changes, the world body today faces a “crisis of confidence”. While the words appear harsh given the occasion, they can hardly be faulted. India has been at the forefront of demanding reform in the UN, particularly its principal organ, the Security Council, for decades, staking its claim as one of the world’s largest economies and most populous countries, with a track record in promoting a rules-based international order, and contributing to peacekeeping through UN forces. The UN was born in the crisis of the World War era, and the realities of that time can hardly be compared to the present. The UNSC’s permanent, veto-carrying members, chosen by virtue of being “winners” of World War II — the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia and later China — can hardly claim adequate representation of the
Bhiwandi, a suburban town in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, has witnessed a building collapse in the receding weeks of the monsoon, killing at least 20 people including minors, and exposing once again, the precarious condition of many dwellings in one of India’s more prosperous States. Many more hapless residents and workers of a powerloom unit operating in the aging three-storeyed building were trapped under the debris. Legal liability and responsibility for the disaster have inevitably fallen on the owner of the structure and some municipal officials, for failing to abide by pre-monsoon safety audits. The monsoon has brought such disasters unfailingly to coastal Maharashtra, including Mumbai, for years now. In July, seven people died in the commercial capital, when two chawl buildings in densely populated working class areas crashed after heavy rain. Another incident in Mahad, in the rain-drenched Raigad district, killed many in August. These traumatic calamities, similar to many
