China is asking the United Nations human rights chief to bury a highly-anticipated report on human rights violations in Xinjiang, according to a Chinese letter seen by Reuters and confirmed by diplomats from three countries who received it.

United Nations High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has faced severe criticism from civil society for being too soft on China during a May visit and has since said she will refrain from seeking a second term for personal reasons.

But before she leaves at the end of August, she has pledged to publish a report into the western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of abuses against Xinjiang's Uighur inhabitants, including the mass use of forced labour in internment camps. China has vigorously denied the allegations.

The letter authored by China expressed "grave concern" about the Xinjiang report and aims to halt its release, said four sources - the three diplomats and a rights expert who all spoke on condition of anonymity.

They said China began circulating it among diplomatic missions in Geneva from late June and asked countries to sign it to show their support.

"The assessment (on Xinjiang), if published, will intensify politicisation and bloc confrontation in the area of human rights, undermine the credibility of the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), and harm the cooperation between OHCHR and member states," the letter said, referring to Ms Bachelet's office.

"We strongly urge Madame High Commissioner not to publish such an assessment."

Ms Liu Yuyin, a spokesperson for China's diplomatic mission in Geneva, did not say whether the letter had been sent or respond to questions about its contents.

Ms Liu said that nearly 100 countries had recently expressed their support to China on Xinjiang-related issues "and their objection to interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights".

This support was voiced through public statements at the last UN Human Rights Council session, which ended on July 8, and through the "joint letter", Ms Liu added, using a term denoting China and the other signatories.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters that Ms Bachelet would have witnessed a "real Xinjiang with a safe and stable society" when she visited the region during her May trip to China.

The spokesperson said attempts by some countries to "smear China's image" using the Xinjiang issue would not succeed.

It was not clear whether Ms Bachelet had received the letter, and an OHCHR spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

The Xinjiang report is being finalised prior to public release, he added, saying this includes the standard practice of sharing a copy with China for its comments.

The report is set to address China's treatment of its Uighur minority. A team of rights experts began gathering evidence for it more than three years ago but its release has been delayed for months for unclear reasons.

Reuters was not able to establish how many signatures the letter received. One of the four sources, a Geneva-based diplomat, replied to the letter positively giving his country's support.

Another version of the letter also seen by Reuters was more critical of Ms Bachelet's actions, saying that the Xinjiang report was done "without mandate and in serious breach of OHCHR duties", and would undermine her personal credibility.

It was not clear who edited it or why. The diplomat who signed the letter said the softer version was the final one.

China, like other countries, sometimes seeks to drum up support for its political statements within the Geneva-based rights council through diplomatic memos which others are asked to support.

These can sometimes influence decisions at the 47-member Council, whose actions are not legally binding but can authorise investigations into suspected violations.

Two of the Geneva diplomats said China's letter represents a rare example of evidence of Beijing seeking to lobby Ms Bachelet directly.

Sometimes, they say, countries find it hard to say no to China on human rights issues, given close economic ties.

The memo comes at a critical juncture for the UN rights body in the last few weeks of Ms Bachelet's term, with no successor yet nominated. Ms Bachelet, 70, is due to leave office on Aug 31.

The prolonged Ukraine – Russia conflict is hurting the very fundamentals of poor countries, especially countries like Pakistan. An analysts in JP Morgan Chase & Co. warned recently that global oil prices could reach a ‘stratospheric’ levels if the US and European penalties prompt Russia to inflict retaliatory crude-output cuts. A daily cut of 3 million-barrel in supplies would push benchmark London crude prices to USD 190, while the worst-case scenario of 5 million could mean USD 380 a barrel, said the analyst. This would push Islamabad to a scenario much worse than the current crisis that Colombo is facing. Islamabad is currently experiencing worst energy crisis even when the oil prices are hovering above USD 100 a barrel. The crisis deepened further with the State-owned Pakistan LNG Ltd scrapping recently a purchase tender for July shipment citing high price.

Islamabad’s growing economic challenges are many. High inflation, sliding forex reserves, widening current account deficit and depreciating currency are the few to name. Cash-strapped Pakistan’s trade deficit has surged to an all-time high of USD 48.66 billion in the outgoing fiscal year, a significant increase of 57% over the previous year on the back of higher-than-expected imports, despite a ban on more than 800 non-essential luxury items in May by the Shehbaz Sharif government. The trade deficit is propelled by the highest-ever increase in oil prices and commodities in the international market due to the supply chain disruptions brought about by the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The much hyped China – Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), instead of promoting economic growth in Pakistan has now become a big liability to the government. Sovereign counter guarantee to Chinese Independent Power Producers are eating up government’s revenue, though the asset created was lying idle besides the country facing continued power outages. The CPEC project’s implantation progresses has mostly remained tentative and stop start over the last 4 years though Pakistan is the largest recipient of Chinese grants and assistance across the world.

With soaring inflation rates in the month of June to over 20%, the highest in recent past, the implementation of International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended PRs. 50 oil price hike has further added fuel to it. In just 33 days, the petrol price increased from PRs. 149 to PRs. 249 per litre. In addition, the electricity and gas tariffs have also been jacked up but the country is reeling under power shortages. It is just unimaginable to foresee where the already northbound inflation would land in the coming days.

Meanwhile, essential imports are also denting on forex reserves. Pakistan’s imports of cooking oil spiked to USD 3.56 billion in the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2021-22, which was 44% higher from previous year. It was equivalent to 60% of the three-year IMF loan programme of USD 6 billion. The price of cooking oil shot up close to PRs. 550 per litre in the domestic market compared to PRs. 200 per litre in January 2019.

According to State Bank of Pakistan, “Pakistan’s reliance on imports of edible oil and oilseed meals to meet domestic demand has been increasing over the past two decades. Some 86% of domestic edible oil consumption in 2020 came from imports, up from 77% in 2000.”

The imports are growing rapidly with the increase in the size of population and per capita income in Pakistan, while the pilot projects initiated for growing palm and soybean plants in the country has failed to deliver satisfactory results, notes an analyst.

According to renowned Pakistan banker Yusaf Nazar, Islamabad had got more IMF bailout packages than any other country. This indicates that external sector has always been vulnerable since no government, civilian or military, has ever tried to address the fundamental problems in Pak economy. The growth figures provided by the government are often misleading. Further, the growth is led by consumption and imports. Any growth not led by exports, investments and savings is bound to unravel.

Islamabad has now come to a stage where its friends as well as international lenders are no more listening to same old stories of bailout. They realised that the country just wants to live on dole-outs. Further, the cycle of seeking financial bailout packages is also shrinking. For example, earlier if Pak sought bailout fund from its friendly countries at a duration of 5 - 10 years, now that period has shortened to just a few months.

The root causes remain inefficiencies and corruption in the system, besides structural weaknesses. The IMF also asked Pakistan to set up an anti-corruption task force to review all the existing laws that were aimed at curbing graft in the government departments. In the last 13 - 14 years, losses in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), such as energy distribution companies, Pakistan Railways and Pakistan Steel Mills, have added the dead weight to the system.

The perennial decline in the export-to-GDP ratio has exacerbated the pressure on the forex reserves. The wealthy households and the rich are comfortable with rent-seeking attitude and investing in highly lucrative real estate instead of economic activity that could be generating income and employment. The private sector in Pakistan is not creating enough jobs to absorb the labour pool, which is at the cusp of anger, immigration and criminal activities, point out critics.

The World Bank states in a recent report that Pakistan could be a victim of instability. Pakistan has been facing an average deficit of USD 16 - 21 billion dollars every year since the beginning of 21st century. Hence, per capita income, after adjusting with inflation, during this period has come down by 2%. The report also stated that national productivity capability has come down compared to past, highlighting structural deficiencies. In spite of current IMF bailout package, Islamabad faces much tougher road ahead, though mostly contributed by the external factors, but mainly due to the fact that the country was managed very badly over the last 70 years.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan’s government to renegotiate the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) energy deals before making payments of around Rs300 billion to the Chinese power plants, putting Islamabad in a tight spot.

The global lender has asked the government to treat the Chinese CPEC power plants at par with the power plants established under the 1994 and 2002 power policies, highly placed sources told The Express Tribune.

These plants had been set up under the CPEC framework agreement. The IMF’s demand came after China’s refusal in the past to renegotiate the terms of agreements with the independent power producers (IPPs).

Sources said the IMF suspected that the Chinese IPPs might have been overcharging Pakistan and there was a need to reopen these deals. The Mohammad Ali report on the IPPs had identified overpayment of about Rs41 billion to the Chinese IPPs.

Top officials in the Ministry of Finance confirmed to The Express Tribune that the IMF had raised the issue of payments to the Chinese IPPs with their willingness to renegotiate the deals. Finance ministry sources said that the IMF had also objected to giving Rs50 billion to the Chinese IPPs in Feb this year without renegotiating the agreements.

When contacted, Esther Perez, IMF’s Resident Representative, emphasised the need for equitable treatment of all power sector stakeholders due to the limited fiscal space.

“An important principle underpinning these (power sector) reforms is that all stakeholders contribute in an equitable manner to reduce the circular debt, between the government, IPPs and consumers, while protecting the most vulnerable consumers,” said Perez.

She said that Pakistani authorities should be cognizant of the limited fiscal space available to clear any outstanding arrears of the sector stakeholders, and thus there should be a trade-off between this and other government priorities, and the potential to unlock lower capacity payments for electricity as part of the aforementioned burden sharing across stakeholders.

Perez added that in order to contain circular debt in the power sector, the government of Pakistan had engaged efforts to reduce the cost of power generation as part of a broad power sector reform strategy, including in concluding renegotiations of the capacity payment terms with over 30 IPPs last year.

She added that a number of partners of Pakistan were supporting those reforms, including the World Bank and the IMF.

Finance ministry sources said that the global lender had also objected to giving Rs50 billion to the Chinese IPPs in February this year without first renegotiating the agreements.

Due to the IMF’s objections, the government did not directly make payment of Rs50 billion to the Chinese IPPs last week. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that the Chinese IPPs would be given Rs50 billion to ensure fuel supplies.

Instead, the government released Rs50 billion for the Power Division under the general subsidy claims for July. In return, the Power Division made the payment to the Chinese IPPs and some others to address their “liquidity crunch”, said sources.

Sources added that after knowing about the indirect payment to the Chinese IPPs, the IMF asked Pakistan to provide the list of power plants that received the Rs50 billion injection.

The IMF’s objections to clearing the outstanding dues of the Chinese IPPs may jolt Pakistan’s efforts to address the Chinese concerns over the slowdown of CPEC during the past four years and its desire to put the multibillion-dollar initiative back on track.

So far, 11 Chinese IPPs, set up with an investment of $10.2 billion, are operational, having total generation capacity of 5,320 megawatts. Out of these, nearly 2,000MW of power plants had been shut last month due to the depletion of imported coal inventories.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the 600MW units each of Sahiwal and Port Qasim power plants would be back to the national grid from June 16 to 30.

As of May 13, Pakistan owed Rs340 billion to these power plants, out of which the government has now indirectly cleared some of the dues, leaving behind around Rs300 billion. The Chinese IPPs had threatened to stop their plants if the payments were not immediately cleared, prompting the prime minister to convene a meeting to address their concerns.

Six more Chinese IPPs, being set up with an investment of $6.8 billion, are at various stages of implementation and will add 3,584MW to the generation capacity of Pakistan.

The previous government had renegotiated the power purchase and implementation agreements with the 46 IPPs established under the 1994 and 2002 power policies. The renegotiation is expected to save Rs770 billion over a period of 20 years.

The government had won concessions on account of reduction in the return on equity and other cost saving benefits from the power plants of 1994 and 2002 policies. In return, the government agreed to pay Rs403 billion to them in two installments.

The payments were made in the shape of one-third in cash, one-third in five-year Sukuk and one-third in 10-year PIBs at the floating treasury bill rate plus 70 basis points.

Sources said that the IMF wanted the same treatment with the Chinese IPPs and after renegotiating the deals, payments should be made in cash and treasury papers.

Pakistan is surreptitiously leasing out the Upper Hunza Valley to China in the near future to ease its mounting debt burden from the Chinese investment in the now increasingly burdensome China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

The move, which is likely to allow the Chinese to mine the mineral-rich area of Gilgit Baltistan rampantly, has triggered another wave of protests and violence by the local communities.

In fact, the clash between the local population and the Pakistan Army has increased considerably in the past few weeks with the locals throwing stones at officers and their vehicles in Skardu.
 
Late last month, the Pakistan Army soldiers beat up the Gilgit Baltistan Tourism Minister and Health Minister for standing up to fight for the local community which had been protesting against the army's takeover of Skardu Road.

The Tourism Minister, Raja Nasir Ali Khan, happens to be a staunch supporter of ousted Prime Minister, Imran Khan.

The incident, which took place on April 27, 2022, sparked off public protest against the army.

Angry people threw stones at the army officials and their vehicles after the incident.

The local community has been up against the army on different occasions in the recent past.

Raja Nasir later tweeted that another minister, incumbent Health Minister Haji Gulbar Sab, was also assaulted by the soldiers.

“Enough is enough, this must end here. Respect should be earned thru (through) friendly behaviour, not through a course of violence and abuse.”

He later wrote, “by no means, we can be subdued”.

The region has been witnessing a spurt in local protests against the Pakistan Army over land issues. The local people are angry at the 'land grabbing' spree of the army, all in the name of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Local communities strongly believe that Pakistan has in fact leased out the entire Gilgit Baltistan to China under the garb of CPEC and its security for the next half a century.

Several thousand Chinese are already present in the region working on the CPEC project.

With them are hundreds of Chinese spies and military men keeping an eye on the locals as well as providing security cover to Chinese companies.

Besides the CPEC projects, hundreds of Chinese companies have usurped, along with contractors linked to the Pakistan Army, almost all the mining leases in the region.

More than 2000 leases for mining gold, uranium and molybdenum have been awarded to Chinese firms by the Pakistan government in Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It is reported that Hunza and Nagar are said to be rich in uranium and other minerals mostly used in nuclear and space technology.

There are areas in upper Hunza like the Chapursan valley where Chinese miners have been carrying out tunnelling and exploration of minerals.

Public protests against the rampant Chinese-Pak Army takeover of their region have for long been suppressed with brutal military might.

With skirmishes coming out into the streets and people challenging the armed soldiers openly, Gilgit-Baltistan is more than likely to become the next point of conflict for Pakistan's leadership.

Owing to the near collapse of the Chinese-dominated economies of Sri Lanka and Nepal, the Shehbaz Sharif government has resolved to scrap the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority (CPECA). This is also in a bid to prevent Pakistan's own economic from suffering a similar economic decline.

CPECA, dominated by the Pakistan Army, will now be restructured and incorporated into the Ministry of Planning and Development. With this move, the new government in Islamabad has re-captured the economic policymaking from the army. The army dictated economic policies during the Imran Khan government and the authority was part of the domineering game.

It appears the immediate provocation for the decision was the Chinese’s shut down of over 37 per cent of the installed capacity of the CPEC power projects, or 1,980 megawatts, due to non-payment of dues to Chinese investors.

The three imported coal-fired power plants, Hubco, Sahiwal and Port Qasim have closed one of their two units due to the non-availability of the fuel.

The Chinese had been miffed at the erstwhile Imran Khan government for the mounting dues. So even after the government made a partial payment of Rs 50 billion, the Chinese companies decided to cut down the working of the power plants to arm-twist the government in making the payment of over Rs 200 billion.

The Chinese have also been angry with Pakistan for delaying the creation of a revolving account pending since the signing of the CPEC Energy Projects Framework Agreement in 2014.

The new PML-N led coalition government, however, had been opposing the authority when it was first mooted by the army in 2016. The then Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif had rejected the idea outright. It was felt that it was a clever way by the army to dominate the economic policymaking.

This move was vehemently opposed by the parliamentarians in 2019 when the Imran Khan government pushed through an ordinance to create the authority. The authority was headed by a former Lt. General Asim Bajwa who had to resign over corruption charges in 2020.

Since then there had been increasing opposition to the authority as it only created problems of coordination and responsibility with several ministries. Since the primary responsibility of executing the projects was entrusted to the ministries, a parallel organisation like CPEC only created duplication of work and a lack of ownership.

The new Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, in fact, pointed out that projects for more than USD 29 billion worth of investment had been channelised by the Planning Commission successfully without any authority.

He pointed out that the Imran Khan government, despite the authority, failed to complete critical projects by the dates agreed between the Chinese side and the PML-N government. Of the nine Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the PTI government could only begin work on four of them. These SEZs were expected to draw foreign investment of about USD 40 billion.

The new government's decision is also spurred by the pitfalls of Chinese domination of economic policies. The economic meltdown of Chinese-dominated economies like Sri Lanka and Nepal has only made such a decision imperative and urgent for an economy which has been teetering on the edge of a tailspin.

While India is leaving no stone unturned in a bid to ease the severe economic crisis being faced by its neighbor, Sri Lanka, China has on the other hand been pressing the Island nation for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that would hurt Colombo’s finances.

The actions of China have made the Sri Lankan leaders to approach India for all of their needs, including loans and other items such as rice, fertilizer, maritime security equipment, train engines, and aide for Northern fishermen families, reports India Blooms.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has deepened and amid wide protests, the nation is also facing grave political stability. The people of Sri Lanka are urging the Rajapaksa government to leave the country blaming the leadership for plunging it into an economic abyss.

India is becoming a stronger and more mutually beneficial partner to Sri Lanka. Apart from assistance during the pandemic and fertilizer chaos, in which India delivered nano fertilizer to save Sri Lankan farmers, India has offered USD 500 million in gasoline and a USD 1 billion loan facility to purchase goods from India due to the current economic crisis.

India recently pledged to donate medicines to Peradeniya Hospital, which was running low on supplies due to the US dollar crisis and purchasing medicines became impossible.

Sri Lankans were irked by the government’s mismanagement of financial affairs, corruption and bad judgment on initiatives that backfired, leaving the country impoverished – mostly in terms of lacking foreign exchange reserves.

Many industries in the Island nation are seeing huge problems. Sri Lankan government is unable to import paper for the printing of exam papers, and the print media is already feeling the strain of a paucity of paper for printing newspapers, with prominent newspapers issuing slim editions these days.

On March 18, India made significant contributions to Sri Lanka’s defence sector. Sri Lanka has requested grant assistance for the supply of a 4,000 MT Floating Dock (FD) for the Sri Lanka Navy. The Indian government then provides DO-228 Dornier Reconnaissance Aircraft for maritime surveillance, reported the media outlet.

India also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of modern computer laboratories and smart boards with customized curriculum software in schools in the Galle District of Sri Lanka.

Poverty had pushed Shahzada Akhtar, a young woman from South Pulwama, on the brink of suicide.

She was fighting depression of joblessness and pressure to pay off debts of her father. Like many Kashmiri women, Akhtar is a breadwinner for her ageing parents, siblings and would do stray jobs to keep both ends of family meet.

“My father had borrowed money from a number of people to support our family and he was unable to return his loans on time. Our creditors were exerting pressure on us. I used to do irregular jobs like cleaning apple orchards etc. But such jobs were seasonal and as it snowed, my income would cease too,” Akhtar told us via an interpreter over phone.

She knows little Hindi or Hindustani language and only converses in Kashmiri.

“Time became so difficult in our family that even we stopped purchasing milk and the only luxury at our food plate would be milk-less black tea. It was the time when I felt extreme hopelessness and suicidal,” Akhtar recalls her difficult days.

She adds that as the Quran says, “Innama’al usri yusran (Verily, along with every hardship is relief). This wisdom came true word by word. In 2015, I came in contact with a friend Niloufer, who had been to Andhra Pradesh in connection with some government vocational training under the banner of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). She was taught to start many easily-established ventures like sewing set-up, goat farming, cattle farming, cow farming and domestic dairy farming, etc. Once, Niloufer also visited our area with NRLM officials who advised women to make a 10-member self-help group. They told us about a scheme known as Umeed (literally translated as hope). As part of this scheme, we had to register our team or enterprise and then open a bank account. We had to submit Rs 25 every week in this account. Those days, even managing Rs 25 a week was problematic for me. Anyhow, all members of our group deposited the required amount. And slowly, we manage to have Rs 3,000 in our account. This amount was to be handed over to one member to kick-start her start-up”, Akhtar shares her memories. She adds that even opening a bank account and managing it was an experience for most group members.

“Later, the project resource person of the NRLM visited our village and audited our bank account. All of its dealings were found to be perfect. It was awarded Grade A and our group was sanctioned Rs 15,000 as part of the charitable fund. These Rs 15,000 were equally distributed among three members. One person, who was adept in sewing, purchased a sewing machine and started her tailoring work. The other purchased some goats to rear them for her future goat farm. Only, I was confused about what to do with my share of Rs 5,000. I was worried about the creditors of my family and wanted to pay them off with this money. But, it would kill the purpose of the grant. Then, again ease came my way. The NRLM released additional Rs 40,000 to our bank account to help us fund our future plans. Realising my troubles, the group member gave this money to me and advised me to purchase a cow with this. After initial hesitation, I accepted this offer and advice”, says Akhtar.

She says that purchasing a cow however didn’t solve her problems. “Cow needs a special space in any household and additionally, it has to be fed and looked after properly before you can draw any benefit from her. Ours was a small house. Somehow, we made a make-shift cow shade along the wall of our house,” says Akhtar.

And thus, Akhtar’s enterprise — dairy farming — was ready to take off with a cow. “Another ease came my way. As part of the Umeed scheme, I was given a milking machine cow trolley. It makes milking and carrying milk very easy. So, I started selling milk, half kg, one kg, one and half kg… daily. I regularly kept depositing money in my bank account. My income was little, but I was happy and doing work enthusiastically. I used to carry the milk to the customers on my own. The NRLM officials were happy with my progress. They lent me Rs 10 lakh to widen my business. I purchased more cows and today, my farm has 25 cows. I sell around 300 litres of milk dairy and am regularly paying my bank loan EMIs. Once, as I told you, we didn’t have milk in our tea. Now, thankfully, we can offer milk to even our guests,” Akhtar says, with her voice choking with gratitude to Allah and the government.

Such has been barkat (blessing of Allah) in her business, Akhtar has employed many women from rural areas in her business. Her brothers, who were unemployed, have opened a shop in Pulwama district and sell milk, cheese and curd.

Verily, along with every hardship is relief! Shahzad Akhtar, 21, of South Pulwama, proves it.

Written by Mohammad Imran, a Kashmir-based Research Scholar at JNU New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has placed India in a position where it can guide the world in dealing with the crisis of climate change, Union Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav said in Glasgow on Friday.

Mr Yadav, who is in Glasgow for the 26th international climate conference COP 26, said he was privileged to represent India in the negotiations and also overwhelmed to see the impact the Prime Minister's initiatives and ideas have created on world leaders.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has placed India in a position where the country has come to guide the world in dealing with the crisis of climate change," Mr Yadav said.

Stated that sustainable development and climate change mitigation are at the heart of the Green Grids Initiative - launched by PM Shri @narendramodi at COP26, and that the scale of the project could very well make it the next biggest modern engineering marvel.

"While at the Paris Climate Conference, the Prime Minister had urged the world to increase forest area, decrease carbon emission and encourage alternative sources of energy, at the ongoing COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland, he took the pledge of "Panchamrit" or five-nectar elements in India's fight against climate change," Yadav shared in his blog "COP 26 Diary".

"The "Panchamrit" commitment made by our respected Prime Minister seeks to raise India's non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, ensure that 50 per cent of the country's energy requirements would be met by renewable energy sources by the same year, reduce the total projected carbon emission by one billion tonnes, decrease the carbon intensity of the economy to less than 45 per cent and finally, become achieve net zero emissions by 2070."

"I was privileged to represent India in the negotiations in Glasgow and also overwhelmed to see the impact the PM's initiatives and ideas have created on world leaders," he said.

The minister said that this "Panchamrit" vision presented by Prime Minister Modi "is going to introduce the global community to the capabilities of the New India."

"The BJP National Working Committee congratulates the Prime Minister for showing the world the road ahead and making India the leading stakeholder in the fight against climate change," he wrote in his blog.

The environment minister attended a side-event organized by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on Thursday and reiterated the Prime Minister's vision, stressing the fact that "we must return to the Sun to save the Earth. As the world progresses to achieve newer heights economically and socially, solar energy will power the transition".

Earlier at Glasgow, the ISA, India Presidency of the ISA, and the UK COP Presidency unveiled the plans for the first international network of global interconnected solar power grids, known as the "Green Grids Initiative" at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

"At the side event, I stated that sustainable development and climate change mitigation is at the heart of the Green Grids Initiative and that the scale of the project could very well make it the next biggest modern engineering marvel," he said.

The project aims to reduce reliance on non-renewable energy such as coal by enabling and popularising the use of affordable solar power from other countries.The announcement was accompanied by the "One Sun" declaration, which has been endorsed by 83 ISA member countries.