India reminds world about challenges posed by climate change
India has reminded the global community how the impact of climate change has increasingly become evident in the form of one disaster or another.
Even as the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at the Doklam sector is now in its fourth week, the government has called a meeting of top Opposition leaders on Friday to sensitise them about the situation ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament that begins early next week.
Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will on Friday evening brief opposition parties on the stand-off with China at the Sikkim border. The meeting will be held at the residence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Invitations have been given to the Parliamentary leaders of all major Opposition parties including Congress, JD(U), Trinamool Congress and the Left.
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Opposition leaders have been criticising the government for the way it has handled the China and Kashmir matter.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on China, and had also met the Chinese ambassador to India.
Rahul on Wednesday accused Modi of pursuing policies that created space for terrorists in Kashmir.
He also alleged the prime minister's pursuit of short- term political gains from the BJP-PDP alliance in the state has cost the country dear and resulted in sacrifices of innocent Indians.
The current military stand-off with China has drawn attention in the wake of provocative statements from the Chinese foreign office in the run-up to the G-20 summit last week.
China has warned that it will not accept any dialogue till India withdraws its soldiers from what Beijing claims as its territory in Doklam.
India and Bhutan say the land belongs to the tiny Himalayan kingdom.
The face-off with China started after Indian Army personnel went to Doklam Plateau, a disputed territory along Bhutan-China border, on June 18 to stop the Chinese PLA personnel from constructing a road. The road would have altered the status quo in India-Bhutan-China tri-junction boundary point.
(With inputs from agencies)
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