Current Affairs in Short: 19 September 2022

Union Minister Jitendra Singh to lead Indian Ministerial Dialogue in Global Clean Energy Action Forum

• Union Minister Jitendra Singh announced that the Global Clean Energy Action Forum meet offers Indian an opportunity to present PM Modi’s vision to the world.
• The Union Minister made the statement while briefing the media before leaving on a five-day visit to the United States as the head of a High-level Joint Ministerial official delegation.
• He further added that the forum will bring together all the stakeholders and it is an acknowledgment of the leading roles that are assumed by India in issues related to Clean Energy Concerns.
• Prime Minister Modi also launched the National Hydrogen Mission on Independence Day in 2021. It aims to aid the Government of India in meetings its climate target and making India a green hydrogen hub.

Senior BJP Leader from Odisha Bishnu Charan Sethi passes away at 61

• The senior BJP leader from Odisha Bishnu Charan Sethi passed away on September 19, 2022, at a State-run Hospital. He was 61 and was undergoing treatment for kidney-related ailments.
• According to AIIMS-Bhubaneshwar Superintendent, he had developed a lung infection and had suffered a brain haemorrage.
• Bishnu Charan Sethi, who was a two-time legislator from Bhadrak District as the sitting MLA from the Dhamnagar Assembly Segment.
• The Chief Minister of Odisha and the Governor of the State were among a host of the leaders who expressed condolences at the senior leader’s demise.

EAM S. Jaishankar arrives in the US for UN General Assembly High-level meet

• The External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar arrived in New York for the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly. He is likely to meet the UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres and several other heads of state.
• India’s Permanent Representative to UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj received the External Affairs Minister upon his arrival in the United States.
• Over the course of the week, the Union Minister is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including plurilateral, bilateral and multilateral meetings.
• The Security Council Reforms will be on the top of S. Jaishankar’s agenda s he will meet dozens of world leaders during the time which is packed with Assembly Session and several other events on the sidelines.

India emerges as largest bilateral lender of Sri Lanka

• India has emerged as the largest bilateral lender for Sri Lanka. The country has provided a total of 968 million US Dollars in loans to the island nation in four months of 2022.
• India has overtaken China, who in the past five years from 2017-2021, has been the largest bilateral lender to Sri Lanka.
• As per India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchika Kamboj, the country has provided nearly 4 billion dollars in food and financial assistance to Sri Lanka. On August 2022, India also handed over 21,000 tonnes of fertilizer to crisis-ridden Sri Lanka.