Can India become a permanent member of the Security Council

The adoption of a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly to use a framework text as the basis of discussions on Security Council reforms is an important step towards India's bid to become a permanent member of  the Security Council. This is the first time in the history of intergovernmental negotiations process that the decision on UN reform has been adopted.
The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations charged with the maintenance of international peace and security as well as accepting new members to the Security Council and approving any changes to the UN charter. Its power includes establishment of peacekeeping operation, establishing of international sanctions and authorization of military action through the Security Council resolutions. The five permanent members of the security council wield the power of veto which they can use to block any resolution of the UNSC. The five permanent members of the UNSC are US, Russia, China, France and UK. The UNSC was formed to meet the challenges post World War 2 but struggled to cope with dynamics of the Cold War.
The UN must take into cognizance the fact that developing nations like India play important roles in international economy and politics but they are denied any substantial power in the Security Council where only the veto wielding members take all the important decisions. The Security Council should be a more democratic body to tackle global challenges.
Three of the five permanent members of the Council i.e. US, Russia and China, are against any major restructuring of the Council.   Although the US and Russia have promised to support India's claim to become a permanent member of the Security Council their current positions on the issue are contradictory. While the US is in favour of a 'modest expansion', Russia is against any change in the veto arrangement. Even if the General Assembly reach a consensus on the reforms it will be vetoed by one of the permanent members.
India must press for dialogue on the issue with all the permanent members reminding them of the promises that were made. India along with the other G4 nations must constantly push their agenda to make the UNSC a more democratic body. 

Doing away with Coal Plants a viable option?

Even though the future of Renewable Energy in India is bright, coal will still be used for generation of power and stopping it altogether may be impractical. There are a large number of plants that run on coal and more are under construction. The carbon emissions due to the combustion of coal are a major environmental concern but rather than doing away with coal plants steps should be taken to optimize power generation from coal. The following steps can be taken to improve and clean up coal combustion:

• Evaluating and restructuring old plants so as to increase their efficiency.
• Coal utilization is the key. Techniques should be adopted which use less coal to generate more output. This could reduce coal usage by 15 percent and help reduce other pollutants.
• Reducing local environmental impacts especially regarding water use, particulate emissions and treatment of waste ash.
• Innovative technique should be used to work with Indian coal (high ash content).
• These steps must be complemented by state-of-the-art technology, policy support and financing from the government.

Hydro-generated power and power from gas are not enough to feed the energy requirements of this country. Doing away with coal plants completely is not a viable option in the current scenario but we must definitely look at ways to reduce environmental pollution caused by carbon emissions.