New Delhi, June 9 (IANS) Several nations are today looking up to India to overcome the global challenges, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations Ocean Conference with participation of over 150 countries, Dr Singh said that over the last two days, he and the other members of the Indian delegation have realised how much of expectation the other countries have from India.

Dr Singh attributed this to the change of perception about India’s capabilities that has happened over the last 11 years with certain decisive measures taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and also the stability of the government offered to him over the last one decade

“It is a pleasant coincidence that as the Modi government completes its 11 years in office, we are witnessing a huge surge and enthusiasm among the representatives of other member states and countries to be benefitted by India’s capabilities and capacities,” said Singh.

As far as the ocean-related concerns and challenges are concerned, India has taken a lead in handling these challenges.

India is one of the first countries to have officially banned the single use plastic, and “our Deep Ocean Mission is progressing in close collaboration with the space agency ISRO as well as other research and technical institutes of the country”.

Elaborating further, Dr Singh said that the challenges of the ocean concerns need to be addressed collectively because nearly 70 per cent of the earth’s surface is occupied by oceans and the oceans know no political or geographical boundaries.

He said the ocean concerns are mainly of two natures — those emanating directly from the oceans like global warming leading to rise in the temperature of ocean waters and levels and those relating to the pollution of the ocean waters, like oil spill over and plastic, etc.

–IANS

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