Seven Decades and Beyond - The UN - India Connect

Seven
Decades
and Beyond
THE U N - IN D IA C O N N E C T
Published by the United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan
55 Lodi Estate
New Delhi, 110 003
India
www.unic.org.in
UNIC Editorial Team

Creative Director: Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman
Chief of Project: Rajiv Chandran
Chief of Research and Writing: Sanjana Manaktala (consultant)
Administration: Sanjana Subramanian
UN Editorial Review Committee

UNIC: Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman, Rajiv Chandran
UN Resident Coordinator’s Office: Radhika Kaul Batra
UNDP: Shiva Kumar
UNICEF: Manisha Mishra
UNFPA: Rajat Ray
Layout and design: Ritu Khanna and Navkala Roy, Write Media
Printed by Niyogi Offset Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
© United Nations Information Centre
December 2016
All rights reserved
Seven
Decades
and Beyond
THE U N - IN D IA C O N N E C T
The United Nations Headquarters building lights up in
September 2015 for the 70th anniversary of the UN.
UN Photo/Cia Pak
C on t en t s
Acknowledgements..................9 15. international trade cooperation 28. INDIAN CELEBRITIES and the united nations
Trade and Development..................154 Important Roles.................................248
Message 16. India and the UN Development Decades 29. LINKING WITH THE ARTS IN INDIA
Narendra Modi............................11 The Growth Trajectory....................159 Saluting Creativity...............................252
Prime Minister of India
17. regional organizations 30. ARCHITECTURE at THE UNITED NATIONS
Cooperation in the Region...............169 Building the Future...........................260
Message
Ban Ki-moon..............................13 18. Globalization, Liberalization, and
Partnerships
Privatization
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Growth Initiatives.............................173 Hand in Hand.........................265
31. Non-governmental Organizations
19. south-south cooperation
Sharing Expertise............................178 Diverse Voices....................................266
I India At The 32. Indian Federation of

20. United Nations and disaster Management
United Nations Associations
United Nations Humanitarian Response.................184 A Peoples’ Movement........................273
21. Millennium Development Goals
In Search of Peace ...................17 Dignity for All.................................190
33. United nations Global Compact and India
Private Sector Cooperation................278
1. India and the United Nations
22. Climate Change
The Beginning...................................18 Concerted Action...........................200
34. Engaging with Parliamentarians
Global Democracy..............................282
2. The Indian Constitution and the FOUNDATION
23. Agenda 2030
OF THE UNITED NATIONS 35. Faith-based Organizations
Values and Vision..............................24 Fostering Sustainable Fostering Harmony............................286
Development..................................210
3. Mahatma Gandhi and the UNITED NATIONS 36. The united nations and the Diplomatic
Rich Legacy......................................28 Community in India
4. India at the Security Council

Power for Peace...............................34
ii United Nations
of the people
Diverse Dialogues..............................290
Outreach
5. India and the International Legal System People Spreading its Wings...............293
Rule of Law.......................................46 Across the Globe.................219 37. Media and the united nations
6. India and UNITED NATIONS Peacekeeping 24. UN Secretaries-General and India Disseminating Information..................302
Protecting the People.......................59 Leadership at its Best.....................220 38. hindi at the united nations
7. NUCLEAR WORLD ORDER 25. Prime Ministers OF INDIA and Language of Harmony........................310
Furthering Non-proliferation..............72 the united nations
39. Model United nations Conferences in India
Shaping the Global Agenda............230
8. India’s Wars Creating Global Citizens.....................314
Defending its Boundaries..................90 26. Vijaya lakshmi pandit and
40. United nations Libraries in India
v. k. krishna menon
Indian Pioneers at the Sharing Knowledge...........................320
Advancing Human Rights.......95
United Nations................................238 41. United nations in Indian Course Books
9. human rights architecture
27. India’s Permanent Representatives
Important Lessons.............................324
Joining Hands................................104
to the UN 42. United nations and Youth in India
10. ending apartheid Maintaining Healthy Relations.........242 Transforming the Future.....................328
Struggle for Equality........................112
11. Decolonization
Determining the Self........................117
12. the palestine issue
Continuing Support........................128
13. global conferences
Building Consensus........................133
Promoting Sustainable
Development......................145
14. UN reports and data collection
Creating Knowledge.......................146
M e m o i r s
iIi United Nations 60. world food programme

The United Nations 38
agency profiles Building Food Security...............378 Some Reflections
61. world health organization by Hardeep Singh Puri
United Nations Taking Care...............................380
Development Network 62. ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, INTERNATIONAL
in India...............................335 FINANCE CORPORATION, INTERNATIONAL
MONETARY FUND AND WORLD BANK
43. The UN Resident Coordinator
System in India Financing Development..............382 WORKING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS 52
Delivering Results Together..........338 Maintaining Peace
UN Organizations and Security
44. asian and pacific centre for transfer
of technology
India from Afar..................391 by Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar (Retd.)
Sharing Expertise.........................342 63. United nations conference on trade

and development
45. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF Transcending Trade...................392
THE UNITED NATIONS
Fighting Hunger...........................344 64. united nations environment SERVING THE UN 70
programme Lifelong Learning
46. International fund for Sustaining the Planet.................394 by Kiran Bedi
agricultural development
Investing in Rural People..............348 65. NON-RESIDENT organizations
Blue Beyond Borders.................396
47. International labour organization
Social Justice for All.....................350 UN Organizations
48. international organization for migration Beyond Development.......403 Experiences at the United Nations 80
Opening Doors.............................352 Two Decades of Memories
66. United Nations Information by Arundhati Ghose
49. UNESCO's mahatma gandhi institute Centre for India & Bhutan
of education for peace and sustainable Promoting UN Values.................404
development
Culture of Peace..........................354 67. United nations high commissioner
for refugees
50. united nations entity for gender Protecting Refugees..................406 Moments in History 96
equality and the empowerment of Women
Serving the International Cause
Accelerating Equality.....................358 68. united nations military observer
by Virendra Dayal
group in india and pakistan
51. joint United nations programme Maintaining Peace.....................408
on hiv/aids
Combating HIV.............................360 69. united nations office on drugs
and crime
52. United nations development programme Promoting Security....................410
Building Resilience.......................362 At the United Nations 122
70. united nations staff associations
53. united nations economic and social Supporting the Staff...................412 Keeping the Peace
commission for asia and the pacific by Chinmaya R. Gharekhan
Nurturing Cooperation..................364
Beyond 70
54. united nations educational, scientific International Day of Yoga
and cultural organization
Stretching Ourselves.................415
Spurring Innovation......................366
Global Conferences 140
55. united nations population fund Acronyms.......................420 The Spirit of
Health and Rights........................368
Internationalism
56. UN-Habitat
Resources......................422 by Nitin Desai
Sustainable Cities.........................370
57. united nations children's fund
Helping Children Thrive................372
58. united nations industrial
29 Years as a UN Official 294
development organization Looking Back
Sharing Prosperity........................374 by Shashi Tharoor
59. united nations volunteers

Reaching Out..............................376
The views expressed by individual authors do not necessarily imply

official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
Acknowledgements
This book is the culmination of two years of dedication by the small staff of the UN Information
Centre for India and Bhutan, supported by consultants and interns. My colleague Rajiv
Chandran deserves credit for coming up with the idea to celebrate the UN’s 70 years with a
book containing 70 chapters on 70 themes.
Combing through the volumes of raw material and mountains of photographs was the
monumental job of an extremely hard-working group of researchers and writers. My heartfelt
appreciation to Sanjana Manaktala, UN70 Special Projects Consultant, who tirelessly led the
research and writing team of Alisha Anand, Shivam Arora, Anirudh Belle, Drushti Joshi, Anna
Rego, Arisha Salman, Samya Singh, Abhishek Som, Tatum Street and Abhinav Verma. The
team was assisted by Sasha Bhatnagar, Shiralie Chaturvedi, Abdul Chowdhary, Neha Dewan,
Aalim Javeri, Anushka Kapur, Pranay Lekhi, Anubha Sarkar and Aishwarya Sehgal.
Sincerest thanks to Shalini Dewan, former Director of UNIC, for her insights and valuable
editorial guidance, and to Catharine Way and Lisa Krug for editing.
At the heart of this book are the insightful, eloquent and moving essays contributed by eight
men and women who have literally made history at the United Nations over the past seven
decades. In sharing highlights of their memories, some of which may never have been published
before, they have revealed the compassionate heart of the Organization while also contributing
to the historical record for those who follow. My deepest appreciation to Kiran Bedi, Virendra
Dayal, Nitin Desai, Ambassador Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, Ambassador Arundhati Ghose
(who passed away in July 2016, shortly after writing her memoir), Lt. General Satish Nambiar
(Retd.), Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri and Shashi Tharoor.
Finally, the publication of this book was made possible by the generous contributions of the
United Nations Department of Public Information, UNIC’s parent department, and the UN
family in India, to whom I offer sincere thanks. The vast breadth of information encompassed
in the volume would not have been available without the repository of institutional knowledge
held by this office. I hope that UNIC will continue to strengthen and support every form of
UN-India connection for years to come.
Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman
9
Message
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
The United Nations, created in the wake of the Second World War, lies at the heart of the
multilateral system in the present international order. As our understanding has increased about
the manner in which globalization in its many dimensions joins us in a common destiny, our
appreciation for the service rendered by the United Nations, and the men and women who
serve it in crafting global resonses to global challenges has also increased.
Today, all of us in the international community acknowledge and respect the unparalleled
reach and the unique legitimacy that the United Nations has achieved as the institution that
UN Photo/Cia Pak
10
embodies our aspiration to act in the common good. Equally, we are increasingly aware of the
imperative need to reform this institution, so that it may better serve us to meet the challenges
of the 21st century.
We in India value our membership of the United Nations and are firmly committed to
expanding our participation in the valuable work being done by it in the service of humankind,
and in our quest for attaining for every single human being on this planet the larger freedoms
from insecurity, injustice and social and economic deprivation.
Narendra Modi
11
Message
Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
I began my career as a young diplomat in New Delhi, a city whose vibrancy, diversity and
colourful streets I came to love. Beyond the personal, I quickly came to realize and appreciate
India’s critical role on the global stage.
As a Founding Member of the United Nations, India is a vital partner in our shared efforts to
advance our common goals of peace, development and human rights.
This book is an important record of India’s membership in the United Nations – stretching
from its politically momentous origins to its ever-growing profile in the twenty-first century.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
12
The seventieth anniversary of the United Nations is a time for all of us to work together to
secure a future of freedom and opportunity for all.
I count on India’s leadership in helping to realize the lofty ambitions of the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. India’s role in
propelling the Sustainable Development Goals forward will be vital, not only for the region,
but for people everywhere.
Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings on non-violence and his battle for equality are an inspiration
for all humanity. As the international community embarks on the momentous journey to end
poverty by 2030 and build a life of dignity for all, I count on India to act with this vision at
its core.
This commemorative publication shows the breadth of the partnership between India and the
United Nations. I thank the people of India for their strong and enduring commitment to UN
ideals and objectives.
Ban Ki-moon
13
Seven Decades and Beyond
T H E U N - I N D I A C ONNECT
14
I
India at the
United Nations
15
Without peace,
all other dreams vanish and are
reduced to ashes.
Pandit Jawahar lal Nehr u

P rime Min is t e r o f I n d ia
United Nations General Assembly
3 October 1960
In Search of Peace
1
Ind i a a n d
t h e U n i t ed Nat ions
The
Beginning
Even as the Second World War raged on, the leaders of China, the Soviet Union, the United
Kingdom and the United States of America came under pressure from the press and public
to create an international organization for peace. The Atlantic Charter – crafted in 1941 by
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Churchill, Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom – affirmed their mutual support in the war effort and for the
cause of freedom and self-determination in Europe.
However, many wondered whether the same rights and freedoms would be extended to the
colonies, including India, whose independence was firmly resisted by the great powers. Churchill
was swift to reject the universal applicability of the Atlantic Charter when it came to subject
nations, especially India, which was a major contributor to the United Kingdom’s war efforts.
In India, many people, including Mahatma Gandhi, were appalled by this hypocrisy. Extending
their wartime alliance, the Allies began exploring the details of a post-war organization. In
January 1942, the representatives of 26 nations resisting the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis signed
the Declaration by United Nations in Washington, D.C. In it they pledged their Governments
to the maximum war effort and against making a separate peace with any of the Axis powers.
India was represented by Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, India’s Agent-General to the United States.
Three years later, when preparations were being made for the San Francisco Conference at
which the United Nations was established, those 26 nations were invited to take part.
Soon after the Declaration was signed, in August 1942, the All India Congress Committee
passed the Quit India Resolution. It called for an end to British rule, “both for the sake of India
and for the success of the cause of the United Nations”, to which India was already committed.
The resolution stressed India’s independence as a prerequisite for achieving the aims of the
United Nations in the fight against imperialism, fascism and Naziism.
In 1943, conferences were held in Moscow and Tehran, bringing together the four major
Allied powers – the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China – who called
for establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security. Also in
India At The Uni ted Nat ions
UN PHOTO/VH
1943, India was involved in the formation of an international relief agency that later came Original Declaration by
under the United Nations framework as the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation United Nations, signed
in Washington, D.C. on
Administration. It provided international assistance to victims of war, especially in the 1 January 1942. The
newly independent States. A year later, India participated in the Bretton Woods Conference, signature of the Indian
which worked to harmonize the international monetary system and undertake efforts for delegate, Sir Girija
post-war reconstruction. Shankar Bajpai, is the
last one in the second
column from the right.
From August to September 1944, the four wartime allies convened a conference at
Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, where the first outlines for the organization were sketched
out. Next, in February 1945, at Yalta, further points of discussion were resolved between the
four countries. They also agreed “that a Conference of United Nations should be called to
meet at San Francisco in the United States of America on the 25 April, 1945, to prepare
the charter of such an organization, along the lines proposed in the formal conversations of
Dumbarton Oaks.”
India was not yet independent, struggling to emerge from Britain’s shadow. But it was starting
to craft an independent foreign policy, and to build its unique relationship with the United
Nations. In this critical time there was much debate among the leading political figures about
who would represent India at the United Nations Conference on International Organization at
San Francisco. The delegation had to maintain a delicate balance between being representatives
of British India, under Viceroy Lord Wavell, and representing the interests of the Indian people.
19
UN Photo/Rosenberg
Sir A. Ramaswami An official selection was made and won the approval of the Viceroy and the British Government.
Mudaliar, leader of the However, the leaders of the national movement were dissatisfied. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Either
Indian delegation, signing
the United Nations
India at San Francisco is represented by an elected representative, or not represented at all.”
Charter in San Francisco,
26 June 1945. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, a leader in the Indian national movement, held a press conference
in San Francisco after the opening of the Conference, declaring that the Indian delegation
selected by the British Government was unrepresentative of the Indian people. She quoted
the Soviet Foreign Commissar V. M. Molotov, who had said, “We have at this Conference an
Indian delegation. But India is not an independent state. We all know that the time will come
when the voice of an independent India will be heard, too. Nevertheless we share the view held
by the British Government which suggested the representatives of India should be granted a
seat at the Conference, imperfect though her status is.”
The representation of India at the San Francisco Conference remained unchanged. But after
the formation of the United Nations, leaders of the Indian national movement took on the roles
of representatives of India.
At the San Francisco Conference, the United Nations Charter was signed on behalf of
India by a delegation led by Sir Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar, Member of the Governor-
20
Sir A. Ramaswami
Mudaliar (center left)
receives congratulations
from UN Executive
Secretary Gladwyn Jebb
upon his election as the
first President of the
Economic and Social
UN Photo
Council, New York,

January 1946.
General’s Executive Council and Member of Winston Churchill’s War Cabinet, and Sir V.T.
Krishnamachari, Representative of the Indian States. Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar went on to
serve as the first President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1946.
During 1945-1947, the interim Government of India, under Jawaharlal Nehru, threw itself
vigorously into the activities of the United Nations. Its goal was to encourage complementarity
between the foreign policy of ‘Free India’ and the objectives of the United Nations. In 1946,
India drew the attention of the General Assembly to the conditions of Indians in South Africa,
marking India’s first international protest against racial discrimination. The same year India
also strategically used the international platform to raise its voice against colonialism in India
and around the world.
On gaining its independence in August 1947, India continued its focus on freedom for
colonized nations and action against racial discrimination. It also called for universal United
Nations membership, with the aim of maintaining international peace. At the second session
of the United Nations General Assembly, in September 1947, as the representative of India,
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit said, “The only road to peace and freedom and well-being for us all,
is through our steadfast and wholehearted cooperation, at whatever inconvenience, within the
framework of the United Nations and in the spirit of the Charter.”
21
UN Photo
Title page of the United Nations Charter.
22
22
Padmanabha Pillai,
newly appointed
representative of India,
oversees the first raising
of the Indian national
flag at UN Headquarters
in New York,
15 August 1947.
UN Photo
23
2
THE I N DIA N CONSTIT U TIO N
A N D THE F OU NDATIONS OF THE U NITED NATIONS
Values
and Vision
Two documents serve as the foundation of the United Nations: the Charter of the United
Nations, adopted on 26 June 1945 at the Conference on International Organization in San
Francisco, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, elaborated between 1946 and 1948,
which set out for the first time fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The
values expressed in the Charter and the Declaration were mirrored in the Constitution of India,
which was being drafted between 1946 and 1950 by the Constituent Assembly.
The Charter serves as the constitution of the United Nations. By proclaiming fundamental
principles of law for the world community (in Article 2), the Charter sets itself up as an
international constitutional instrument. Both the Charter and the Constitution of India pledge
commitment to the principles of peace, justice, freedom and social progress. The Charter
also established a structure for the United Nations that is similar to a country’s governmental
structure, with the Security Council as a quasi-executive body, the General Assembly as
a legislature, the International Court of Justice as a judicial body and the Secretariat as an
administrator. While the nature of the power these institutions hold is very different from that
held by domestic institutions, there are parallels in their functions.
Themes of freedom, justice and peace resonate throughout the Indian Constitution, the United
Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reflecting their common
spirit. The Preamble to the Constitution speaks of India’s aim to secure justice, liberty, equality
and fraternity for all the people, a philosophy also enshrined in the Preamble to the United
Nations Charter. A belief in the dignity and worth of every individual is similarly reflected in
the vision expressed in the two preambles and the Declaration.
This commonality was not coincidental – after the Second World War a similar anti-war
sentiment influenced the contributors to these three seminal documents. In some cases,
the very same people were involved in drafting them. In 1947-1948, Indian educator and
reformer Hansa Mehta was simultaneously a member of India’s Constituent Assembly, which
was drafting the new Constitution, and the Indian delegate to the United Nations Human
UN PHOTO/Marvin Bolotsky
Rights Commission, which was drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this Indian delegate Hansa
unique capacity she had the opportunity to participate in formulating the language of both. Mehta greets Eleanor
Roosevelt, first Chair of
She was responsible for changing the wording of the Declaration from “all men” are born free the UN Commission on
and equal in dignity and rights (the preferred wording of Eleanor Roosevelt, then chair of the Human Rights,
Commission) to “all human beings”. She thus was responsible for introducing gender equality New York, 1 June 1949.
language into the very first global human rights document.
“The Declaration of Human Rights was actually drafted by a subcommittee of which I was a
member, and the draft Declaration was passed by the full Commission without much change,”
she noted in a 1969 interview. “It was a very good experience, because I was at the same time
on the Fundamental Rights Committee of our Constituent Assembly, so I could compare the
[United Nations] human rights and also the [Indian] fundamental rights.” The elaboration of
the Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution was thus linked to the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, which was itself built upon the foundations of the United Nations Charter.
Many of the articles of the Declaration were incorporated into the Indian Constitution in
the form of the fundamental rights in Part III and the Directive Principles of State Policy in
25
As the Indian delegate to the United Nations Human

Rights Commission in 1947–1948, Hansa Mehta
was responsible for changing the language of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from
“all men” are born free and equal in dignity and
rights (Eleanor Roosevelt’s preferred wording) to
“all human beings”, highlighting the importance of
gender equality in this key human rights document.
Part IV. Six fundamental rights are enshrined in Part III: right to equality; right to freedom
(including of speech, assembly, movement, and life and liberty); right against exploitation; right
to freedom of religion; cultural and educational rights; and the right to constitutional remedies.
These mirror the Declaration in letter and spirit, melding together the provisions of several
of its articles. The right to constitutional remedy for the protection of fundamental rights is
further supported in article 32 of the Constitution.
Articulating a global vision of cooperation, the Preamble of the Declaration echoes Article
1 of the Charter in calling for the establishment of friendly relations among nations. Both
the Declaration and the Charter also promote an international order in which the rights
and freedoms they set forth can be realized. Similarly, article 51 of the Indian Constitution
highlights the promotion of international peace and security; maintenance of just and
honourable relations between nations; and fostering of respect for international law and for
settlement of international disputes through arbitration.
Article 51 also reflects India’s commitment to the ideals of peace and

Article 51 of the security and provides a foundation for adherence to international law.
Indian Constitution This provision supports the implementation of international law – both
The State shall endeavour to: customary international law and treaty obligations – through the laws of
India. Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, noted at an international
F promote international peace
and security; conference of chief justices in December 2012, “Courts in India have
held that by virtue of this article, international instruments, particularly
F maintain just and honourable those to which India is a party, become part of Indian law so long as they
relations between nations;
are not inconsistent with domestic law.”
F foster respect for international
law; and In almost every major judgment of an Indian court that uses the provisions
F encourage settlement of of international law, article 51 is cited as the constitutional justification.
international disputes In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala and others, a landmark 1973 case
by arbitration. upholding the supremacy of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution,
the Supreme Court observed that, in view of article 51, the language of
26
Children with a large

replica of the Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights at the United
Nations International
Nursery School,
UN Photo
New York,
December 1950.
the Constitution must be interpreted in light of the United Nations Charter. It noted that it
is the duty of the courts to construe legislation so that it conforms with international law and
does not conflict with it.
In terms of economic and social progress, the Directive Principles of State Policy in the
Constitution evoke the same values as the foundational United Nations documents. These
Principles provide guidelines to central and state governments and policymakers, such as by
calling for them to work to reduce economic inequality, provide opportunities for adequate
livelihoods and education, prevent child abuse, and raise the standard of living. The Preamble to
the Charter covers this in its call for promotion of social progress and better standards of life in
larger freedom, as well as for promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.
Seventy years later, these objectives continue to reflect the aspirations of the global community,
conceptualized in the Millennium Development Goals and more recently in the Sustainable
Development Goals. The vicissitudes of seven decades of history have not shaken the core
values shared by India and the United Nations, which continue to stand strong today.
27
3
M AHATM A GANDHI
A N D THE UNITED NATIO NS
Rich
Legacy
Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings permeated the goals and structures of the United Nations and
influenced its activities in numerous ways from the very beginning. His belief in non-violence,
which characterized the Indian struggle for independence, was paralleled in the United Nations’
pursuit of peace and human rights.
On 14 June 1942, in his newspaper,

Harijan, Gandhi declared, “Assuming
that the national Government
is formed and if it answers my
expectations, its first act would be to
enter into a treaty with the United
Nations for defensive operations
against aggressive powers, it being
common cause that India will have
nothing to do with any of the fascist
powers and India would be morally
bound to help the United Nations.”
As one of the most revered world

leaders of the time, Gandhi’s
philosophy contributed to the fervour
There is no route to peace;

Wikimedia Commons
peace is the route.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
of international cooperation that surrounded the birth of the United Nations. His influence
continues well into the present in various spheres of United Nations activity.
The two main tenets of Gandhi’s teachings were ahimsa (non-violence) and the concept of
satyagraha, a policy of passive resistance against British rule. For Gandhi, the means were
inseparable from the ends to be achieved. Using violence or unjust means to achieve even a
just aim was largely unacceptable. Gandhi’s ideas made the Indian freedom struggle unique
and momentous. It continued to shape both India’s identity as a nation and its perspectives
as it joined the world community at the United Nations. In Gandhi’s footsteps, India claimed
the moral high ground. It eschewed the parochial tenets of religion, language and ethnicity,
advocating instead universal ideals of democracy, secularism, freedom, justice, equality
and peace.
In establishing the United Nations following the horrors of the Second World War, world
leaders vowed to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. Its pursuit of peace
mirrored Gandhi’s teachings, and when the United Nations became the primary forum for
countries to outline their ideological commitments and pursue the policies of cooperation,
India naturally loomed large. With its very foundations resting on values shared with those
of the United Nations, and with a body of accomplished freedom fighters, intellectuals and
diplomats, India was well positioned to participate in the activities of the United Nations,
which was otherwise dominated by industrialized nations.
Simultaneously, as a former colony and a developing country, with a large population and a rich
and ancient history, India brought valuable diversity to the new global assembly. One of the first
countries to break free from the shackles of colonialism, India provided an inspiring example for
other countries still struggling for independence. India’s position on issues such as the apartheid
regime in South Africa, nuclear disarmament and the Israel-Palestine crises reflected Gandhian
principles, gaining much admiration worldwide.
On 30 January 1948, when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru echoed the heart of the country in saying, “A light has gone out of our lives.” But India
was not alone in mourning its visionary leader. United Nations Secretary-General Trygve Lie
said in Norway, “The message of Mahatma Gandhi’s death by a murderer’s hand will shake
every peace-loving person in the world.” The Security Council interrupted its consideration
of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir to pay homage to the Mahatma, and the flag at United
Nations Headquarters was flown at half-mast as a mark of respect. In its tributes to the great
leader, the Security Council echoed the world.
Pakistan’s representative, Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Minister for Foreign Affairs, said,
“His tragic death constitutes as grievous a loss to Pakistan as it is to India.” The United States
Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Warren Austin, said, “We who sit here
charged with the grave responsibility of maintaining peace among nations should pay tribute to
29
UN Photo/MB
On the morning of this great Indian leader.” Poetic words of tribute came from Philip Noel-Baker of the United
Mahatma Gandhi’s Kingdom: “He was the man who said that faith transcends reason, that God has his footstool
assassination, the United
Nations Security Council
where live the poorest and the lowliest and the lost.” He expressed his conviction that “Gandhi
rises in silent tribute to his has not lived and has not died in vain.”
memory, New York,
30 January 1948. The Mahatma’s life remained a much greater influence than his death, as that apostle of peace
himself would have wanted. In the years since Gandhi’s death, his legacy has continued to
resonate in the United Nations and inspire its leaders, including former Secretary-General
U Thant, who listed Gandhi as one of his greatest influences. Upholding reverence for
Gandhi’s beliefs, Secretaries-General of the United Nations, during their visits to India,
have made it a point to visit the Gandhi memorial. In recent times, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi twice, visiting Raj Ghat, his memorial in
New Delhi, in 2001 and 2005. The current Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, also paid his
respects at Raj Ghat in 2008 and 2012, and at the Gandhi Memorial at Sabarmati Ashram
in Ahmedabad in 2015.
30
UN Photo
On 15 June 2007, the General Assembly adopted a resolution to observe Gandhi’s birthday, Indian and Pakistani
2 October, as the International Day of Non-Violence. The idea was first suggested in 2004, representatives to the
UN, N. Gopalaswami
by a Hindi teacher in Paris, to Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and a Nobel Peace Prize Ayyangar (right) and Sir
Laureate. This piqued the interest of the Government of India and supporters, particularly Muhammad Zafarullah
political leader Sonia Gandhi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who then pursued the case. Khan, read the news
Three years later, the resolution was adopted with the unanimous support of Member States. of the tragic death of
Mahatma Gandhi,
The relatively short period from conception to fruition of this idea is a testament to Gandhi’s
New York,
stature, even decades after his death. 30 January 1948.
In India, the annual message of the United Nations Secretary-General for International Day of
Non-Violence is read out during a nationally televised commemoration held in New Delhi at
Rajghat, where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. The ceremony is hosted by the Gandhi Smriti
and Darshan Samiti, an organization devoted to disseminating the mission and thoughts of
Mahatma Gandhi. On 2 October 2013, a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi by renowned Mumbai
artist R.D. Pareek was presented to the United Nations.
31
Stamp commemorating
the International Day
UN Photo/Ryan Brown
of Non-Violence and the
140th anniversary of
Gandhi’s birth, issued by
the United Nations Postal
Administration on
2 October 2009.
Gandhi’s ideals of non-

violence are embodied in
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
the iconic Knotted Gun

sculpture by Swedish
artist Carl Fredrik
Reuterswärd, on display
at the UN Visitors’ Plaza,
New York.
32
Secretary-General
UN Photo/Mark Garten
Ban Ki-moon at
Sabarmati Ashram, in
Ahmedabad learning
how cotton thread is
spun on a charkha,
10 January 2015.
Gandhi’s lasting influence is embodied in the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for
Peace and Sustainable Development in New Delhi. It was established in 2012 by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with support from the
Government of India. This was the first time that UNESCO named an institute for a person.
Gandhi’s love of the poor, his example of sustainable living, his belief in grass-roots democracy
and his encouragement of equal participation by women were far ahead of his time. They
continue to inspire the United Nations today.
33
4
Ind i a at
t h e S e curit y Council
Power for
Peace
When the United Nations was established, the Security Council had 11 members, who came
from the original 51 founding countries. Of these, 5 were permanent members while 6 were
non-permanent and rotating. In 1965, the 6 non-permanent seats were expanded to 10,
bringing the membership of the Security Council to 15. By then, the United Nations comprised
117 Member States and today the number is 193. The complex scope of international relations
makes it an ongoing challenge for the Council to fulfil its mandate of maintaining international
peace and security.
India has held non-permanent membership on the Council seven times and aspires to become
a permanent member. Towards that goal, India has advocated for United Nations reform,
especially of the Security Council.
In 1950, India was elected to serve its first two-year term on the Council. A little-known
provision of the Charter, in Article 27(3), decrees that a Member State sitting in the Security
Council must abstain from voting in decisions if it is a party to a dispute under scrutiny. This
was to ensure that a Council member “should not be allowed to be party, judge and jury at the
same time,” as explained by International Court of Justice Judge Nabil Elaraby (in his personal
capacity) at the Security Council during a 2003 debate on settlement of disputes.
During its first term on the Council, India abstained on six decisions relating to the agenda
item titled ‘the India-Pakistan question’, explicitly referencing Article 27(3). Among the
In its bid for permanent membership of the Security Council, India has sought and received
some measure of support from each of the five permanent members, as well as a large
number of other nations. However, reform of the main organs of the UN remains famously
difficult, since it requires amendments to the Charter, adopted and ratified by a vote of two
thirds of the members of the General Assembly, including all five of the permanent members.
issues addressed in these resolutions were the demilitarization of the Kashmir area, continued
supervision of the ceasefire in the state and the appointments and reports of two successive
United Nations Representatives for India and Pakistan, Sir Owen Dixon and Frank Graham.
In fact, India and Pakistan are the only major countries that have consistently followed the
provision requiring abstention on resolutions regarding themselves during their time as Council
Members in 1950-1951 (India) and 1952-1953 (Pakistan). Today, by tacit consent of Security
Council Members, this provision of the Charter is largely ignored.
During its very first term on the Council, India demonstrated its determination to follow an
independent foreign policy by voting to unseat the delegation from the Republic of China in
favour of the People’s Republic of China. The question of which entity should be allowed to
represent China was contentious, and the seat was not transferred to the People’s Republic of
China until 1971.
In June 1950, Sir Benegal Rau of India was presiding over the Security Council when a United
Nations force was created to assist troops from the Republic of Korea against aggression by forces
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This force was the precursor to United Nations
peacekeeping, which would become one of the Organization’s standing responsibilities. Other
issues taken up during India’s first term at the Security Council included the complex question
of Palestinian Arab refugees and Israeli action against them, the admission of Indonesia into
the United Nations, and the appointment of a new judge to the International Court of Justice.
Since then, India has served six more terms as a non-permanent member of the Security Council:
in 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and 2011-2012. During each
The Security Council,

convenes at the request of
nine States to consider the
“deteriorating situation
which has led to armed
clashes between India and
UN Photo/Yutaka Nagata
Pakistan”. Samar Sen of

India (second from left),
confers with Yakov
A. Malik (Soviet Union),
before the meeting.
4 December 1971.
35
UN Photo/Milton Grant
The first Security Council term, India has played its part in formulating decisions on issues such as admitting former
meeting at the summit- colonies to the United Nations, addressing deadly conflicts in the Middle East and maintaining
level, attended by Heads
of State and Government,
peace in Africa.
on the subject of
international peace and A key moment in 1985 involved passage of resolution 579, which condemned the practice of
security, New York, hostage-taking as a “manifestation of international terrorism”. During the year, there had been
31 January 1992.
a number of high-profile terrorist attacks, including on Air India flight 182, and consensus on
this resolution was achieved with extraordinary speed. Resolution 579 is also an early example
of the Security Council’s strategy of targeting terror tactics, rather than attempting to create
consensus on an all-encompassing definition of terrorism. Though a comprehensive terrorism
treaty has eluded global consensus, the Security Council persists in its attempts to limit the
scope of terrorism through measures that target, for example, hostage-taking, terrorist financing,
extradition and foreign terrorist fighters.
36
India was also a member of the Council in 1991-1992, during the appointment of Egypt’s
Boutros Boutros-Ghali as Secretary-General, the decisions on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait,
and negotiations following the break-up of Yugoslavia. In 2011-2012, India returned to the
Security Council after a 19-year hiatus. In the context of a more active and politically diverse
Council, India contributed to discussions on standby troops for United Nations peacekeeping
and on the crises in Libya and Syria.
As a strong advocate of Security Council reform, India is seeking (along with Brazil, Germany
and Japan) an expansion of both permanent and non-permanent membership. The goal is
to strengthen the Council’s legitimacy and effectiveness. In November 2011, at the Eighth
Round of Intergovernmental Negotiations on the question of equitable representation
on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, Ambassador Hardeep Puri,
Permanent Representative of India and leader of India’s delegation to the Security Council in
2011-2012, stated:
“The established order should hasten to acknowledge the frustration [of the unrepresented
and under-represented] and act credibly on it by ensuring a managed and orderly
transformation so as to make it reflective of contemporary realities. Those who swear by
the status quo, and therefore latch on to their national positions, risk contributing to a
process that could endanger the entire edifice of international relations as it is presently
structured and as we know it.”
His words were echoed by Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, during the General
Assembly debate in 2015:
“In a world that continues to be dominated by wealthy and influential nations, the notion
of sovereign equality of the UN has permitted the developing world to question some
unfair norms. But it has not permitted a fundamental challenge to the inequity of a system
built for a world that no longer exists… We have to include more developing nations in
the decision making structures of the Security Council. And we need to change the way
it does business by doing away with outdated and non-transparent working methods.
Imparting more legitimacy and balance to the Council would restore its credibility and
equip it to confront the challenges of our times.”
Over the years, India has used its membership on the Security Council to protect its foreign
policy interests, while simultaneously reinforcing its belief in the twin values of peaceful
coexistence and international cooperation. At the highest level of its political leadership, India
has expressed its intention to remain actively involved in the Security Council. India has already
put forth its candidacy for its next term on the Council, in 2021-2022.
37
THE UNITED NATIONS
Memoir
Some
Reflections
by Hardeep Singh Puri
courtesy: AMB. H.S. Puri
Ambassador Hardeep Singh

Puri making a statement after
the Security Council meeting on
Israel-Palestine conflicts in Gaza,
November 2012.
B
orn seven years after the United Nations was got my chance six years later – after three years at Delhi
established and five years after India gained University as an undergraduate, two as a postgraduate
independence, I had my first exposure to the UN and one on the teaching faculty of St. Stephen’s College –
at the age of 16. Fresh out of school, with time on my when I joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. During
hands before joining Delhi University as an undergraduate, a career spanning 39 years, I have had the privilege of
I aspired, like several others, to be part of the youth team dealing with multilateral issues and the UN for extended
for conference logistics for the Second Session of the periods of time, an association that continues.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD II) in New Delhi in 1968. I could not get in. In my several avatars representing India in UN bodies
and working for the UN, I have been driven by intense
This early rebuff did not diminish my interest in and personal interest, passion and commitment to its ideals and
fascination for the multilateral system anchored in the UN. goals of peace and security, human rights, humanitarian
I always saw the Organization as one of humanity’s noblest action, poverty eradication and sustainable development.
conceptions and one that I would want to be a part of. I Representing the world’s largest democracy in the UN,
38
Memoir
I have tried to ensure that India can effectively lead and The UN multilateral system provides a gigantic stage for
promote its universal mission and goals. I am convinced India to exercise its global leadership, establish soft power
that unless India is strong in the supreme multilateral and influence, and bring to bear balance and wisdom.
arena of the UN and assumes its rightful place in the UN I viewed part of my mission in terms of the need of
Security Council and the rest of the UN system (including overcoming scepticism as part of India’s investment in
the Bretton Woods institutions), its own greatness will multilateralism. At the same time, I worked to ensure that
remain unrealized and the multilateral system will lose out India’s gravitas, unique role and value were recognized
too in so many ways. in intergovernmental forums and outcomes and in the
UN Secretariat.
The United Nations Charter was negotiated during a
three-month period while World War II was still going Global norms and standards, those that have been and
on. The primary concern then was to save succeeding are now being negotiated – whether they be the Paris
generations from the scourge of war. Of almost equal Agreement on Climate Change, Agenda 2030 (the
importance was the desire to achieve freedom from want; to post-2015 development framework and the Sustainable
reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and the equal Development Goals), the United Nations conventions
rights of men and women and of nations large and small; on terrorism, the World Trade Organization (WTO)
to see nations interact on the basis of international law; agreements, and so on – shape the world we live in. They
and to promote social progress and better standards of life have cross-border dimensions and are no longer external to
in larger freedom.Given these lofty ideals, it was only to be India’s experience, needs and interests in nation-building.
expected that all countries – including those aspiring for Also, India has big stakes in the global public goods that
independence, such as India – would want to participate in the UN seeks to identify and ensure access to for all. It was
the processes called for to create a prosperous, peaceful and with this perspective in mind that I advocated and drove
humane post-World War II international order. India’s engagement and leadership in different forums
over the years.
India’s interaction with multilateralism, therefore, began
even before the country attained independence. We were As a young First Secretary, I served on India’s
among the founding Members of the UN and signed the two-member delegation to the General Agreement on
Declaration by United Nations in Washington, D.C. on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) from September 1981 to
1 January 1942. December 1984. From 1988 to 1991, I was Coordinator
of a project funded by the United Nations Development
It is my conviction that the UN embodies in its ideals Programme (UNDP) for technical assistance for
India’s aspirations. India can both gain from and give to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region,
the global mission of the UN. We are a large multicultural headquartered at UNCTAD in the Palais des Nations
and multilingual country that celebrates diversity. It stands in Geneva. This programme was designed to enhance
to reason that the UN should, in terms of our civilizational the negotiating capacities of developing countries in the
ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole world is one Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, which
family), resonate well in India. Civilizational humanism commenced in 1986 and concluded with the Marrakesh
and traditional empathy apart, the Indian Constitution – Declaration of 15 April 1994, establishing the WTO.
anchored in freedom, human dignity, tolerance, basic and
fundamental human rights, the rule of law and progressive My first stint in Geneva exposed me to the functioning
directive principles of State policy – would appear to make of the GATT and subsequently the WTO’s Dispute
India and the UN a perfect fit. Settlement Mechanism. Between 1982 and 2005,
39
THE U N - I N DIA C ONNECT
I had the privilege of serving on and later chairing Another unique experience was that of participating in
several GATT and WTO dispute panels, on United the negotiations that transformed the former Human
States-European Union (EU) subsidies on pasta, tariff Rights Commission into the Human Rights Council, an
preferences on certain Mediterranean products, United outcome that was achieved towards the end of my tenure.
States-Canada softwood lumber, United States-EU steel The mainstreaming of human rights issues, the battle
and Japanese alcoholic beverages, among others. I was thus between primacy of social and economic rights versus civil
privileged to contribute to the engagement of India and and political rights, the perceptions regarding the naming
developing countries in the multilateral trading system and shaming of countries for political reasons as opposed
and its evolution, but also to the global trade-dispute to substantive human rights reasons, and the enhanced
settlement system. The association with multilateral scrutiny of the Universal Periodic Review of human
economic issues continued rights records versus national
when I returned to the sovereignty were difficult issues
It is my conviction
Ministry of External Affairs to negotiate. I was keen to be a
that the UN embodies in its ideals
in 1991 and was appointed
India’s aspirations. India can both gain bridge builder.
Director in the division
from and give to the global mission of
dealing with multilateral A sobering realization for
the UN. We are a large multicultural
economic relations. any professional working in
and multilingual country that
the multilateral system is that
As the Permanent
celebrates diversity. It stands to reason almost all countries view issues
Representative of India to
that the UN should, in terms of our largely through the prism of
the United Nations and other
civilizational ethos of Vasudhaiva their narrowly defined national
international organizations in
Kutumbakam (the whole world is one interest and power plays. This is
Geneva from 2002 to 2005,
family), resonate well regrettably true of human rights
I was accredited to over 23
in India. as well, a universal value that is
UN entities/agencies. I got indivisible and which, to my
the opportunity to engage with a wide range of issues mind, should be above partisan politics and contestation.
and causes these institutions serve – from refugees, The multilateral system provides the possibility for
health, labour, trade and development to HIV and countries with less or limited negotiating strength to
AIDS, intellectual property, education, meteorology, counter attempts by the politically and economically
climate change and environment, telecommunications dominant to manipulate the system in their favour. This
and information and communications technology. was most evident on the intellectual property rights issues
Highlights included the privilege of participating in during my tenure in Geneva.
and negotiating the first global public health treaty,
the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and Defining national interest judiciously to reflect national
contributing to the first international agreement on conditions and systems as they are, but also where
information technology and the World Summit on the they should go in an ideal world, is key to representing
Information Society, among others. I was always inspired a country such as India. It is also in our job profile to
working against the backdrop of Geneva, the founding seek to influence international norms and systems in
centre for multilateralism. The League of Nations and terms of where we want not only our country, but also
the International Labour Organization (ILO), both humanity, to be. This is one of the most intellectually
headquartered in Geneva, predate the establishment of and diplomatically challenging, but exciting, duties
the UN itself. of a Permanent Representative. Calibrating this fine
40
Memoir
Ambassador Puri, President of the Security Council, along with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly
President H.E. Vuk Jeremić light a candle at the memorial service for 29 UN peacekeeping personnel who died in action in
2011-2012. Among them were two Indian soldiers, Naik Krishan Kumar and Lance Dafadar Ravindera Poonia, New York,
14 November 2012.
balance in diverse contexts was always risky, but finally Professionals soon come to be characterized as lazy or
productive and rewarding. active, ham-handed or sensible and, most of all, politically
inept or astute. A reputation for professionalism, once built,
I discovered in Geneva and later in New York that the stays and stands in good stead. A realistic assessment of
world of the multilateralist is small and well networked. one’s strengths and weaknesses and those of one’s country,
41
and what is doable or not doable, is always helpful. Skill, and challenges. Civil society is becoming increasingly more
tact and cerebral qualities backed by practical common influential and able to drive its agendas with governments
sense are always an asset in multilateral settings. in the capitals and with delegations in different UN centres
around the world.
Respecting each and every Member State, however small or
big, and engaging with as many of the other 192 Permanent I am often asked as to what I regard as India’s most
Representatives as possible, pays huge dividends. Further, important contribution(s) to the UN and how I look
the quality of the leadership is as critical as the quality back and reflect on the period spent as Permanent
of the mission team. India stood out as an exceptionally Representative of India and the two years on the Security
talented delegation, a tribute due, in no small part, to the Council. Peacekeeping will necessarily figure in any list.
outstanding colleagues in my team who have gone ahead India has cumulatively contributed 100,000 military and
to carve out extremely successful careers for themselves. police personnel and participated in almost all major
peacekeeping operations. We have, at any point in time,
The high point of my tenure as Permanent Representative 8,000 to 9,000 personnel on the ground. Attempts to
of India to the United Nations in New York from 2009 to introduce doctrinal changes in the area of peacekeeping
2013 was organizing India’s campaign for non-permanent need to be considered carefully.
membership of the Security Council. We won the election
with a record number of 186 out of the 191 votes polled The justification for blue helmet peacekeeping is based on
in October 2010. India returned to the Security Council the paradigm that there is a peace to be kept following a
after an astonishingly long gap of 17 years. Our defeat at peace agreement. Peace enforcement, on the other hand,
the hands of Japan in 1996 (when both countries vied for runs the inherent risk of the UN taking sides in an ongoing
non-permanent membership representing Asia) had left and raging civil war, a situation not unknown in recent
us traumatized. A bureaucracy is risk averse at the best experience. We were able to walk the fine line.
of times, and we found solace in self-delusion that the
Council is not really relevant, which let us focus on the On a personal level, I derived tremendous satisfaction
bilateral processes. when, as one of the Vice-Presidents of the United Nations
General Assembly’s 2009 session, I was nominated to
This victory changed that perspective. During India’s chair the negotiating process that led to the creation of the
seventh tenure on the Security Council, 2011-2012, new United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
I had the privilege of being elected Chair of the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).
Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee and
presiding over the Security Council in August 2011 and The process had almost run aground. The two co-
November 2012. In these two years, I pushed hard for facilitators, the Permanent Representatives of Tunisia
Security Council reform, and India was an effective player and Estonia had, with great patience and skill, narrowed
on the world stage. the differences, but a final agreement appeared elusive.
The President of the General Assembly, Ali Abdussalam
India has over the years calibrated its multilateral Treki of Libya, who had served as his country’s Foreign
diplomacy to deal with the three distinct United Nations Minister for eight years and Permanent Representative
– the Member States, civil society and the multicultural in New York for an equally long duration, nominated me
UN Secretariat. The complexity of their interrelationships to step in and reconcile the differing approaches between
and power dynamics, seemingly collaborative at times and ‘holdouts’ such as Syria on the one hand and differences
at loggerheads at other times, provides many opportunities between the United States and some major European
42
Memoir
countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom core of the many challenges that need to be addressed not
on the other. I commenced a process of non-stop only in the arena of the conflict but also in the countries
negotiations. We succeeded; UN-Women was born. This of the West from where these jihadists are increasingly
was one of our finest hours. India helped create the first being drawn. If the UN did not exist, the international
global institution dedicated to one of the most important community would have to invent one, is a cliché that
projects for humanity – achieving gender equality and merits comment. Agreement was reached on the Charter
women’s empowerment. within a period of merely three months because World
War II was still going on. Would this be possible today?
The well-considered as well as constructive positions that Possibly not. Just about everyone agreed that the foremost
India adopts in the UN are well known. Our reading of the priority was to avoid a third world war.
situation and the positions we adopted on the use of force
and the right of intervention in respect of the evolving The 70th anniversary of the UN presents an excellent
situations in Libya and Syria in 2011 and 2012 appear, opportunity for a strategic diagnosis of its health. Has the
with the benefit of hindsight, to have been prescient. UN served the purpose for which it was founded? Or is
it just a ‘talk shop’? How important
We always knew, and I continue The multilateral system is the power of ideas? Is the UN
to belabour this point even provides the possibility for capable of effecting real change,
more forcefully, that the use of countries with less or limited not just dreaming up resolutions
force always has unintended negotiating strength to counter about transformations? Can it solve
consequences. Equally, the use of attempts by the politically the world’s daunting problems of
military force from the outside to and economically dominant to poverty, inequality, environmental
effect regime change is invariably manipulate the system in degradation and social discontent?
a recipe for disaster. Regrettably, their favour. Can it provide a forum for resolving
this realization has dawned on the tensions and conflicts that once
the international community and again seem to evoke the cold war
the Security Council somewhat late. and also, as journalist Thomas L. Friedman puts it, pit the
forces of the State against the forces of chaos and disorder
There are many explanations offered for the alarming represented by non-State actors? How important is the
rise of non-State military actors in the form of the UN convening power in bringing together all stakeholders
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic in this new millennium?
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). No matter which
way one looks at it, ISIS and ISIL are, in the ultimate The 70th anniversary presents an opportunity to address
analysis, the unwanted children of a neglected occupation precisely these questions. There is considerable cynicism
(Iraq in 2003). The international community’s policy about the UN. Those suffering from negative feelings are
response even now may result in exacerbating rather advised to read UN Ideas that Changed the World:
than ameliorating the problem. Foreign terrorist fighters
from some 80 countries, of which the Security Council “First, UN contributions to economic and social
has taken note in its resolution 2178 and press release of thinking, policymaking and action have been more
24 September 2014, have joined the group. successful than generally realized. Second, the UN
work in the economic and social areas has often
Issues relating to social inclusion, participation and been outstanding – again, of higher quality than
democratic governance would appear to constitute the often realized. The volume lists, for example, the
43
nine winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics, who Project put it. Some of these ideas have been
worked in or in close collaboration with the UN. accepted broadly and fairly quickly, such as goals
This is in addition to the 14 Nobel Prizes for Peace to guide national and international development. In
that have been awarded to the UN, to organizations other cases, the UN has come up with what seemed
within the UN system or to key individuals who at the time to be outlandish or controversial ideas or
have contributed directly to its work. proposals – such as the need for concessional loans
to poorer countries, special support for the least
Third, many of the UN contributions have been developed countries or debt relief – only to find
pioneering or ‘Ahead of the Curve’, as the title of that the ideas became mainstream after a decade
the first volume of the UN Intellectual History or longer.”
The Security Council in January 2011, India’s first month on the Council during its most recent term.
44
Memoir
(Left to right): Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Ambassador Puri and Suneet Singh Tuli, Chief Executive Officer of
DataWind, at the unveiling of the Akash 2 tablet computer at the General Assembly, 28 November 2012.
The United Nations is popular in India. It is admired In the first decade and a half of the 21st century,
and even respected, particularly if it is seen to have our country has been on the economic and political
raised India’s prestige or to have done developmental or ascendancy, allowing some of our country’s representatives
humanitarian work or mobilization of global opinion on to put India’s imprint on every possible sphere of the
counter-terrorism. Equally, a setback or criticism of India functioning of the UN. Conversely, during periods of
in the UN leads to its converse. The multilateral system crisis or due to policy neglect, if India ignores the UN and
provides a fairly accurate barometer of a country’s political the multilateral system, it does so at its own peril.
and economic well-being. High-impact diplomacy in the
UN by dynamic and visionary Indian representatives has — Hardeep Singh Puri is former Permanent
allowed India to often bat well above its league. Representative of India to the United Nations.
45
5
I N DIA A N D
THE I N TERNATIO NAL LEGAL SYSTEM
Rule of
Law
Since the formation of the United Nations, India has been an integral member of the
international legal framework. This has enabled it to participate in developing norms, treaties
and other instruments to promote the rule of law across the globe. As cooperative international
action grew after the Second World War, relations between States became more complicated.
International law soon outgrew its association primarily with laws of war to become a medium
for cooperation in new areas such as commerce, human rights and global environmental
protection. Traditional concepts of sovereignty and inviolability are continually renegotiated
as new structures of cooperation and consensus emerge. The growth of the international legal
system into its present form is all the more remarkable as States, having undoubtedly weighed
the prospect of the dilution of sovereignty inherent in accepting laws outside their own legal
jurisdiction, still choose to foster an international framework of law. This is done largely through
the United Nations and is driven by cooperation and dialogue.
Today, the international legal system is distinct from its domestic counterparts, in design,
enforcement and interpretation. The absence of an overall binding authority – the equivalent,
say, of a national Supreme Court – has led to new ways of developing, interpreting and enforcing
international law. Instead of relying on a written constitution or rigid framework, international
law often manifests itself through ‘norms’ or general principles of jurisprudence.
Among the strongest and most binding manifestations of international law are treaties.
Representing specific consensual commitments undertaken by countries, bilaterally or
multilaterally, after extensive negotiation and often bargaining, treaties hold prime weight as
sources of law. Though their interpretation or implementation could be debated by States, a
treaty’s written provisions are nonetheless considered legally binding.
India follows the dualist theory for implementation of international law at the domestic level,
meaning that international treaties do not automatically become part of national law in India.
The Parliament of India must draft and pass national legislation to bring international obligations
into effect. However, the Supreme Court of India, in Pratap Singh v. State of Jharkhand,
has observed that the courts can refer to and follow international treaties,
covenants and conventions to which India is a party although they may not
be a part of our domestic law.
Both international law and constitutional principles must provide the

context for any judgment. The Court had held that the Juvenile Justice
(Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 should be interpreted in light
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the United Nations
Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice 1985
(Beijing Rules). In this regard, it is important to take note of the judgment
of the Supreme Court in the 1997 case Vishaka and others v. State of
UN Photo/MB
Rajasthan and others. This case involved public interest litigation to enforce
the fundamental rights of working women under articles 14, 19 and 21 of
the Indian Constitution. Citing the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, the judgment said that international conventions Sir Benegal Narsing Rau
and norms must be considered when interpreting domestic law, when there is no inconsistency (right) of India confers
between them and when there is a void in the domestic law. with a colleague from
Panama at the first session
of the International
Keeping in mind its international treaty obligations, India has enacted various domestic laws to Law Commission,
support these obligations. These include the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Their Delivery Geneva, 1949.
Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act of 2005, Chemical Weapons Convention Act
of 2000, Biological Diversity Act of 2002, and Diplomatic Relations (Vienna Convention)
Act of 1972. In 2011, acknowledging the inextricable link between seamless governance and
clean government, India ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which
had come into force in 2005.
India has been globally lauded for its work on structuring and negotiating treaties, such as
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, developed between 1982 and 1992.
Following its adoption, India consolidated its position as an immense sea power, reflecting
the country’s vast coastline and the 12 nautical miles of sovereign territory allowed by the
Convention. India’s commitment to the treaty was made clear in its acceptance of a 2014 verdict
of a United Nations tribunal that awarded Bangladesh 19,467 km2 of a sea area of 25,602 km2
in the Bay of Bengal against India’s claims.
While efforts are made to secure the agreement of as many countries as possible to a treaty,
sometimes key issues in multilateral treaties remain unresolved because of domestic interests or
other considerations. In these cases, countries register their dissent by signing with reservations,
or by refusing to sign altogether. It is crucial to the efficacy of international law that no country
is bound by laws to which it has not agreed. This principle serves to increase the weight of laws
to which a country has agreed. India has declined to sign, or has expressed reservations about,
several treaties. For example, 191 countries are party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons, which came into force under the auspices of the United Nations in 1970.
47
An Indian
Sevenjudge,
Decades Radhabinod
and Beyond
Pal, participated
T H E U N - I N D I A in the famous
C ONNECT
Tokyo Trials, set up after the

Second World War to try
Japanese leaders for war
crimes. He issued a Dissenting
Opinion, popularly known as
the ‘Pal Judgment’, which
acquitted the defendants of all
charges, providing an alternate
narrative to that of the victors of
the war. Pal also went on to be
elected to the United Nations’
International Law Commission,
created to codify and develop
international law, where he
served from 1952 to 1966.
UN Photo
Indian judge Radhabinod India, however, stood out among its chief opponents, despite being deeply involved in its initial
Pal (first from right) stages, as the country disagreed with the final form of the text. Similarly, India was not among
participates in the
International Law
the 133 signatories to the Ottawa Treaty on Landmines, adopted in 1997 (officially known as
Commission, shown the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-
here in its 12th session, Personnel Mines and on their Destruction), as it continues to regard landmines, when used
Geneva, 25 April 1960. responsibly by States, as a legitimate tool for defence.
Along with treaties, judicial decisions by international courts, tribunals and dispute-resolution
mechanisms, such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court,
also serve as sources of international law. The International Court of Justice was formed as
the judicial wing of the United Nations in 1946. It was created to adjudicate disputes between
Member States that accept its jurisdiction, and to give advisory opinions to United Nations
organizations and agencies upon request. While its judgments do not amount to international
law in themselves, they can be used as legal precedents when interpreted in relation to accepted
international customs (known as customary international law), norms or treaties.
For example, in 1971, following a hijacking incident involving the diversion of an Indian aircraft
to Pakistan, India revoked permission for Pakistani civil aircraft to fly over Indian territory. In
response, Pakistan submitted an application to the International Civil Aviation Organization
Council alleging the breach of two treaties. India unsuccessfully challenged the jurisdiction of
the Council and then filed an appeal in the International Court of Justice against the decision
of the Council in assuming jurisdiction. Pakistan’s objections to the Court’s jurisdiction were
not sustained. The Court held that the treaties had been merely suspended, and therefore their
provisions regarding jurisdiction still applied.
The second major court at the international level, the International Criminal Court, prosecutes
not States but rather individuals responsible for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity
and the crime of aggression. It is an independent international arbitrator, established in 2002.
48
UN Photo
While it is outside the administrative ambit of the United Nations, its prosecutor can initiate Opening of the Non-
proceedings based on a recommendation from the United Nations Security Council. The Proliferation Treaty
Review Conference,
International Criminal Court was formed by the Rome Statute, and 122 countries are State Geneva, May 1975.
Parties as of this writing. India, however, refused to be party to the Statute because it disagreed
with the powers and purview given to the court and its prosecutor. Therefore, India is not legally
bound by its influence. A third and emerging element of the international judicial system is the
presence of hybrid courts, such as in East Timor (now Timor-Leste), Kosovo and Sierra Leone.
International law has not developed organically. It owes much of its progress since the mid-
twentieth century to activities by individuals and institutions under the aegis of the United
Nations. The United Nations Charter enunciates the basic principles of international law and,
as discussed earlier, serves as a sort of constitution of the international community. Other bodies
have made indelible imprints on the stature and character of international law as it exists and
evolves today. These bodies include the General Assembly, by passing numerous resolutions;
the International Law Commission, by systematizing international law; and the International
Court of Justice, by laying out principles of law while adjudicating cases. India has played key
roles in each body.
Indian legal scholars such as R.P. Anand, Upendra Baxi, and B.S. Chimni
have contributed to international legal scholarship through a school of
thought known as 'third world approaches to international law'. This aims
to offer a critique of neo-liberal international law based in colonialism and
project an alternative, more equitable vision of the future. Many scholars
have also contributed in the areas of human rights, press freedom,
geopolitics, trade transactions, and environmental law, and served as judges
on the International Court of Justice.
49
Indian Judges on the

International Court
of Justice
F Benegal Narsing Rau (1952–1953)
UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ/Frank van Beek

F Nagendra Singh (1973–1988)
F Raghunandan Pathak (1989–1991)
F Dalveer Bhandari (2012–Present)
Swearing-in ceremony of Another important area of international law benefiting from UN contributions is human rights
Dalveer Bhandari (second law. The various human rights treaties, treaty bodies and the Human Rights Council alter the
from left) as a Permanent
Judge on the International
landscape of international law. They encourage countries to implement domestic legislation and
Court of Justice, can even provide legal guarantees of rights to individual citizens living in States that accept their
The Hague, 2012. jurisdiction. Various specialized agencies such as the International Telecommunications Union,
the ILO and the International Maritime Organization have also been active in developing
codes of conduct in their specific fields.
International law almost always functions on an ‘opt-in’ principle, due to challenges in

reconciling its aims with domestic concerns. These challenges include, for example, conflicts
between protecting human rights and the principle of non-intervention, or between the self-
determination of peoples and maintaining territorial integrity. International norms are most
often invoked when the law is contravened. Examples include the invasion of Kuwait by
Iraqi forces in 1990 and the 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bombing of
Yugoslavia, which were carried out without authorization from the Security Council. Such
incidents often lead to strident questioning about the efficacy of international law. However, if
Each State party to the statute of the International Court of

Justice can propose up to four candidates for election to
the Court’s bench, of whom not more than two can be of its
nationality. India chose not to renominate Justice R.S. Pathak,
former Chief Justice of the Indian Supreme Court, in 1991, but he
was nominated by Ireland, only to later withdraw from the race.
50
UN Photo/Andrea Brizzi
international law did not provide proscriptions, such as prohibiting aggression towards another The Peace Palace is the
State, there would be no basis on which to oppose these actions. seat of the International
Court of Justice, the
principal judicial body of
It is argued that one of the greatest contributions the United Nations has made to history has the United Nations,
been in creating international norms in fields such as development and human rights. With The Hague, 1993.
its depth of intellectual resources and decades of experience as a Member State, India’s role
in addressing and reconciling these challenges can grow even further if the country chooses
to take leadership in creating norms in key fields. In the World Trade Organization (WTO)
negotiations on food stockpiling and pharmaceuticals, and climate change negotiations under
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, India has accepted as well as
challenged emerging agreements. In many areas, such as cyber security and energy, international
norms have not yet stabilized into a legal regime. Through its expanding global engagement,
India has the opportunity to shape the agenda on each of these.
Speaking ahead of the 70th anniversary of the International Court of Justice on 18 April 2016,
Justice Dalveer Bhandari, one of the 15 judges at the court, said, “India is already playing
a significant role in framing of international laws and conventions. It would be desirable
that a much greater role be played because international law and conventions are becoming
increasingly important for us, such as nuclear policy. More than ever before in human history,
we share a common destiny.”
51
WORKING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS
Memoir
Maintaining
Peace and
Security
by Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar (Retd.)
A cake commemorating the

COURTESY: LT. GEN. S. NAMBIAR
work of Lt. Gen. Satish

Nambiar as first Force
Commander and Head of
the UNPROFOR mission
in the former Yugoslavia,
served at his farewell party,
March 1993.
M
y first association with the United Nations I had earlier interacted with United Nations military
was when the Government of India observers as a young officer deployed on the ceasefire
acquiesced to a specific request made by line in Jammu and Kashmir in the early 1960s, including
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to depute after the 1965 war with Pakistan. I was also associated
an Indian general as the first Force Commander and with the Chief Military Observer of the United
Head of Mission of the United Nations peacekeeping Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
forces in the former Yugoslavia. I was appointed (UNMOGIP) and his staff in New Delhi, when I was
Force Commander, United Nations Protection Force a young major in the Military Operations Directorate
(UNPROFOR) in 1992. at the Indian Army Headquarters in 1969-1970. The
52
Memoir
I got the opportunity to work with a range of international

personalities such as Cyrus Vance and David Owen,
who were co-Chairs of the Geneva-based International
Conference on the Former Yugoslavia; Martti Ahtisaari,
later President of Finland; Lawrence Eagleburger, United
States Under Secretary of State; Thorvaldt Stoltenberg,
later Foreign Minister of Norway and then Prime
Minister; and others. I was also privileged to receive and
brief Heads of State and Government that had provided
troops. These included King Hussein of Jordan, Prime
Ministers Carl Bildt of Sweden and John Major of the
United Kingdom, the President of Argentina, members of
the United States Congress and the Russian Duma, and
a host of others, including foreign and defence ministers
and chiefs of the armed forces.
As far as the mission was concerned, it was the first time

that United Nations peacekeepers were being deployed in

a situation of intra-State conflict, where what was a unitary
State was breaking up into its various constituents. To that
extent, the United Nations was not organizationally or
conceptually attuned to deal effectively with the situation,
using the old tools, as it were. Even so, one of the aspects
Lt. Gen. Nambiar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1992. that impressed me most was the outstanding dedication
and commitment of the military, police and civilian
components of my command. It really was a pleasure
assignment was a great challenge and turned out to be to see how all of them, without exception, responded so
the high point of my career. marvellously to the demands placed on them, often in
conditions of considerable personal danger.
Besides testing the military professionalism I had imbibed
over years of training and practice in the Indian Army, it The infirmities of the international system were, of course,
called for diplomatic and negotiating skills at the highest fully exploited by the leaders of the local warring States
political level. It also involved securing the unreserved and factions. I started by dealing with personalities such
response, cooperation and support from the components as Borisav Jović , a former President of Yugoslavia; Franjo
of the mission, which included uniformed personnel Tuđjman of Croatia; and Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia and
from about 34 countries of the world (developed as Herzegovina. I went on to deal with faction leaders within
well as developing nations) and civilian staff from many Bosnia and Herzegovina such as Radovan Karadžić,
more. It gave me the privilege to closely interact with Ratko Mladić, Mate Boban and many others. It turned out
Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali; the first Under- to be a real test of endurance because of the utter disregard
Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Marrack of the local leadership to understandings so painstakingly
Goulding; and Kofi Annan, who was then Assistant arrived at. However, we persevered, and were largely
Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. successful in preventing any renewal of fighting between
53
of my senior military and civilian staff, I must, however,

state that these problems were not allowed to impact the
conduct of the mission activities. But I stress, without any
reservations whatsoever, that there is an imperative need
for the radical overhaul of the United Nations bureaucracy
to make it more responsive to the increasing demands on
the Organization.
The second observation relates to what we, as Heads

of Mission, find most inexcusable – the questionable
political support of the major players, particularly the five
permanent Members of the Security Council (China,
Lt. Gen. Nambiar (centre) at Sarajevo airport with French
France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and
colleagues, October 1992.
the United States), to the missions deployed in various
parts of the world at their behest. This is one of the
Croatia and what was left of Yugoslavia. We fulfilled infirmities of peacekeeping that must be set right, among
the mandate we then had of ensuring the provision of many others of course, if the credibility of this vital area of
humanitarian assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina. United Nations activity is to be ensured.
The other memory I personally treasure is that of the At the personal level I cannot but make the point, with
interaction I had with the United Nations agencies that some emphasis, that I came away from the assignment
were working in the mission area. These included the United with a deep sense of cynicism at what I thought was the
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), hypocrisy of the international community in dealing with
led by the indomitable Sadako Ogata (a person I greatly the crisis in the Balkans in the early 1990s. As it happened,
admire), with a committed staff in the mission area, and the that was one of the reasons that prompted me to decline
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which came the offer of an extension of my tenure in the assignment.
on the scene in due course. Then there was the International
Committee of the Red Cross, which did a splendid job The experience of peacekeeping operations in the Balkans,
under very trying circumstances, and with whose senior Somalia and Cambodia in the first half of the 1990s led to
personnel I developed an enduring relationship. the setting up of a panel in 2000 under the chairmanship of
Lakhdar Brahimi (a former Foreign Minister of Algeria),
A couple of avoidable trends merit mention, particularly with whom I was privileged to interact at that time and
in context of the fact that these seem to continue to afflict retain an enduring relationship with in later years. The
United Nations peacekeeping missions 22 years down recommendations made by that panel were well thought
the line. The first relates to what is perceived as perennial out and were the outcome of detailed interaction with the
strained relations between the military components of the Mission Heads of that time. They need to be implemented
mission and the United Nations civilian international staff almost in their entirety. Ironically, the panel’s report, known
and the bureaucracy. My personal experience was that, as the Brahimi Report, has been subsumed in a number of
because I was wearing two hats – namely, one as the Head subsequent papers and reports put out by the Department
of Mission, and the other as the Force Commander – I had of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) under various titles,
to devote considerable time (that could have been better and possibly in more impressive language, without in any
utilized) to ‘internal peacekeeping’. To the eternal credit way making any new concrete recommendations.
54
Memoir
Two aspects in this context merit mention. Most mandates Political Affairs in New York conveying Kofi Annan’s
of the peacekeeping missions deployed today call for the invitation to join the proposed panel. Needless to say, I
use of force for the “protection of civilians”; no doubt this accepted the invitation without much hesitation. It was
is most laudable and essential. However, troop-contributor indeed an honour to be part of what turned out to be quite
countries must be aware that their contingents could be an extraordinary group of international personalities with
required to inflict casualties and, in the process, also suffer whom I was privileged to develop lasting friendships, and
casualties; with the attendant collateral impact of ‘body with whom I still remain in touch from time to time.
bags’ coming home, and allegations of ‘human rights’
violations against peacekeepers in the mission area. The Chairman was Anand Panyarachun, a former
Prime Minister of Thailand. He managed the difficult,
Even so, the most important aspect that the Security and often thankless, job of handling the group of ‘prima
Council needs to bear in mind when conferring such donnas’. The other members were: Robert Badinter,
mandates is that the peacekeeping forces must be provided member of the French Senate and a former Minister of
the resources of personnel and equipment to execute the Justice of France; João Clemente Baena Soares, former
tasks foreseen. And that prompts me to flag a major Secretary-General of the Ministry of External Affairs
infirmity that impacts on the effective conduct of United of Brazil and Secretary-General of the Organization of
Nations peacekeeping today. In recent years, those who American States; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime
have the capacities in terms of trained manpower and Minister of Norway and Director-General of the World
equipment resources, namely, the developed world, have Health Organization; Mary Chinery-Hesse of Ghana,
distanced themselves from peacekeeping. They are thus former Deputy Director-General, International Labour
depriving the United Nations of the capacities required Organization; Gareth Evans, President, International
to effectively carry out the mission mandates of “the use Crisis Group and former Foreign Minister of Australia;
of force for the protection of innocent civilians”. The David Hannay, former Permanent Representative
developed countries of the Western world must return to of the United Kingdom to the United Nations;
United Nations peacekeeping. Enrique Iglesias, President of the Inter-American
Development Bank and former Foreign Minister of
As a consequence of the developments that led to the Uruguay; Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the
unilateral invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition Arab League and former Foreign Minister of Egypt;
in May 2003, Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided to Sadako Ogata, President of the Japan International
set up a blue ribbon panel comprising “16 eminent and Cooperation Agency and former United Nations High
experienced people, drawn from different parts of the Commissioner for Refugees; Yevgeny Primakov, former
world, to assess current threats to international peace and Prime Minister of the Russian Federation; Qian Qichen,
security; to evaluate how well our existing policies and former Vice Premier and Foreign Minister of China;
institutions have done in addressing those threats; and to Dr. Nafis Sadik of Pakistan, former Executive Director
recommend ways of strengthening the United Nations to of the United Nations Population Fund; Salim Ahmed
provide collective security for the 21st century”. Salim, former Prime Minister of the United Republic
of Tanzania and Secretary-General of the Organization
In late October 2003, while I was on a brief investigative of African Unity (today’s African Union); and Brent
assignment with the United Nations Observer Mission Scowcroft, former Lieutenant General in the United
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the request States Air Force, who had served as National Security
of the Under-Secretary-General for DPKO, I received Adviser to United States presidents Gerald Ford and
a telephone call from the Under-Secretary-General for George H. W. Bush.
55
The High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and This is not the place for presenting details of the
Change held six formal meetings during the one-year deliberations of the high-level panel or to dwell on its
period from December 2003 to November 2004. Its recommendations. But it would possibly be of interest to
members interacted with members of the international readers to be made aware of impressions I came away with
community and regional organizations at meetings and from this interaction in the international arena.
workshops held in various parts of the world, including
the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, I have deliberately listed the names of the members of
Mexico, South Africa, India, Japan, Egypt and Singapore. the panel in order to highlight the fact that it comprised
It submitted a report titled A More Secure World: Our members of high standing and experience in international
Shared Responsibility to the Secretary-General on affairs: from the fields of politics and governance;
1 December 2004. Many of the recommendations made international peace and security, including terrorism and
were included in the report titled In Larger Freedom, nuclear issues; conflict resolution, including peacemaking,
presented by Kofi Annan to the 170 Heads of State peacekeeping and peacebuilding; and development and
attending the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the 60th human rights. Even though each of us served on the panel
session of the General Assembly in New York, known as in our individual capacity, there was no gainsaying the fact
the 2005 World Summit. that during deliberations, the positions taken by Member
States and regions on various contentious issues were
placed on the table, mostly indirectly, but sometimes quite
directly. It was a measure of the sagacity of the members
that, after detailed discussion, we were able to come up
with agreed observations and recommendations.
Having stated this, I cannot but help make the point

that my earlier observation (regarding the UNPROFOR
experience) about what I termed the hypocrisy of the
international community was sadly reinforced by what
I was exposed to during the interaction the panel had
with the leadership in various parts of the globe. It is
indeed a poor reflection on the ability, willingness and
determination of world leaders to tackle with imagination
and resolve the most vital issues that confront us at the
global level.
In the context of the large-scale loss of life among innocent

civilians in places such as Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda and
Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first half of the 1990s, and
acknowledging the fact that at the commencement of the
twenty-first century, such occurrences under the umbrella
of State sovereignty cannot be ignored by the international
Lt. Gen. Nambiar presents the UNPROFOR medal to
members of the Argentinian contingent in Bosnia and community, one of the major recommendations made by
Herzegovina in 1993. the panel concerned the ‘responsibility to protect’ innocent
civilians from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and
56
Memoir
endorsed by the 2005 World Summit. It is a sad irony that

the reservations expressed at the time were later proven
to have merit, as became evident in the intervention of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the
crisis in Libya, and what was intended to be undertaken in
dealing with the situation in Syria. In my view, that does
not make the recommendation any less commendable.
It is up to the world leaders to display the maturity,

wisdom and commitment to follow the principles implicit
in its application.
Another recommendation that secured the endorsement

of the 2005 World Summit was for the establishment of
a Peacebuilding Commission. Its purpose was to sustain
Lt. Gen. Nambiar greets two of the Secretary-General's
the efforts of the international community in providing
Special Envoys for the former Yugoslavia, Cyrus Vance
of the United States (shaking hands) and David Owen assistance to countries in post-conflict rebuilding of
of the United Kingdom, in Bosnia and Herzegovina in societies and restoration of infrastructure. I got the
October 1992. impression that, whereas the aim of setting up such a
Commission was laudable, the actual implementation was
questionable for a number of reasons. The primary one
crimes against humanity. This responsibility lies first and was that the Commission’s functions are only advisory in
foremost with the State itself, but if the State is unable nature, and responsibilities are towards both the General
or unwilling to take action, it is the responsibility of the Assembly and the Security Council.
wider international community
represented by the United What the UN It is a sad reflection on the seriousness
Nations Security Council. It is Security Council needs to bear with which the powerful countries
fulfilled through mediation for in mind while conferring perceive vital issues such as nuclear
cessation of conflict and other [peacekeeping] mandates is disarmament and counter-terrorism
tools such as humanitarian, that the peacekeeping forces that no significant steps in this regard
human rights and police must be provided the resources were agreed upon. There was no
missions and, as a last resort, by of personnel and consensus on nuclear disarmament and
the use of military force. equipment to execute the proliferation, and this was seen as “a real
disgrace” by Kofi Annan. Similarly, no
tasks foreseen.
There was much reservation consensus evolved on the definition of
about this recommendation, terrorism, and hence moves towards the
particularly among panel members from the developing formulation of a comprehensive convention on counter-
world and also from the wider community, especially those terrorism remain stalled.
who saw the formulation as providing an opening for the
more powerful countries in the developed world to impose On the most important aspect pertaining to United
their will. However, it was a measure of the understanding Nations reform, that of restructuring the Security Council,
and commitment of the panel members to the wider the bankruptcy of the international community was on
cause that a recommendation was finally agreed upon and full display throughout our deliberations. Whereas there
57
was little or no disagreement that the Security Council, steered towards the formulation of a recommendation
as now constituted, is an irrelevant relic of the 1945 post- for semi-permanent or four-year, renewable membership.
World War II situation, and does not reflect the realities Without being swayed by any considerations about the
at the commencement of the 21st century, there was Government of India’s position on the subject, and to
much disagreement on how change should be effected, the discomfort of many of my colleagues, but with the
particularly in regard to the increase in the number of support of my African, Brazilian and Japanese colleagues,
permanent seats on the Council. I submitted a formal note of dissent on what I thought was
a matter of principle, indicating I would not sign the report
The impression I gathered was that, notwithstanding if it did not include substantive recommendations on
the occasional rhetoric, current additional permanent membership
permanent Members do not want to of the Security Council to include
see any change – the United States
In recent years, those adequate representation from
because it would not want to add
who have the capacities in Africa and South America. As a
to its current problems of securing
terms of trained manpower and consequence, the panel decided on
consensus; France and the United
equipment resources, namely, recommending two options, which
Kingdom because they are aware that
the developed world, have in my view severely compromised
their positions are rather tenuous in distanced themselves from UN the content of our report. To that
the contemporary world; the Russian peacekeeping, thus depriving the extent, while I recognize that
Federation because it was becoming UN of the capacities required to change has to come about, it is not
somewhat unsure of itself (needlessly effectively carry out the mission about to happen for a few years yet.
in my opinion); and China because it mandates of ‘the use of force
is quite comfortable with the present for the protection of innocent The irony of my experience as a
arrangement, which confers on it the civilians’. The developed member of the high-level panel, and
status of being the sole representative countries of the Western as a witness to what is happening
of the developing world in the world must return to UN in the international arena today, is
permanent category. peacekeeping. that the United Nations is being
increasingly marginalized in terms
Then there are countries that are of the of decision-making on aspects of the
view that, by virtue of their status in the current world order, maintenance of international peace and security. As a
they have a rightful claim to permanent membership of person who served under the United Nations flag with
the Council, including those from currently unrepresented great pride, and in the knowledge that there is nothing yet
regions such as Africa and South America. There is also in the international arena that can even remotely replace
a small but intensely vocal and active group of countries the United Nations, I find this marginalization rather
that are aware that they cannot rightfully claim to be depressing. The situation can possibly be rectified only
contenders for permanent membership, but are effective if there is a radical overhaul of the organs of the United
as ‘spoilers’. And finally, there is a significant section of the Nations, including the Security Council, as well as the
United Nations membership that is largely indifferent to somewhat oppressive, overbearing and often inefficient
the whole issue. bureaucracy of the Organization itself.
During the deliberations within the panel, at its third — Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar is former Force Commander of
meeting I think, I recall being rather disturbed at the United Nations Protection Force.
direction in which discussion on the subject was being
58
6
I N DIA A N D
UN ITED N ATION S P EA C EKEE P ING
Protecting
the People
India has always been a firm believer in peace and harmony across the world.
The country’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, viewed peacekeeping as
a critical element of a global vision of peaceful coexistence. Of all countries in
the world, India has remained one of the largest contributors of troops to United Nations
peacekeeping missions. In 2016, India remains the third-largest contributor, with nearly 8000
personnel deployed with UN peacekeeping missions.
India’s contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security began prior to
its independence. This was its participation in the United Nations Special Committee on
UN Photo/United States Army
Members of 60th
Ambulance Unit simulate
setting the leg of a
‘casualty’ during training
in the Republic of
Korea, 1951.
To recognize and celebrate the contributions of Lt. Gen.

Prem Chand, UN Under-Secretary-General Brian Urquhart
composed a poem about him in 1976 that included the lines:
“In this sad time Prem showed just why,
We all have praised him to the sky,
Courageous, wise and serene and good,
Night and day he did all he could.”
Palestine, from May to August 1947, in which it made recommendations to help defuse conflict
in the region. This was followed by the Indian army’s first commitment to a United Nations
assignment, contributing troops as well as medical corps during the Korean War in 1950.
As of 2016, India has contributed a total of more than 160,000 troops to 43 peacekeeping
missions. It has sustained 162 casualties in its support for maintaining peace across the
globe. The use of armed military contingents was first authorized by the Security Council
for deployment with the United Nations Emergency Force in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai
Peninsula after the Arab-Israeli War in 1956. From 15 November 1956 to 19 May 1967, 11
infantry battalions from India successively served with this Force. Its success led the Security
Council to readily accept a 1960 request by the Congo for military intervention to help the
country maintain peace after its independence from Belgium.
In 1960, Ambassador Rajeshwar Dayal of India was appointed the Secretary-General’s

Representative in the Congo, playing a notable role in attempting to defuse the conflict
politically. India’s Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria, who died in action, became the first and
only UN Peacekeeper to be awarded the Paramvir Chakra, the country’s highest award for
gallantry, for his role in action in Katanga, southern Congo. Indar Jit Rikhye, a major general
in the Indian Army, who had been Chief of Staff of the United Nations Emergency Force in
Gaza, was appointed Military Adviser to Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld for the Congo
operations. He continued in this capacity under Secretary-General U Thant.
During the operations of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, launched in
1964, three Indians served as force commanders: Lieutenant General Prem Singh Gyani,
General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya and Major General Dewan Prem Chand. General
Thimayya was one of the Indian Army’s most decorated officers and was awarded the
Padma Bhushan (the country’s third highest civilian award) for his contributions in Korea.
Major General (later Lieutenant General) Prem Chand also went on to serve as the Force
Commander in operations in Namibia in 1989, overseeing that country’s historic transition
to independence. These operations required contributions of forces and observers from
60
neutral nations, largely in response to the exigencies of the Cold War. India was a natural
choice for the international community.
India participated extensively in peacekeeping missions during the 1990s. From 1992 to 1993,
Indian peacekeeping forces participated in the United Nations Transitional Authority in
Cambodia. Their role was to supervise a ceasefire, disarm combatants, repatriate refugees and
monitor the conduct of free and fair elections. A total of 1,373 peacekeepers from all ranks of
the Indian Army were involved in this operation. At the same time, Lieutenant General Satish
Nambiar served as the first Force Commander and Head of Mission of the United Nations
Protection Force during the Yugoslav wars. India also participated with 1,083 peacekeepers
in the United Nations Operation in Mozambique from 1992 to 1994. During operations
in Somalia from 1993 to 1995, India contributed 5,000 personnel from all ranks and four
Indian navy warships. Indian personnel displayed considerable resilience in facing dangerous
conditions in these missions. India was one of the few troop-contributing nations to maintain
its original presence until the end of that operation, even resisting domestic political pressure
to withdraw its troops.
Almost 1,000 Indian troops took part in operations in Rwanda from December 1995 to
March 1996. Brigadier Shiva Kumar of the Indian Army was the third and last Force
Commander of United Nations troops to serve in that conflict. In a genocide that killed as many
as 1 million people, Indian troops were stationed in Rwanda till the end of the mission, while
several countries asked for their troops to be withdrawn. India also participated in peacekeeping
operations in Angola from 1991 to 1999, contributing 1,014 soldiers, and in Sierra Leone
from 1998 to 1999, which included a commando operation by Indian 9 Para (Special Forces)
to rescue besieged United Nations forces. In addition, India contributed an infantry battalion
group, a construction engineer company and a force reserve company in the Ethiopia-Eritrea
conflict from 2000 to 2008 under the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. India
On 29 September 1988,
the Nobel Peace Prize
was awarded to the
Peacekeeping Forces
of the United Nations.
Secretary-General
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
received the award
on behalf of the
UN Photo/Saw/Lwin
United Nations.
Blue helmets are the
universal symbol of
UN Peacekeeping.
61
To work for the United Nations is a dream for any cop anywhere in the world. For me
and for several others, the United Nations is perceived to be the one and only ‘mother’
destination for world peace and harmony. It is the only home of all nations, poor or rich,
big or small. The United Nations owes it to the world’s population to remain the most
credible and visible space for all. All that it does concerns the most vulnerable. And this
is what I saw firsthand.
Kiran Bedi, Police Adviser in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations
New York, February 2003 to February 2005
UN Photo
UN Photo/Marie Frechon
UN PhotoH
UN Photo\Marie Frechon
UN Photo/Marie Frechon
UN Photo/Logan Abassi
To have worked in peacekeeping missions has been one of the best times of my life. I got
the chance to work for humanity in war conflict zones where women and children are more
affected. I was lucky to work with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
and United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste. I was the first Indian police officer
who worked in Afghanistan as a Peacekeeper ... My role model is Kiran Bedi.
Shakti Devi, recipient of many medals and awards for peacekeeping,
including the UN International Female Peacekeeper Award in 2014.
Medical Services staff of

the Indian Armed Forces
are interviewed for UN
Radio in New Delhi in
UN Photo/PNS
September 1960 before
being airlifted to the
Republic of Congo.
continues to be involved in various United Nations operations across the globe, including in
Lebanon since December 1998, where it has contributed 650 peacekeepers and an infantry
battalion group and a Level II hospital.
Since 2003 India has served under the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission
in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was the first deployment of the Indian Air Force
with a United Nations mission. India’s contributions included four infantry battalions, a Level
III hospital and two formed police units. This included Indian paramilitary forces from the
Border Security Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, deployed since 2009. Lieutenant
General Chander Prakash of India served as the Force Commander of this Mission from
2010 to 2013. Indian forces have also been active in missions in Sudan and South Sudan since
A total of 162 Indian peacekeepers have given their lives in

the line of UN duty. The greatest number of fatalities took
place in the Congo during the United Nations Operation in
Congo, which functioned between July 1960 and June 1964.
64
April 2005. Two infantry battalion groups and a Level II

hospital are among the assets that have been deployed.
Indian peacekeeping forces have been deployed in the Golan

Heights since February 2006, to maintain the ceasefire between
the Israeli and Syrian forces and to supervise implementation
of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between the two
countries. A logistics battalion with 190 personnel has been
deployed to look after the logistics security of the United
Nations Disengagement Observer Force. Major General
Iqbal Singh Singha of India was the Force Commander from
2012 to 2015, preceding Major General Jai Shanker Menon,
UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein
appointed in 2016. The Syrian crisis that began in 2011 has
endangered peacekeepers in this mission due to the exchange
of fire between the Syrian forces and the armed groups. Indian
forces have also played a role in missions in Haiti and Côte
d’Ivoire since their inception in 1997 and 2004, respectively.
To better achieve the fundamental goal of the United Nations Charter “to save succeeding An all-female police unit
generations from the scourge of war”, the philosophy and practice of peacekeeping operations from India arrives in
have evolved through the decades. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s An Agenda for Liberia to strengthen the
rule of law and maintain
Peace, produced in 1992 at the request of the Security Council, contained new recommendations
peace in the country on
about how to bring about and maintain peace. Based on the detailed vision of the Charter, this 30 January 2007.
document delineated afresh the goals of United Nations peacekeeping missions: peacemaking,
peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Peacemaking focuses on strategies to bring hostile parties
to agreement through negotiations; peacekeeping elaborates on maintaining peace; and
peacebuilding envisages post-conflict reconstruction.
The focus on peacebuilding is considered one of the most valuable contributions of the Agenda.
It includes goals such as conducting elections; utilizing mechanisms to restore law and order,
including the justice system and police; and restoring infrastructure. Today its recommendations
are widely accepted as a part of most peacekeeping missions.
The Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, known as the Brahimi Report,
noted the gaps and shortcomings of United Nations peacekeeping missions of the 1990s. These
The first all-female UN Peacekeeping force, Indian Formed Police Unit, (FPU) reached Liberia on
30 January 2007, joining an operation to bring peace to the war-torn country. Liberian and UN
officials were confident that their presence would help inspire Liberian women to join a police force
struggling to recruit female officers. This mission ended in early 2016 after nine successful years.
65
UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein
Indian female soldiers
of the Rapid Action
Force, Liberia,
30 January 2007.
An observation post of the

United Nations Interim
Force in Lebanon,
August 2006.
66
Indian Force Commanders in UN Peacekeeping Missions

F Lt. Gen. P.S. Gyani – Egypt, 1959–1963 (UNEF)
F Lt. Gen. P.S. Gyani – Yemen, September to November 1963 (UNYOM)
F Lt. Gen. P.S. Gyani – Cyprus, March to June 1964 (UNFICYP)
F Gen. K.S. Thimayya – Cyprus, 1964–1965 (UNFICYP)
F Maj. Gen. Indar Jit Rikhye – Egypt, 1966–1967 (UNEF)
F Lt. Gen. Dewan Prem Chand – Cyprus, 1969–1976 (UNFICYP)
F Lt. Gen. Dewan Prem Chand – Namibia, Designate 1980-1989,
Force Commander 1989–90 (UNTAG)
F Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar – Former Yugoslavia, 1992–1993 (UNPROFOR)
F Brig. Shiva Kumar – Rwanda, 1995–96 (UNAMIR)
F Maj. Gen. Lalit Mohan Tiwari – Lebanon, 2001–2004 (UNIFIL)
F Lt. Gen. Chander Prakash – Congo, 2010–2013 (MONUSCO)
F Maj. Gen. I.S. Singha – Israel-Syria, 2012–2015 (UNDOF)
F Maj. Gen. Jai Shanker Menon – Israel-Syria, 2016–to date (UNDOF)
fell short of achieving many of their fundamental goals. The report echoed decades-
old concerns of the international community: that without a standing army or police
force, the United Nations peacekeeping operations would remain dependent on
case-by-case cooperation by States, which would be vulnerable to the vicissitudes
of political will, lack of strategic cohesion and logistical and bureaucratic delays.
The Brahimi Report, issued in 2000, called for a renewed political commitment
to peacekeeping on the part of the Member States, highlighting the need for
significant institutional changes and increased financial support.
The surge in demand for peacekeeping operations in various theatres of the

globe led Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to establish another high-level
independent panel to reassess the status of peacekeeping operations, in 2014, the
fifteenth anniversary of the Brahimi Report. The report was submitted to the
Secretary-General in June 2015. Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha, who served with Atul Khare, Under-
Secretary-General for
the Indian Army, was a member of this panel.
Field Support, briefs
journalists on the
India’s support for peacekeeping is universally seen as one of the country’s greatest contributions International Day
to the United Nations. It serves as material proof of the depth and strength of the country’s of United Nations
relationship with the United Nations. Whenever this support is needed, the United Nations Peacekeepers,
New York, 29 May 2015.
knows it can count on India.
67
UN Photo
General Von Horn (right), Force Commander, and Brigadier Indar Jit Rikhye, Military Adviser to
Secretary-General U Thant, confer at the Kamina air base of the United Nations operations in the Congo
on 14 August 1960.
68
UN Photo
Private Kahan Singh, an Indian soldier from Punjab, along the Armistice Demarcation Line between
Egypt and Israel in June 1958. Eight countries provided 5,500 officers and soldiers to the mission.
69
SERVING THE UN
Memoir
Lifelong
Learning
by Kiran Bedi
Kiran Bedi inaugurates the yoUNg@70

compaign marking the 70th anniversary
of the United Nations, in New Delhi,
31 October 2014. She was India’s first female
police officer when she joined the Indian Police
Service in 1972, and remains connected to
the UN even a decade after completing her
appointment as Civilian Police Adviser.
UNIC
I
served as Police Adviser in the Department of several experienced candidates from different countries and
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), New York, from was apprehensive because of my lack of experience with the
February 2003 to February 2005. Even prior to my UN. But nature worked. I made it through.
selection, the Indian media started to report, ‘Our Kiran
on the Top of the World’. They were more excited than me At the UN, I quickly learned the language of acronyms – a
about the prospect of my joining the United Nations. To whole language by itself! I made time for a pre-planned
work for the UN is a dream for any cop anywhere in the 360-degree course in management and leadership. And
world. It was mine as well, without knowing how it could then I was on call 24x7 with a Blackberry in my hand, as
be realized. the UN works round-the-clock. I learned all about ‘SOPs’,
‘strategies’, ‘doctrines’, ‘over the horizons’, ‘institutional
One day a call came from the Ministry of External Affairs, memory’, ‘doctrinal shift’, and the making of a ‘CONOPS’
New Delhi, asking me to apply for this position, and (concept of operations) as we termed them – all these
prepare to compete. I wondered, “Why me? What if I fail?” being the most-used terms in DPKO.
I forgot I had sought it in my mind. I applied for short leave
and studied all aspects of peacekeeping as I had to prepare I travelled to African, European and Asian countries to visit
for an interview via video conferencing, chaired by Under- peacekeeping operations and teamed up with a fairly large
Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guéhenno. I competed with and diverse collection of officers drawn from all continents.
70
Memoir
Bedi, winner of the Magsaysay

Award in 1994 and the
President’s Police Medal for
Gallantry in 1979, inaugurates
a UNIC exhibition marking
the International Day of
Peacekeepers in New Delhi on
27 May 2011.
UNIC
As team leaders, we made many presentations before the for all. Everything it does concerns the most vulnerable,
Security Council to have our proposals approved, both in and this is what I saw firsthand.
concept and for budgetary grants. We also reported the
progress made on earlier operations. No peacekeeping During the time I was at the UN, the Organization was
operation can be cleared without the approval of the five facing stormy weather. Increasingly, it was being targeted
permanent members of the Security Council – China, along with its personnel on various counts. There was also
France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and a growing trend towards marginalization of the world body,
the United States. thereby rocking its very foundation. One of the persistent
issues before the United Nations has been its dependence
The United Nations had been a lifelong learning. I had on external financial support and resources. It continues to
learned to respect and regard the United Nations from my face the challenges of poverty, disease and security – most
school days. We observed UN Days in school and college. of the time aggravated by deficient governance. Today, the
We read the Charter with great reverence and we had issue is terrorism and widespread corruption in governance
mock UN sessions. Of course, we were awestruck by the and leadership, especially in certain countries. All at the UN
General Assembly and the Security Council. The United are duty-bound to rise above insecurities and geographies
Nations, for all of us, was the symbol of a ‘moral capital’ of and direct their work towards protecting and promoting
the world. In one of my visits to New York, years prior to the core values of the United Nations, along with ensuring
my appointment, I visited UN Headquarters as a tourist. peace and development for the weak and uprooted.
I sat in the India seat and got myself photographed.
Working with the UN was never even a consideration, After a two-year tenure, I came home. I could not stretch
because for me, it was a faraway world of foreign affairs it longer as I needed to return to my family and also to the
and diplomacy, beyond reach. Delhi Police, which I longed to come back to and lead.
My experiences with the UN’s efforts to assist the many
For me and for several others, the United Nations is struggling States I visited made me treasure India, its
perceived to be the one and only ‘mother’ destination for democracy and human rights more than ever before.
world peace and harmony. It is the only home of all nations,
poor or rich, big or small. The UN owes it to the world’s — Kiran Bedi is former Civilian Police Adviser in the
population to remain the most credible and visible space Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UN, New York.
71
7
N U C LEAR W ORLD ORDER
Furthering
Non-proliferation
The histories of the United Nations and nuclear weaponry are inextricably linked: the
culmination of a single historical event, the Second World War, marked both the first successful
detonation of a nuclear weapon and the foundation of the United Nations. The world’s greatest
act of destruction and greatest act of peace went hand in hand. Despite its production of
nuclear weapons, India has been steadfast in championing the cause of disarmament through
the last 70 years.
Given their shared point of origin, and the global circumstances in the aftermath of the Second
World War, it was only natural that controlling, regulating and eliminating nuclear weapons
was a crucial part of the UN agenda in the early years. This is reflected in the very first resolution
ever passed by the General Assembly.
India, coming out of an independence struggle based on the Gandhian principles of peace and
non-violence, was among the strongest voices calling for disarmament. Prime Minister Nehru,
drawing attention to the exceptional crossroads at which the world stood, said at the United
Nations General Assembly Plenary session in 1961:
“The choice today before the world is a choice which has never come to it before: it is
a choice of self-extinction, practical extinction or survival ... Under modern conditions
either war must be ruled out, or the world, civilization and humanity have to submit
Has the atom bomb rendered non-violence obsolete?

On the contrary, non-violence is the only thing that is
left in the field. It is the only thing that the atom bomb
cannot destroy.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
addresses the
General Assembly
regarding the
need for complete
UN Photo
disarmament, on
10 November 1961.
Homi J. Bhabha (right),

the renowned Indian
nuclear scientist, served
as President of the 1955
International Conference
on the Peaceful Uses of
Atomic Energy, known
as the ‘Atoms for Peace’
conference. With him are
UN Under-Secretaries
UN Photo/SC
without Portfolio, Ilya S.

Tchernychev (left) and
Ralph J. Bunche (centre).
73
The Indian Representative in Geneva, V.C. Trivedi,

argued in 1965 that the proposed Non-Proliferation
Treaty's focus on non-nuclear States without strong
guarantees of non-use of weapons by the nuclear
States was the metaphorical equivalent of drinking
being proscribed in a kingdom by a drunken emperor.
to the ending of all that they have laboured for over thousands of years ... There is no
victory today for any country in a major war – only defeat and extermination for all.”
In the context of the resumption of weapons testing by the nuclear powers, who had put a
moratorium on testing immediately after the Second World War, Nehru saw it as critical
to clarify again that “the choice [was] of peaceful coexistence or no existence at all”. Sir
Benegal Rau had been made Chair of the subcommittee charged with presenting a proposal
for restricting nuclear weapons sales in 1949. In 1954, Nehru became the first statesman to
propose a ‘standstill’ agreement on atmospheric testing, effectively a test ban treaty. India
became the first country to ratify the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963.
The Non-Aligned Movement held its first summit in Belgrade in 1961. With India among
its leaders, the Movement initiated the call for a special session of the General Assembly on
disarmament, ensuring that nuclear disarmament remained at the forefront of the international
agenda. In 1965, India put forth a proposal for a Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT)
aimed at further control of the use and spread of nuclear weapons, that was, crucially, non-
discriminatory, meaning that it applied equally to all nations, both those with and those without
nuclear weapons.
Part of the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Commission, under whose auspices NPT
negotiations were held from 1965 to 1970, India was a strong and committed member of the
non-proliferation faction. However, the essentially discriminatory nature of the final Treaty
– which entirely precluded non-nuclear-weapon States from acquiring nuclear weapons for
their defence and included very few commitments to disarm by nuclear weapon States – was
To bring “the Flower”, the lotus-shaped neutron initiator of the

fission device, to Pokhran in time and in secrecy, on 4 May 1974,
two scientists carried it from Delhi in a thermos bottle aboard a
regular Indian Airlines flight.
74
unacceptable to India. This was the beginning

of India’s period of disengagement from
international nuclear regimes.
The years of idealistic pursuit of complete and

total disarmament continued to give way as the
cold war intensified, and it became clearer that
the existing nuclear powers had no intention of
disarming. Indian statesmen had always declared
that India reserved the right to take action in self-
defence, and so, despite still being principally and
ideologically opposed to the idea of war and the
proliferation of nuclear weapons, India took the
view that its exploration of nuclear technology
for peaceful uses allowed for the development of
weapons-grade materials as well. By developing
the complete nuclear fuel cycle indigenously,
India kept the scientific and technological
option of developing nuclear weapons open,
but the political decision to develop and declare
weapons was not taken until significantly later.
UN Photo/John Isaac
Internal political pressure to weaponize grew
with the international responses to the 1962 war
between China and India and the India-Pakistan
war of 1965, when nuclear States provided no
assurances against Chinese nuclear aggression.
During the 1971 war with Pakistan, it was speculated that India witnessed the deterrence power Prime Minister Rajiv
of nuclear weapons in and around the Bay of Bengal. To remain prepared for any eventuality Gandhi addresses the
UN General Assembly’s
in the region and given India’s core foreign policy doctrine of non-alignment and self-reliance,
Third Special Session on
in September 1972 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi authorized the manufacture of a nuclear Disarmament in
device, in complete secrecy. India’s first fission test, what it termed a peaceful nuclear explosion, New York on
was conducted in May 1974. Though the technology was still not converted into warheads, 9 June 1988.
it was clearly seen by the international community as a sign of India’s ability to do so, and
demonstrated that the country was not averse to developing weapons.
India had received support for its nuclear programme for energy from the United States,
Canada, France and others, but after the 1974 peaceful nuclear explosion, their support
became highly constrained. Immediately after India’s test the Nuclear Suppliers Group was
set up by nuclear supplier countries to control the export of nuclear material to non-nuclear-
weapon States. The objective was to prevent diversion of material intended for peaceful
purposes to military aims.
75
The cost that India paid in credibility and goodwill

among other nations was significant, particularly for
its civilian nuclear programme. Changing domestic
conditions slowed the programme for many years,
but did not stop it. The political ethic of eschewing
weapons and supporting disarmament grew in the
mid-1980s, when Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi took
an active part in the Six-Nation Five-Continent
Initiative on Nuclear Disarmament. It peaked in 1988,
when he presented to the General Assembly the most
comprehensive plan for total nuclear disarmament
ever launched at the international level.
The action plan for a nuclear-weapon-free and

non-violent world called the principle of nuclear
deterrence the ultimate expression of the philosophy
of terrorism, using fear to manipulate populations
and achieve political goals, which would “take us like
lemmings to our own suicide”. Achieving a world
free of nuclear weapons and violence remains the
stated guiding principle of India’s foreign policy in
UN Photo/Michelle Poiré
this regard.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, initiatives on

disarmament continued, but Indian efforts to seek the
abolition of nuclear weapons did not bear fruit. India’s
proposals, ‘Convention on the Prohibition of the Use
Prime Minister Atal of Nuclear Weapons’ and ‘Reducing nuclear danger’ have been tabled at the General Assembly
Bihari Vajpayee, under every year since 1982 and 1998 respectively.
whose leadership the 1998
tests were conducted,
addresses the 57th session In 1996, despite many countries’ opposition in the General Assembly, the World Health
of the General Assembly Organization (WHO) requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice
on 13 September 2002. on whether “the use of nuclear weapons by a State in war or other armed conflict [would] be
a breach of its obligations under international law including the WHO Constitution”. India
Every time a country conducts a nuclear test, the Mayor of

Hiroshima, a city destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945, sends
that country a letter of protest, urging total nuclear abolition.
India has received such letters following each of its nuclear tests.
76
was the only non-NPT country to participate in

the proceedings. It emphasized the precedence
of disarmament over the policy of deterrence in
terms of customary international law, seeking the
Declaration that nuclear weapons were in fact
completely illegal. The Court’s ruling found them
generally illegal, but could not conclude that they
were totally prohibited under any circumstances,
without the exception of the case of ‘State survival’.
The decades of the 1980s and 1990s saw “a pattern

of clandestine acquisition of nuclear materials,
missiles and related technologies” in the region,
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee explained in
a paper titled ‘Evolution of India’s Nuclear Policy’,
presented in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of
Parliament). India and the nuclear weapon States
articulated the dangers of such back channel access
to nuclear technology and the risk it brought of
nuclear terrorism. However, in 1995, when the
NPT was indefinitely extended, the nuclear weapon
States refused to link the Comprehensive Nuclear
UN Photo/RON DA SILVA
Test Ban Treaty to time-bound disarmament goals.
They instead linked its entry into force with the
accession of 44 nuclear-capable States, threatening
to impose sanctions on those that did not comply.
India found itself internationally isolated, in what it
termed “nuclear apartheid”. All efforts at abolishing nuclear weapons had failed and, in India’s In the wake of India's
eyes, the mounting security threat could no longer be ignored. first nuclear tests, Foreign
Minister Jaswant Singh
addresses correspondents
Thus, in 1998, India ran three underground tests of nuclear devices, signalling to the world at a press conference on
that its years of ambiguity about its nuclear arsenal were over. After Prime Minister Atal India's nuclear policy at
Bihari Vajpayee made a ‘brief announcement’ to the world, informing them of the technical UN Headquarters on
8 June 1998.
specifications of the devices tested, international reactions came pouring in. India’s actions
were regretted, lamented and deplored; ambassadors were recalled; aid was cut off, even as
Pakistan quickly responded with its own tests. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was
“deeply disturbed”, even as the Security Council “strongly deplore[d]” the tests. Annan sought
“unequivocal assurance of India and all other States that the international community’s norm
on nuclear testing and non-proliferation would be adhered to”.
Gradually, the international community recognized the legitimacy of India’s national security
concerns that led to the nuclear test, and sanctions imposed by the United States were lifted
77
by 2001. India declared a moratorium on nuclear testing, which it is still observing, like the
rest of the world. The Government of India then announced the central pillars of its nuclear
doctrine – maintaining credible minimum deterrent and a ‘no-first-use’ policy – which has
remained the position of the Government ever since.
India has continued to prove itself opposed to nuclear proliferation by adopting strong
safeguards and international best practices, including strong export controls. It is committed
to the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, even if the status quo may suggest that certain
goals have been prioritized over others. Seeking to position itself as a responsible nuclear power,
India has contributed to every session of the UN Conference on Disarmament, worked to break
its deadlocks and suggested initiatives supporting disarmament.
In a world order based on the possession of nuclear weapons, for many Indian officials and
citizens, maintaining a nuclear arsenal was and remains a positive and even inescapable move
for India, given its national security concerns. Newspaper headlines immediately declared the
nuclear tests of 1998 a sign of self-confidence. “In the minds of other strategic players it has
a positive effect,” noted former Foreign Secretary Muchkund Dubey, one of the architects
of the 1988 nuclear disarmament plan. What a new world order will be based on may not
necessarily be predictable, but economic strength is likely to be key, and is already playing a
significant role.
The India-United States nuclear deal of 2005 brought India a waiver for its civil nuclear
programme from the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This indicated tacit acceptance of India’s
military programme. In a joint statement issued at the time, United States President George
W. Bush stated that “as a responsible State with advanced nuclear technology, India should
acquire the same benefits and advantages as other such States”. Since receiving the waiver, India
has signed deals with countries including France, Namibia and Canada, signalling the end of
its years as a nuclear outlier.
Another breakthrough took place during United States President Barack Obama’s
visit to India in January 2015. Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined a
deal to limit the legal liability of U.S. suppliers in the event of a nuclear power plant
catastrophe, helping enhance India’s civil nuclear industry to optimize the benefits of
nuclear power. As of early 2016, India is moving closer to full membership in the Nuclear
Suppliers Group.
There have been spurts of activity aimed at reviving the push for elimination of nuclear
weapons. Regional Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones have been established – in Latin America
and the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Africa – to
strengthen global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament norms, and the UN Office
on Disarmament Affairs undertakes regular activities and reporting towards this end. The
International Day against Nuclear Tests has been commemorated on 29 August since
78
UN Photo/Rick bajornas
2010. On 26 September 2014, the first International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear The General Assembly meets
Weapons was commemorated across the world, including in India. These activities build on 10 September 2015 to
mark the observance of the
pressure on governments by keeping alive the disarmament and nuclear abolition discussions. International Day against
In a document filed in the International Court of Justice in September 2015 on a nuclear Nuclear Tests (29 August).
disarmament case, the Government of India stated, “India remains convinced that its security
would be strengthened in a nuclear-weapon-free and non-violent world order.”
International norms are constantly evolving. India is uniquely positioned, particularly given
its history and nuclear weapons status, to become a global leader in working towards universal
nuclear disarmament. If India ramps up cooperation with and through the United Nations, the
shared goal of elimination of nuclear weapons need not remain a pipe dream.
79
Experiences at the United Nations
Memoir
Two Decades
of Memories
by Arundhati Ghose
Ambassador Arundhati Ghose

UN Photo/Evan Schneider
(right), India’s Ambassador to

the Conference on Disarmament,
with Ambassador Prakash Shah,
Permanent Representative
of India in Geneva on
11 September 1996.
H
aving been, flatteringly enough, invited From these memories, then, I venture to relate some
to contribute a ‘memoir piece’ to the selected experiences, both because I recall them more
commemorative publication planned by clearly and also because, as appears to me from hindsight,
the United Nations Information Centre for the 70th some of them had longer term implications.
anniversary of the founding of the UN, I found myself
sifting through almost 20 years of memories, a major My first substantive experience with the UN occurred
part of my diplomatic career. Memories, especially those in the period 1973-1975, when I functioned as a First
coloured not only by distance and time, but perhaps, even Secretary in the Indian Permanent Mission to the UN in
touched with nostalgia and later experiences, tend to be New York. After a session of the UN General Assembly,
selective and subjective; more impressions than a historical serving in the Special Political Committee and the Security
record. One also tries to discern patterns that might Council (of which India was then a member), dealing with
indicate trends, but may, in fact, be mere coincidences. the effects of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, I moved to the
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Memoir
Second Committee. This involved economic, trade and of Yugoslavia (later Ambassador of Croatia to the United
financial issues. There we were faced with the aftershock Nations), Hama Arba Diallo of Upper Volta (now Burkina
of the war in the Middle East and the sudden threefold Faso), Juan Fleming of Argentina, Hisham al-Khudairy
rise of global oil prices, which had all but dislocated the of Iraq, Seifollah Sadeghi Yarandi of Iran, Mian Qadrud-
economies of developing countries, including that of Din of Pakistan, Mohamed Mounir Zahran of Egypt, and
India. The Group of 77 (G-77) developing countries’ others whose names are lost to me.
group, of which India was a member, had been working
as a powerful lobby promoting development issues within I also recall al-Khudairy insisting, on the basis of the
the Second Committee. But, in 1973, with the oil price definition in his thesaurus, that what we needed was a
shock, their unity appeared somewhat shaken. ‘new international order’ not a new international system,
and how Yugoslavia’s discomfort at the use of the word
The geopolitical impact on the rest of the world was ‘order’ was overridden by the rest of us, untrammelled as
reflected in the UN, with the industrialized countries’ angry we were by any historical memories of European origin.
reactions – their bilateral efforts with leading figures from In the event, nothing changed much; a Declaration was
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries negotiated and adopted and a New International Economic
(OPEC) such as Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani of Saudi Order (NIEO) declared with a vote, with a furious United
Arabia and Jamshid Amouzegar of (the Shah’s) Iran were States Permanent Representative fulminating against “the
widely reported. Within the G-77, initial efforts were to try tyranny of the majority”!
to bargain with their newly rich members for a system of
dual pricing for the non-oil-producing developing countries. The Declaration itself was never fully implemented, in
spite of days (and nights) of intensive discussions, in
We even tried to introduce a group identified as the ‘most smoke-filled rooms (the UN had not yet frowned on the
seriously affected developing countries’, in return for use of the weed, though through the span of my career,
political support to the petroleum exporting countries for it moved to ‘discouraging’ smoking in committee rooms
their assertion of their “inalienable right over their natural to ultimately banning smoking altogether, much to the
resources” in their confrontation with the developed world. chagrin of some, but perhaps in the greater interests
In those simpler days, it was thought that ‘cooperation of the many!). But it certainly placed development
not confrontation’ might help in an environment that issues squarely on the global agenda. On the issue of
threatened to become uncomfortably globally divisive and oil pricing, the West and OPEC Members made their
economically perilous. A special session of the General own adjustments, and individual developing countries
Assembly on development and international economic tried to arrive at some arrangements with individual
cooperation was agreed upon as a forum for at least oil producers to meet their needs. A spin-off was the
worldwide dialogue, if not negotiations, on the need for effort by developing countries to promote economic and
international cooperation to promote the further growth technical cooperation between themselves.
of the developing countries.
At the same time, North-South relations deteriorated and
In the Second Committee, a ‘ginger’ group within the G-77 reached a stalemate in almost all international economic
tried to build at least a semblance of unity while preparing forums, with the industrialized countries staunchly
a first draft of a Declaration. The OPEC and non-oil- unwilling to accept that the developing countries may have
producing countries were represented by friends such as had a point in asking for the rules of global governance
Abdelmadjid Fasla of Algeria, Bernardo de Azevedo Brito to be changed. Various commissions on North-South
of Brazil, Miodrag M. Cabric of Yugoslavia, Neven Madey relations were set up, conferences were held to try and
81
Ambassador Ghose was part of India’s delegation with the Group of 77 at the Sixth Special Session of the General Assembly, where
the Declaration for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order was adopted in April 1974.
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Memoir
resolve this confrontation, with little impact. I became

aware of the power of this trend over the years, not only
during my tenure as Ambassador to UNESCO in the
1980s, but also, in another form, when I was in Geneva in
the late 1990s as India’s Permanent Representative to the
UN offices and its specialized agencies.
The next memory in New York was one that related to

India alone: India carried out a peaceful nuclear explosion,
such as had been carried out by other States and the
benefits of which were being debated in the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at that time. But in 1970,
India had refused to sign on to the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which it viewed as
discriminatory and against its security interests.
A special session of
the General Assembly on
international cooperation for
development was agreed upon as
a forum for at least worldwide
dialogue, if not negotiations,
on the need for international
cooperation to promote the
further growth of the developing
countries.
India’s 1974 nuclear test led to the formation of the London

Suppliers Group, which morphed into the Nuclear
Suppliers Group of today. It imposed a ban on any form
of nuclear trade with India, or provision of technology or
equipment to it, for violating a treaty the country had not
signed. The impact was almost immediately felt in UNDP
in India, as I recall a UNDP staffer telling me that they
would soon not be able even to supply us with single-cell
batteries! Meanwhile, since we were working with UNDP
UN Photo/Teddy Chen
as a member of its Governing Council to try and salvage as
much as we could of the India programme, I, as the junior
member of the delegation, was trying to be a responsible
member of UNDP’s Budget Committee by being bitterly
83
Ambassador Ghose represented India during discussions of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva,
20 August 1996.
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Memoir
critical of UNDP’s spending on administrative expenses

in its regional offices.
The gentle head of the Indian delegation tried to assuage

ruffled feathers in the plenary, but the message was surely
lost on me, as shortly thereafter, the head of the Finance
Division of UNDP offered me a job in that organization!
Since such an occurrence happened again when I was
with the UN desk in the Ministry of External Affairs, I
could only conclude it was the normal way of dealing with
obstreperous delegates by desperate administrations.
On moving back to Delhi in 1975, I stayed with the UN

desk in the Ministry up to 1979, dealing with economic and
social issues. There are some stray memories of that very
busy period, including the changing, at Australia’s request,
of the name of the Economic Commission for Asia and
the Far East to the Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific.
I also remember, with some astonishment, a face-off in

the Human Rights Commission, as it was known then,
with the British. This arose from an outrageous practice
then being adopted by the British Government, by which
young Indian women seeking to join their husbands in the
United Kingdom were made to undergo a ‘virginity test’ at
the airport. The intent was to determine whether or not
the immigration authorities would permit these women to
enter the country, when as Commonwealth citizens they
did not even require visas.
We took up the issue in the Human Rights Commission

and floated a resolution condemning the practice. We then
called on the United Kingdom Government to desist from
such racist, gender-insensitive and humiliating procedures.
This resulted in a special envoy being sent from London
to Delhi to persuade us not to go ahead with the tabling
of the resolution. In the event, the practice was ultimately
stopped, and the Government, in spite of my extreme
UN Photo
reluctance as the person dealing with the matter, agreed
not to go ahead with the resolution. This is, indeed, an
uncomfortable recollection!
85
Ambassador Ghose addresses the

Conference on Disarmament on the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, in
UN Photo
Geneva on 20 August 1996.
I moved on to bilateral postings but returned to the UN richer countries that, since they were the major donors to
system in 1985 as India’s Permanent Representative UNESCO’s budget, they should have commensurate say
to UNESCO, which was in the throes of a major in its decisions. It felt as though after the adoption of the
political crisis: the United States had withdrawn from NIEO, the Empire was striking back!
the organization, as had the United Kingdom and
Singapore, and other Western countries were hostile. This was what it appeared to me in 1985: chances of any
UNESCO was then led by the intellectual, dynamic, sort of compromise seemed slim; yet the mandate from my
popular (among most developing countries) but certainly Government was to try and work with those States that
controversial Director-General, Amadou Mahtar M’Bow prioritized the continuation of UNESCO to find some
from Senegal. It appeared that the very survival of a kind of compromise that would be as widely acceptable
major UN specialized agency was at stake, an outcome as possible. Once again, a small group of friends started
few welcomed. to consult intensively – Andreas Adahl from Sweden,
Mohamed Fathallah el-Khatib from Egypt, José Israel
Elections to the post of Director-General were forthcoming Vargas from Brazil, Elsa Kelly from Argentina, and me.
in 1987, and the Western States had made the removal of We also worked closely with African countries, especially
M’Bow almost a pre-condition to their continuing support those of the Commonwealth.
of the organization. This made finding a compromise
practically impossible, given the fact that M’Bow was not There must have been other groups with similar or other
only the first African to head a UN specialized agency, agendas, but this group tried to bridge the yawning gap
but that among the charges against him was that he not between the developed and developing countries, which
only supported the priorities and positions of developing seemed set in concrete. I remember the practice of
countries in the discussions on education, science, working within and through friends from like-minded
communication and culture, but also that UNESCO was countries as a unique characteristic of negotiations in UN
concentrating on intellectual debate rather than focusing forums, sometimes with the help of UN officials interested
only on projects to promote education, science and culture. in our objectives. India’s position was complicated by
Most controversial was the demand from the Western and Pakistan putting forward its own candidate. In the end,
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Memoir
the organization was saved, though the role of donor the human rights of individuals around the world, but
countries in the specialized agencies increased, and the rather were serving as an arena for power games, using a
move to promote the voice and priorities of developing ‘moral’ weapon of ‘naming and shaming’!
countries was postponed to a later date.
The EU had a list of developing countries that were
My final formal encounter with the UN system, from graded according to the judgment of the EU, in order
1995 to 1997, began with my appointment as Permanent of how they had ‘performed’ in the human rights area;
Representative of India to the United Nations and its the list was to be read out in the Commission. The
specialized agencies in Geneva and simultaneously, as developing countries prepared an alternative list of EU
Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament. Given Members which, according to our judgment, were in
the wide range of my responsibilities in Geneva, I have violation of the human rights conventions. The cause of
to be necessarily very selective in relating my memories human rights was not served nor even discussed, except
of this period. These extend by some non-governmental
from yet another politically organizations (NGOs). More
fraught election of a Director- I remember the practice of substantive work was done in the
General, this time of the working within and through friends Sub-Commission on Human
World Intellectual Property from like-minded countries as a Rights, though one of my most
Organization, Sudan’s Kamil unique characteristic of negotiations painful and personal memories
Idris, to working with Canada in UN forums, sometimes with the is associated with this body.
on some compromise on labour help of UN officials interested
standards in the ILO. Both in our objectives. My nephew, an NGO
these issues were relevant to development worker, had been
India’s interests in GATT, kidnapped in July 1996 (and,
fortunately not my responsibility. I also recollect the clear as we learned many years later, killed) by the United
impression that I received of donor countries determining Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a violent insurgent
programmes and projects of several organizations. Indian group. Representatives of ULFA not only were
entertained by the International Committee of the
I remember the Director-General of the Office of Red Cross, but one of them, for whom there was a ‘red
UNHCR, Sadako Ogata, requesting me to attend a meeting corner alert’ from INTERPOL, was scheduled to speak
of the Executive Council as, she said, the voice of developing in the Sub-Commission under the banner of a London-
countries was not being heard. It was in the aftermath of based accredited NGO, Liberation, which had ‘lent’
the Rwanda massacres and the influx of refugees, mainly its flag to ULFA. I strongly objected to this person’s
to neighbouring countries such as the United Republic of participation and, in fact, his presence in the diplomats’
Tanzania, but also to some Scandinavian countries. The lounge within the UN building. The Secretariat security
latter were offering the already overwhelmed neighbouring immediately took action to have him removed from
countries of Africa $500 per head to take back those refugees the building, though he was not apprehended by the
who had sought asylum in their countries. UNHCR was local authorities and made good his escape. (He is now
against such ‘deals’ and was not getting enough support in jail in Bangladesh, awaiting extradition to India.)
from the Executive Committee. I am not aware whether the committee in New York
that examines NGO applications for accreditation
The other clear memory I have is of the Human Rights to various UN bodies took any action to tighten
Commission, where the discussions were not really about procedures thereafter.
87
Most of my time in Geneva was taken up with the each other’s mandates. These included Stephen J.
negotiations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Ledogar of the United States, Grigory Berdennikov of
Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament and other Russia, Michael Weston of the United Kingdom, Munir
disarmament-related issues. These included the Biological Akram of Pakistan, Mounir Zahran of Egypt, Antonio
Weapons Convention and the Convention on Certain de Icaza of Mexico, Joelle Bourgeois of France, and
Conventional Weapons (known also as the Inhumane not least, Mark Moher of Canada. There are a host of
Weapons Convention), dealing at that time mainly with memories about this time and the interaction with the
the prohibitions on landmines. I came to realize fairly late press and NGOs. There have also been volumes written
the importance of international humanitarian law, and the about the negotiations.
role of the International Committee of the Red Cross as a
source for action in the field of disarmament. I will conclude with only one anecdote, which I feel might
illustrate the ambience within which the negotiations took
Memories of these negotiations, especially those on the place. Of course, I remember the final drama-filled days
nuclear test ban treaty, the persons with whom I interacted before the so-called ‘Belgian Treaty’ (the Nuclear Test Ban
and the ambience in those chambers Treaty) was sent to the General
and smaller rooms in the Palais des I salute all those I worked Assembly, where India not only
Nations were vividly recalled only with over those many years, did not sign it, but also voted
last year when Tibor Toth (whom including those from the UN against it.
I had known earlier in his different Secretariat … who made my
incarnations), as Director-General decades-long association with the To briefly recapitulate what
of the Preparatory Commission for UN and its agencies an has been recounted elsewhere,
the Comprehensive Nuclear Test enriching part of my we (India) had made clear our
Ban Treaty Organization, invited career and life. opposition to the Treaty as it
some of the original negotiators to stood in June of 1996; from that
Vienna to commemorate the 20th time, efforts were made to ensure
anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of that India had to be a signatory for the Treaty to come into
the resolution to start the negotiations on the Treaty. I force. India was clear that it would not stand in the way
reminded him that India had not signed the Treaty and, of those who wanted that version of the Treaty, but would
in any case, I was no longer in Government. But it seemed not be party to it. This was much like its approach to the
that it was to be more of a nostalgia trip, on a personal Non-Proliferation Treaty. To overcome India’s objection to
basis, in which I readily participated, as well as a part of a version that made it compulsory for India to sign a treaty
the Organization’s outreach programme. it did not support, the draft was tabled in the Conference
on Disarmament plenary as a draft of Belgium (a country
Apart from Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka, who had that had never participated in the negotiations) and sent to
been Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs the General Assembly. It was then tabled by Australia and
in the UN; Sha Zukang, who had been my Chinese voted on, leading to a negative vote from us.
counterpart during the negotiations; and Jaap Ramaker
from the Netherlands, who had been Chairman of the After it was all over, and we had returned to Geneva,
Ad Hoc Committee, which had negotiated the Treaty, someone had organized an informal lunch at the Perle du
we recalled the other stalwarts. This time we were not Lac restaurant for the former negotiators. During lunch
a like-minded ‘ginger’ group, but interlocutors and, on there was a comment on the rumour that the normally
occasion, sparring partners who differed but respected articulate Indian delegation was surprisingly quiet on
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The voting board of the General Assembly on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) on 10 September 1996,
where India voted against the Treaty.
the issue of the next treaty on which negotiations were the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board for Disarmament
slated to start, a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, and, for four years and elected to the Economic and Social
therefore, India was withdrawing from the Conference Council’s Committee of Experts on the implementation
on Disarmament. Of course, there was nothing in these of the Convention on Economic and Social Rights.
rumours, but on being asked to confirm or deny them, I
said that I would ask my (unsuspecting) Government for I salute all those I worked with over those many years,
an answer, provided they, the others at the lunch, offered including those from the UN Secretariat – Diego Cordovez,
their individual apologies for their sleight of hand in Benon Sevan and, of course, Muchkund Dubey in New
getting the Treaty adopted. Most seemed willing, until York, Doudou Diène in UNESCO, Jennifer Mackby in
it came to the turn of the United States representative, the Conference on Disarmament and many others who
Stephen J. Ledogar. He turned beetroot red and exploded made my decades-long association with the UN and its
that it was I who should apologize for not having allowed agencies an enriching part of my career and life.
a more decorous passage of the Treaty! At which there was
general laughter, as we returned to our desserts. — Arundhati Ghose was former Permanent Representative of
India to the United Nations offices and specialized agencies in
I continued my interactions with the UN after retirement Geneva and Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament.
for slightly more than a year, having been nominated to She passed away in July 2016, shortly after writing this memoir.
89
8
Ind i a’ s
Wa r s
Defending
its Boundaries
Though India has every reason to be proud of how sincerely it has always given peace a chance,
there have been times in the past seven decades when this was not enough, and India was
embroiled in wars. At the very birth of the nation in 1947, the partition of British India into
independent India and Pakistan caused massive loss of life in both countries. The Indian Army,
supported by the Air Force, had to conduct full-scale combat operations until the United
Nations-sponsored cease-fire came into effect on 1 January 1949. Another tumultuous year
was 1962, when a festering border dispute with China blew up into a full-scale war. This was
followed by war with Pakistan in 1965. Another war in 1971 led to independence from Pakistan
for what is now Bangladesh. Each of these events influenced India’s relationships with other
countries at the UN.
While it is easy to read about major wars, one particular instance of Indian military action that
had significant bearing on India’s image at the UN remains under-explored. This was what is
known as the liberation of Goa.
As of 1960, the sovereign territory of India did not include Goa, Daman or Diu, which
were still occupied by Portugal. After diplomatic efforts, visa restrictions, embargoes and
warnings failed to persuade the Portuguese to leave, India decided to take Goa by force. On
19 December 1961, through a combined 36-hour operation by the Army, Navy and Air Force,
the territory was brought under Indian control.
During the hostilities between India and Pakistan

in 1948, the commanders of both the Indian and
Pakistani armies were British.
The international reaction to this was mixed – while the Soviet Union, Arab States and African
countries staunchly supported and even lauded India, the United States, United Kingdom,
France and Turkey sponsored a Security Council resolution deploring the Indian action. United
States Representative Adlai Stevenson’s criticism of India’s action in the Security Council and
his demand that all Indian forces be withdrawn unconditionally from Goan soil was widely
criticized in India. C.S. Jha, then the Indian representative to the Security Council, called the
takeover of Goa the “elimination of the last vestiges of colonialism in India” and an “article of
faith” for the Indian people.
This had negative repercussions on India’s standing among the United States and its allies at
the UN. In the light of escalating tensions, in early 1961, Secretary-General U Thant suggested
that the matter be brought under UN mediation. However, after the negative experience with
Jammu and Kashmir in 1948, India was unwilling to do so. In December 1961, with the bare
minimum of seven votes, the issue was put up for discussion in the Security Council by Portugal.
While some countries were determined to pass a ceasefire and withdrawal resolution, the Soviet
Union vetoed in India’s favour.
Soon after the Goa matter, India’s second major transnational conflict as an independent nation
began: the 1962 war between China and India. China’s action was somewhat unexpected, not
least because India was one of the few countries pushing for recognition of the newly established
People’s Republic of China as the rightful occupant of the Chinese seat at the United Nations.
However, India’s increasing support for the Tibetan cause, and its granting of asylum to the
Dalai Lama and tens of thousands of his followers in 1959, angered China, leading to border
incursions in Ladakh and Arunachal.
India was unprepared to face this military challenge. At the international level, as the United
States and the Soviet Union both pledged support to India, the protagonists of the cold war
came together on the same side. In the words of US Secretary of State Dean Rusk, “The central
issue is … the security of India as a great Asian democracy … so that India is not subjected to
a settlement of problems with China by forceful means applied by China.”
India once again turned to the United Nations when tensions flared in Jammu and Kashmir,
with Pakistani incursions. The Security Council responded with resolutions 209-211, from
4 to 20 September 1965, calling for a ceasefire. Secretary-General U Thant visited the
subcontinent to help negotiate conditions leading to a cessation of hostilities that would be
acceptable to both nations, even as the United States and United Kingdom cut off arms supplies.
Under international pressure, on 22 September 1965 both countries agreed to a ceasefire.
The UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) had been set up
in 1951. It served as a successor to the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan
(UNCIP), established in January 1948 when the India-Pakistan question was first referred
to the Security Council. It was expanded in 1965 to constitute the UN India-Pakistan
91
G. Parthasarathi,
Permanent Representative
of India to the United
UN Photo/Teddy Chen
Nations, addresses the
Security Council on
4 September 1965,
before the start of
the war between India
and Pakistan.
Observation Mission, with 59 additional observers monitoring the ceasefire for six months,
until March 1966. Accepting the Soviet Union as a mediator, in the Tashkent Declaration
in January 1966, both sides agreed to withdraw their armies to pre-war positions. While the
Tashkent Declaration bought a few years of relative peace in the region, it did not resolve
the underlying issues. The situation in the subcontinent continued to simmer even as India
and Pakistan both attempted to bring international opinion around to their perspective, with
varying levels of success.
The United Nations’ effort in East Pakistan is an unusual

– even an unprecedented – form of activity for the
Organisation. I initiated this operation, even without any
supporting Resolution from any United Nations organ,
because I felt that my obligations under the Charter must
include any humanitarian action I could take to save the
lives of large numbers of human beings.
U Thant’s letter to the President of Pakistan,
General Yahya Khan, 20 September 1971
92
In 1971, a resolution calling for the transfer of power to

the newly elected Government in Bangladesh and for the
withdrawal of troops was not passed only because Pakistani
Representative Zulfikar Ali Bhutto tore up a copy of the
resolution and walked out of the Security Council.
In 1971 calls emerged from the Awami League, a political party, for an independent
Bangladesh. This was stimulated by economic, linguistic and ethnic tensions between East and
West Pakistan, the disruption of the fragile constitutional agreements between them, and the
crackdown of General Yahya Khan’s Government in East Pakistan after the December 1970
elections. This brought a massive influx of refugees into India. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s
appeal to the international community went unheard, and the censure of Pakistan’s actions that
India considered necessary was not achieved.
The UN played two key roles in India in 1971. The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) was involved in refugee relief efforts, and UN observers at the border
observed the repatriation of refugees. India welcomed the participation of UNHCR, a new use
of the Secretary-General’s good offices to initiate humanitarian action.
Prince Sadruddin Aga

Khan, United Nations
High Commissioner
for Refugees, with
UN Photo/Teddy Chen
Secretary-General U
Thant in New York on
23 June 1971, at the
time of the mass refugee
influx from Bangladesh
into India.
93
Samar Sen, Permanent

Representative of
India to the United
Nations, addresses the
General Assembly on
7 December 1971. The
General Assembly called
for an immediate ceasefire
in East Pakistan.
The number of refugees pouring into India continued to rise from March to December 1971.
While India embraced them, it also believed that international support was warranted given the
scale of the displacement. The UN responded to the crisis by providing humanitarian assistance;
all efforts at peaceful political reconciliation were rapidly failing.
On 3 December, in response to preemptive Pakistani airstrikes on airfields in the western

part of the country, India officially declared itself at war with Pakistan, fighting forces in
East Pakistan. Having already offered refuge to political leaders fleeing the violence, India
announced its support for the new Bangladeshi State and Government. In the Security
Council discussions on the matter, India was supported by the Soviet Union and Pakistan
by the United States. The Security Council chose to refer the question to the General
Assembly. Acting under the Uniting for Peace resolution, the General Assembly voted for an
immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all troops, in resolution 2793 of 7 December 1971. On
21 December, the Security Council adopted resolution 307, noting India’s offer of a unilateral
ceasefire, and Pakistan’s acceptance of it.
India became the first country to recognize Bangladesh as an independent nation on

6 December 1971. It led and supported the country’s efforts to join the UN, which was finally
achieved on 17 September 1974.
94
Advancing Human Rights
MOMENTS IN HISTORY
Memoir
Serving the
International
Cause
by Virendra Dayal
Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (left), confers with his Chef de Cabinet Virendra Dayal and Acting Assistant
Secretary-General Jean-Claude Aimé, prior to his travels to Geneva and Baghdad seeking a peaceful settlement of the Iraq-
Kuwait crisis in January 1991.
T
hese are both the reflections and the What was that oath I took?
reminiscences of an Indian civil servant who
travelled to Geneva in October 1965 and took It was a commitment to abide by Article 100 (1) of
an oath of loyalty to the United Nations Charter, a the Charter. It required that, in the performance of my
simple enough act, but one that transformed him into an duties, I should “not seek or receive instructions from
international civil servant. any government or from any other authority external
96
Memoir
UN Photo/Lois Conner
(Left to right): Ambassador Chinmaya Gharekhan; Natwar Singh, member of the Indian delegation; Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of
India; Virendra Dayal, Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet; and N. Krishnan, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, on the
40th anniversary of the United Nations, New York, October 1985.
to the Organization”; I was to be “responsible only to The Secretariat is one of the five principal organs of the
the Organization”. As a new member of the staff of the United Nations, and yet its unique requirements are not
United Nations I had become, in a moment, a citizen of always willingly grasped or readily respected either by
what Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld once called governments or by all who serve in it. It is for this reason
“a little republic of its own – like a people with its own that I hope that my own country will always be an example
rights, its own obligations, its own traditions and its own to others in honouring the Charter’s demanding vision,
human problems”. and that its nationals, working as UN civil servants, will
always remember that to serve the Organization is a
I was excited at the prospect ahead of me and honoured at calling, unlike any other.
being inducted into the citizenship of that “little republic”,
even while remaining a proud Indian. For the next 27 Now for some reminiscences of a career stretching from
years, I needed to handle this duality of the national and 1965 to 1992, divided equally between the Office of the
international with great care, for it was, inevitably, put to High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the
the test. Office of the Secretary-General on the 38th floor of
UN Headquarters.
I learned soon enough that an international civil servant,
in the words once again of Hammarskjöld, had to “keep Life is unpredictable and its connections mysterious: my
himself under the strictest observation”. He was not becoming an international civil servant was entirely fortuitous.
expected to lose his sympathies or antipathies or the
ideals and beliefs that were essential to him, including As a young officer of the Indian Administrative Service
devotion to his country, but he was not to let those posted in Rampur in 1959, I was asked to settle thousands
factors influence his actions. He had to be, as that great of Bengali refugees who arrived in acute distress from
karma yogi pithily put it, “politically celibate (though what was then East Pakistan.
not perhaps politically virginal!)”. I soon realized a new
sadhana – a new inner discipline – was expected of me if At about the same time, grave events were occurring in
I were to fulfil my role. Tibet. The Dalai Lama sought refuge in India, and a river
97
of humanity followed him. The political situation between High Commissioner for Refugees, to serve as the
India and China grew increasingly tense and in 1962 came ‘focal point’ for the coordination of assistance from the
the war. In these circumstances, assistance to the Tibetan UN system.
refugees in India, a moral and humanitarian imperative,
became increasingly sensitive politically, arousing concern The crisis was the largest by far that UNHCR had had to
both within India and externally, notably in UNHCR. handle until then, and it had to transform its capabilities
overnight in order to do so. Sadruddin sent three of
The latter was still a largely Eurocentric organization, us from Geneva to India to manage the operation,
dealing with the humanitarian consequences of World which soon exceeded hundreds of millions of dollars in
War II. It had never, until then, had an Asian as a career assistance. The effort served as an early example of the
official on its staff. Wishing to play its role in a changing UN system’s considerable capacity to ‘deliver as one’ if
world, UNHCR asked the Government of India, in 1965, properly coordinated, a capacity that has since been put
to suggest some names for possible recruitment. Mine was to the test repeatedly. The experience was electrifying in
selected, and my first mission of any its intensity.
consequence as a United Nations The Secretariat is one
official was, curiously enough, to of the five principal organs of the Bangladesh continued to shape
discuss and to agree upon with the United Nations and yet its unique me as a UN official. After
Government of India how, and in requirements are not always the war, at the end of 1971,
what manner, the UN could discreetly willingly grasped or readily respected the Organization established
help assist the Tibetan refugees in an either by governments or by all who the United Nations Relief
atmosphere still charged with tension. serve in it. It is for this reason that Operation in Dhaka to help
I hope that my own country will the ravaged country. It was
I, therefore, owe my UN career to the always be an example to others in managed at Headquarters
Bengali refugees I helped settle in the honouring the Charter’s demanding by Sir Robert Jackson, the
Terai region in the foothills of the vision and that its nationals, legendary Australian hero of
Himalayas. In reality, it was they who working as UN civil servants, will the defence of Malta during
helped me. I treasure their memory
always remember that to serve the World War II and the top UN
with gratitude. I also learned, early on, operations man of his time.
Organization is a calling,
that while the work of UNHCR was ‘Jacko’ asked me to return
unlike any other.
meant to be entirely humanitarian to Bangladesh as Special
and non-political in character, there Assistant to the head of the
was no work more delicate politically UN mission, Victor Umbricht.
than protecting refugees and human rights.
Once again, I found myself in the middle of a UN
Events in South Asia in 1971 illustrated this precisely. operation of unprecedented scope, engaged in everything
An immense influx of refugees, estimated at some 10 from clearing the ports and rivers of Bangladesh of sunken
million by the Government, flooded into India from ships to replacing bridges destroyed by war. So complete
East Pakistan. They posed an intolerable burden on the was the devastation that the nascent country had no
country. Despite the Government’s monumental efforts, currency for a while. I vividly recall my somewhat perilous
it soon became clear that human solidarity required a rides during the monsoon, literally on a wing and a prayer,
global assistance effort. Accordingly, Secretary-General in short-take-off-and-landing planes, laden with freshly
U Thant asked Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, the UN minted currency notes for the district treasuries whose
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Memoir
coffers were empty. It did not help that the planes had an liberation movements of Zimbabwe and the former
uncanny resemblance to flying coffins. Portuguese territories, and the refugees from those areas.
But above all, we worked round the clock to cope with
Then followed yet another formative experience for me in the dramatic exodus of tens of thousands of ‘boat people’
the aftermath of the war. This related to the many families from Viet Nam. Once again, the Organization rose to the
divided between Pakistan and Bangladesh who urgently challenge. In 1981, UNHCR was, for the second time in
needed reunification. Bitterness compounded political and its history, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
security considerations. Efforts by the UN to organize such
family reunifications, initiated at the request of Sheikh As for myself, barely had I arrived in Geneva in
Mujibur Rahman, were trapped in a maze of suspicion. I September 1978 to work with Poul Hartling when I received
was once again sent on mission to Dhaka while a Pakistani a call from Under-Secretary-General Brian Urquhart. He
colleague was sent to Islamabad. Over many weeks of was asking me to return to New York to work with him on
tenacious diplomacy in both capitals, with Delhi kept fully the 38th floor, in the Office for Special Political Affairs.
in the loop, a way was found to proceed with the operation. That was an offer I could not refuse though it took me a
Between October 1973 and March 1974, nearly a quarter year to get back to New York. To many of my generation,
of a million human beings – each name meticulously Brian personified all that was noble in the international civil
cleared in Islamabad and Dhaka – were reunited with their service. He was the keeper of the flame of Hammarskjöld
families, transported by air under the auspices of the UN and the inheritor of the mantle of Ralph Bunche, both
with devoted help from the International Committee of Nobel Laureates, and he had shaped and directed UN
the Red Cross. I do not know of any comparable airlift of peacekeeping operations brilliantly since their earliest years.
human beings for such a purpose. Working on peacekeeping in the Middle East with Brian,
whatever its demands and hazards (including being shot at
As a young man still in my thirties, I was delighted to twice while in his company!), was always exhilarating. He
be mentioned in dispatches to the Secretary-General, combined great profundity with dazzling wit.
now Kurt Waldheim. The new head of the UN mission in
Dhaka, Ambassador Francis Lacoste of France, who had a But if my work in peacekeeping was rewarding, being
taste for Greek mythology, rather generously reported that witness to the incapacity of the Security Council, the
Dayal had found Ariadne’s thread to lead the negotiations principal organ under the Charter for the maintenance
out of the labyrinthine maze in which they had been of international peace and security, was not. In the early
trapped. But more moving to me were the words of my 1980s, nothing was more frustrating than sitting late into
principal interlocutor in the Bangladesh Foreign Office the night watching the Security Council hold endless
who, speaking at a farewell dinner, added that I had consultations that led nowhere. On one such occasion, soon
functioned as a true UN official, helping the negotiators after the invasion of Iran by Iraq on 22 September 1980, as
to transcend the politics of the region, in order to achieve we languished in the Consultations Room adjacent to the
a greater humanitarian goal. Security Council chamber, Brian, in frustration, scribbled
this doggerel and passed it on to me:
In 1978, Poul Hartling, a former Prime Minister
of Denmark, succeeded Prince Sadruddin as High We are the Awesome Organ
Commissioner of Refugees. He asked me to come over A famous sight to see.
from New York to be his Executive Assistant in Geneva. We cannot meet, we cannot vote,
In the months that followed we travelled extensively What bloody use are we?
in Africa, dealing in particular with the leaders of the And when we reach the Chamber
99
Courtesy: v. Dayal
Virendra Dayal accompanying Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in Windhoek, Namibia during the country's transition
to independence, March 1990.
The combatants will say, large portions of its legally assessed contributions. Yet
“The war was over long ago, he persevered, waiting for the international climate to
So, Organ, go away!” change, moulding it to the extent that he could and,
through his skill, placing the Organization in such a
There is no doubt that the Security Council was, and is, position that, as the cold war thawed, the UN was able
desperately in need of reform, and I would like to see India to harvest a string of achievements that, to my mind, may
as a permanent member. But I would hope that India well mark the most fruitful five years in the term of any
would never behave in the manner that has, unfortunately, Secretary-General.
too often been the norm in the Council. For that would
add nothing of value to the Council. The critical factor, of course, was the radical
transformation that Mikhail Gorbachev brought to the
In January 1982, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar began the first international scene. This permitted, along with other
of his two five-year terms as Secretary-General and asked miracles, cooperation among the permanent members
me to be his Chef de Cabinet, a post I held throughout of the Security Council. But Javier, who often cautioned
his tenure in office. Javier, an outstanding diplomat, was overambitious UN emissaries not to “dive into an empty
a man of infinite patience and refinement of mind and pool”, now, with an exquisite sense of timing, made sure
manner, qualities that helped him endure the travails of that the UN reaped the fruits of its diligent labours,
his first term: the Security Council was in a state of stasis, establishing an extraordinarily productive rapport with
wars raged and the United States Government withheld the Council.
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Memoir
On the political side, Javier’s second term saw the

UN secure an end to the Iran-Iraq war (1988); the
withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the
Geneva Accords (1988); the independence of Namibia
(1990); the peace agreements on Cambodia, with the
UN playing a major role in the restoration of freedom
and stability to that country (1991); a successful peace
process in Central America and the signing of the El
Salvador Peace Accords (1991); and, uniquely in the
history of the UN, a war legitimized by the Security
Council that resulted in the withdrawal of Iraqi troops
from Kuwait and the undoing of the annexation of a
Member State (1991).
As Chef de Cabinet, it was my duty to assist the Secretary-

General in all of his work. In a sense, I had to fold
Courtesy: v. Dayal
my own role and activities into his. But as I recall those
years, certain moments still hold special meaning to me as
an individual.
Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar and Virendra Dayal

On 8 August 1988, after a morning of climactic negotiations
meeting with Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq in Baghdad,
and a sandwich lunch in the Secretary-General’s dining January 1991.
room on the 38th floor, I penned the draft of his speech
to the Security Council on that dining table, setting a date
for the ceasefire in the seven-year-long Iran-Iraq war. I On 21 March 1990, I was with the Secretary-General
shall never forget the relief that announcement brought to in Windhoek for the independence of Namibia, a cause
the Council or the rapturous excitement in the Secretariat for which the UN had strived mightily. In a ceremony
where a host of staff members gathered in the lobby to unprecedented in history, the Secretary-General of the
applaud their Secretary-General. United Nations administered the oath of office to Sam
Nujoma, the President of a sovereign State.
On 10 December 1988, I remember accompanying the
Secretary-General to Oslo for the Nobel Prize ceremonies On 17 August 1990, 16 days after the Iraqi invasion of
when the award was given to the UN for its peacekeeping Kuwait, I thought I could snatch a very brief vacation in
activities. Most appropriately, the Secretary-General Ireland. But while driving along the coast that evening, I
invited Brian, who had already retired, to be part of our heard on BBC that the Secretary-General had asked me
small delegation, which included Martti Ahtisaari, who to proceed immediately to Iraq to negotiate the release of
was to receive a Nobel Prize a few years later, and Marrack foreigners held hostage as ‘human shields’. Soon after, the
Goulding. This is an appropriate point at which to pause Secretary-General phoned to say that he had preempted
and reflect on the 3,510 personnel serving under the a move by the Security Council: he felt that a mission
UN flag who have died in the cause of peace over the years, by me, under his auspices, would have a greater chance
162 of whom have been Indian. The world owes them of success than if I was to travel there in pursuance of a
great honour. Council resolution.
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As numerous staff members of the UN system were of the Soviet Union, which was soon to disappear. This
included among the hostages, he had asked my friend Kofi was clearly a dramatic and poignant moment for him.
Annan, then Assistant Secretary-General for Personnel, to A sudden recollection of Russian literature and history
join me, adding that Kofi would bring along a suitcase with and of the distinguished lineage of the Vorontsovs helped
some suitable clothes for me. After extensive conversations rescue the moment: “Ambassador,” I said to him, “great
in Baghdad, principally with Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, countries alter their names from time to time, but the
the mission secured the release of each of the foreigners people of a country remain unchanged and endure: the
held hostage. Vorontsovs have served their country with honour for
centuries and I am sure they will continue to do so in
Sadly, however, subsequent efforts by the Secretary-General, the future!”
including a critical meeting with Saddam Hussein on
12 January 1991, failed to move the latter to comply with The tension drained from Vorontsov’s face and, with a
Security Council resolutions demanding the withdrawal of smile, he asked if we could be photographed together,
Iraqi troops from Kuwait. War ensued, and the objectives of with him handing to me the new flag of the Russian
the Council were achieved. But the Federation. I asked the UN’s
law of unintended consequences Legal Counsel Carl Fleischhauer
There is no doubt that
asserted itself: a grievous train to join us, for there was work to
the Security Council was, and
of events was set in motion that be done. After Vorontsov left,
is, desperately in need of reform
has brought great suffering to the I drafted a note verbale to all
and I would like to see India as a
people of that country. Member States with particular
Permanent Member. But I would
care, with a view to ensuring an
hope that India would never
On 24 December 1991, Christmas uncontested transition. I ran the
Eve, I was working late when I
behave in the manner that has,
note past Carl, cleared it with
received a call from the Secretary-
unfortunately, too often been the the Secretary-General, and had
General saying that the Soviet
norm in the Council. For that it issued immediately. Next, I
Ambassador, Yuli Vorontsov, had a
would add nothing of value called the Chief of Protocol and
most urgent message to deliver and
to the Council. asked him to ensure that the flag
could I receive the Ambassador on of the Russian Federation would
his behalf. Immediately after, the Ambassador arrived at be ready to be unfurled, in the right location and at the
my door, and I could tell from his demeanour that this right time, outside the UN building. The transition was
was no ordinary message. Within moments, I understood accomplished without a murmur of controversy.
why: Vorontsov handed me a letter from Boris Yeltsin to
the Secretary-General announcing that the Soviet Union On 31 December 1991, New Year’s Eve and Javier’s
would, imminently, cease to exist; the Russian Federation last day in office, the clock was stopped at midnight to
was to come into being and, as the successor State, it was enable the readying of documents for signature of the El
ready to assume the rights, privileges and duties of the Salvador Accords, the crowning achievement of his tenure.
Soviet Union in the United Nations, including those of a Minutes later, he walked out of the building to a chorus
permanent member of the Security Council. of angels and the applause of those who had waited for
that moment.
As Vorontsov handed me this historic letter, asking me
to facilitate the transition, the tension in his manner I had planned to return to India at the end of Javier’s term
was palpable, for he had been an illustrious ambassador but Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali kindly
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Memoir
asked me to stay as Chef de Cabinet for a couple of months I returned to South Africa as the Secretary-General’s
to help him settle in. Personal Envoy and, between 16 and 26 September 1992,
shuttled between Pretoria and Johannesburg. Agreements
On 31 January 1992, in the euphoria generated by the were gradually and painstakingly reached on how to
end of the cold war, the first-ever Summit Meeting of the remove the outstanding obstacles. To my immense
Security Council was held. Its closing statement asked relief, the mission succeeded in all of its objectives, and
Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali to provide an analysis a meeting between Mr. de Klerk and Mr. Mandela was
and recommendations on ways of “strengthening and finally arranged.
making more efficient … the capacity of the United
Nations for preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and It was now time for me to leave South Africa. But
peacekeeping”. The Secretary-General asked me to before doing so, I drove to Pretoria, where Mr. de Klerk
help draft the think piece that was to emerge a few had gathered his core Cabinet to thank me and say
weeks later as An Agenda for Peace, the ideas of which farewell. I then went to Shell House in Johannesburg
were to enlarge the UN’s thinking and practice on to bid farewell to Mr. Mandela. It was a meeting I shall
these matters. never forget.
I was now packed and ready to return home. But at a As I said goodbye, Mr. Mandela asked me if I was
farewell dinner, at which Cyrus Vance was present, the convinced that all the obstacles that had stood in the
Secretary-General asked if Vance and I could go to South way had been removed. I assured him that they had. But
Africa to deal with outbreaks of violence that were vitiating supposing they recurred, he asked, how could he get me
the prospects of talks for a transition to majority rule. back to South Africa? I once again assured him that the
Our mission, undertaken between 21 and 31 July 1992, job was done, that the way forward was open, and that I
was helpful in easing the situation and, in an unexpected would no longer be needed. He remained uncertain, so I
breakthrough that would have been inconceivable a few said he could always ask the Secretary-General to send me
years earlier, secured the agreement of the South African back, if there were need. Then, that good and great man,
authorities to the presence of a UN Observer Mission in stretched out for his writing pad and asked if he could have
that country. my phone number in Delhi and jotted it down: “Just in
case!” he said. We had a laugh, he then stood up, satisfied,
In mid-August, we were returning home, travelling in a clasped my hand in his and thanked me once again, and
leisurely manner when, in Seville, I received a call from we said farewell.
Jean-Claude Aimé, the Secretary-General’s Chief of Staff,
to undertake one last mission for the United Nations. I could not have hoped for a more moving conclusion
to my UN career than that handshake with the majestic
Violence had once again broken out in South Africa, Nelson Mandela.
talks on the future Constitution had got stymied because
of grave residual problems remaining from the years of The circle, I felt, had been rounded.
apartheid and, worst of all, contacts between President
F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela had been suspended — Virendra Dayal is former Chef de Cabinet in the Office of
in the atmosphere of distrust. the United Nations Secretary-General.
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9
H U M A N RIGHTS
AR C HITE CTU RE
Joining
Hands
Turn the pages of history and you will invariably see that societies and civilizations committed to
protecting, upholding and celebrating human dignity have flourished. The modern concept of
human rights emphasizes the inherent, inalienable rights of all – civil, political, social, economic
and cultural – that governments must work to protect and promote.
The concept of human rights is sometimes seen as a ‘Western’ invention. This contention is
problematic in two ways: first, human rights cannot be seen as a ‘gift from the West’ as they
are strongly rooted in other religious and cultural traditions as well. Second, in their present
form, human rights are not imposed by the ‘West’ on unwilling developing nations. A diverse
community of nations contributed to the modern formulation and upholds it today.
India, for example, has a long spiritual tradition of respect for rights. Rights to freedom of
thought and speech, of association, of personal faith, and more, were seen as a part of human
existence from the Vedic age, before the common era. Texts about governance, justice, ethics and
morality laid out duties for individuals based on the principles of truth, self-control, generosity,
non-violence and so on that, if upheld, would ensure realization of the rights of others. Post-
Vedic Buddhist concepts of non-violence of deed and thought also functioned in a similar
way. Mahavir, the founder of Jainism, developed the concept of human freedom as a pluralistic
many-sided truth, while the ancient treatise Arthashastra by Kautilya laid down codes of
The Guinness Book of World Records describes

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the
world’s ‘most translated document’. It has been
translated into 33 Indian languages.
conduct that developed into laws against acts such as

illegal detention, custodial death, rape and corruption.
The modern Indian understanding of human rights

thus reflects diverse cultural and historical influences,
resting in the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by
the Constitution of India. While the natural rights
doctrine prioritizes individual liberties above all, this
understanding of rights highlights the inextricable
relationship between rights, duties, obligations and
responsibilities, to benefit both the individual and all
of society.
It was the United Nations Charter that set the

foundation for the current international human rights
architecture, with its provisions regarding the “inherent
dignity” and the “equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human family”. In light of the atrocities
of the Nazi regime and the suffering resulting from
the Second World War, the international community
believed that the provisions of the Charter needed to
be further developed in a more specific and practical way. The aim was to create a guiding Human Rights
document with strong moral force that outlined the details of the vision of a peaceful world. Commission members
J. Marguerite Bowie of
the United Kingdom (left)
This document became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948. It and Hansa Mehta of
reflects contributions from 50 nations representing 5 continents, with the participation of India confer in New York
prominent national representatives including Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States, René in May 1949.
Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, P.C. Chang of China and Hansa Mehta of India.
Drafted over a period of two years by the first United Nations Commission on Human Rights,
the Declaration is a legally non-binding document that outlines a vision of “social progress and
The representative of India [held that] the basis of rights

was neither the State nor the individual, but the social
human being, participating in social life, and striving for
national and international co-operation. [She also said] the
right to hold different opinions was a sacred right and the
prerogative of every truly democratic people.
UN Year Book 1948 on the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
105
better standards of life in larger freedom”. It is the basis for

the growth of the international human rights legal system,
including treaties, conventions, review bodies and courts.
The two major treaties adopted to give legal force to

the provisions of the Declaration are the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), both adopted by the General
Assembly in 1966. Seven core human rights treaties
dealing with specific vulnerable groups have also been
adopted, including the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
By ratifying these treaties, Member States commit to
incorporating their provisions into national legislation.
Each treaty has a review body that receives regular reports
UN Photo/MB
from all States parties on their specific situations. Under

certain circumstances, these bodies can address complaints
by individual citizens.
Lakshmi Menon addresses The primary international review mechanism for monitoring the human rights performance of
the General Assembly all 193 UN Member States is the Universal Periodic Review, undertaken by the Human Rights
prior to the adoption
Council. The present Council, comprising 47 Member States, replaced the Commission on
of the Declaration of
Human Rights. Paris, Human Rights in 2006 and works as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly. The Human
9 December 1948. Rights Council receives reports from governments, NGOs and other non-State or civil society
actors on their national human rights situation every five years.
India was the subject of a Universal Periodic Review first in 2008 and then in 2012. Working
closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights
Council is responsible for advocating for and protecting human rights across the world through
its monitoring and oversight functions. It also works through special procedures, such as the
appointment of Special Rapporteurs and honorary independent experts to examine and report
on a country situation or a specific human rights theme.
India has contributed several human rights rapporteurs. From 2000 to 2008, Miloon Kothari
served as Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, working to support the right to an adequate
standard of living. Arjun Sengupta served as the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and
Human Rights from 2004 to 2008, and since 2010, Kishore Singh has been Special Rapporteur
on the Right to Education. India has also issued a standing invitation for all thematic Special
106
Rapporteurs. In recent years, the country has been visited by Margaret Sekaggya, Special
Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, in 2011, and Rashida Manjoo,
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, in 2013.
In the early decades after achieving independence, India was a vocal proponent of human
rights in the international arena. It championed issues such as development over disarmament,
elimination of racial discrimination and right to self-determination of peoples, including
Palestinians. According to commentators such as Sanjoy Banerjee, writing in Human Rights and
Comparative Foreign Policy in 2000, despite the inevitable contradictions in the policymaking
frameworks of succeeding governments, India engaged in assertive diplomacy beyond what
might be expected from a newly independent country, particularly in criticizing other States for
failing to protect human rights.
The shift in India’s human rights diplomacy from an assertive to a defensive approach came
with upheavals both in the international and domestic arena in the early 1990s. Banerjee
suggests that, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, India went from being a non-aligned State
in a bipolar world to a vulnerable State in a unipolar world. It had to find its place and assert its
sovereignty in the light of a changing human rights framework increasingly led and sometimes
appropriated by dominant States.
Kamaleshwar Das, an Indian who read law at Cambridge, worked with the
secretariat of the Human Rights Commission. Among other contributions,
he helped to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination. Dr. Das worked for the Division of Human Rights for 28 years,
retiring as its deputy director in 1975.
Human Rights
Commission members
C.S. Jha (left), and
K. Das (Secretary of
the Commission) in
discussions in New York
in February 1961.
107
UN Photo/A. Rauscher
World Conference on
Human Rights, Vienna,
25 June 1993.
Former Indian Chief

Justice J.S. Verma (right)
and activist Aruna Roy
(left), with UN Resident
Coordinator Brenda
McSweeney, speak on a
panel in New Delhi,
UNDP
12 September 2000.
108
At the same time, internal disturbances and India’s response to them were drawing criticism.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions remained in
communication with the Government about allegations concerning violations of the right to
life of a number of Kashmiri citizens by the Indian Armed Forces, as detailed in his report of
1994 to the Human Rights Council. As India’s own actions came under international scrutiny,
the Government chose to soften its diplomatic activism for human rights internationally and
withdraw inwards, working instead on stabilizing its own domestic situation.
Despite this shift in external positioning, or perhaps because of it, India took a number of steps
towards strengthening its internal human rights machinery. The New Economic Policy adopted
in response to India’s severe foreign exchange crisis in the early 1990s accelerated a move aimed
at bringing more people out of poverty and helping to realize their economic and social rights.
Passage of the Human Rights Act in 1993 provided for the establishment of the National
Human Rights Commission, state human rights commissions and human rights courts. These
courts are yet to become functional, while the National Human Rights Commission and the
state commissions, as autonomous statutory bodies, have the power to make recommendations,
An extraordinary vision and a clear

recognition of our shared destiny brought
us together to build [the United Nations]
for advancing peace and security, the
rights of every human being, and economic
development for all.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the
General Assembly in 2014
initiate investigations and demand explanations from the Government. In addition, national
commissions were constituted for women, ethnic and religious minorities and scheduled castes
and scheduled tribes in 1992, to protect these vulnerable groups. However, the years have
demonstrated that greater autonomy and expanded authority would reduce the vulnerability of
these bodies to the vicissitudes of politics.
India was an enthusiastic participant in the various thematic conferences on human rights
that were held through the 1990s, including the World Conference on Human Rights in
Vienna in 1993 and the Beijing Conference on Women in 1995. Having signed and ratified
most of the core international human rights treaties, India has continued to submit periodic
reports to their review bodies. However, the country has yet to ratify the Convention against
Torture, and is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Convention on Rights of
Migrant Workers.
109
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
The twenty-third session Despite these gaps, India has by and large endeavoured to participate in the creation and
of the Human Rights adoption of international human rights frameworks. Its focus, however, remains on domestic
Council in Geneva,
27 May 2013.
efforts, sometimes couched in the language of international human rights. For example, the
Indian Parliament successfully passed major laws that make powerful strides towards ensuring
rights for all – such as the Right to Food Act, the National Food Security Act 2013, the Right
of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, and the Right to Information Act
2005. These can be seen to reflect the broader philosophy of a human rights-based approach
to development, even if the legislation does not directly reference relevant human rights texts.
The standard of living that these programmes, implemented effectively, can ensure to the
Indian people will be crucial to India’s entry into the ranks of developed nations.
India is also home to a thriving civil society that has been playing a significant role in
holding the Government accountable and ensuring its responsiveness to human rights
concerns. Through means such as advocacy and lobbying, conducting investigations,
reviewing policy and making recommendations, organizations such as the Commonwealth
Human Rights Initiative and the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre seek
110
We are all different from one another, but we all have

the same human rights. I am proud to stand for the
equality of all people – including those who are lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender. I staunchly oppose
the criminalization of homosexuality. I speak out
because laws criminalizing consensual, adult same-
sex relationships violate basic rights to privacy and
to freedom from discrimination. Even if they are not
enforced, these laws breed intolerance.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, New Delhi, 12 January 2015
to protect and promote human rights. Press freedom in India,

while not perfect, allows for the exposure of egregious human
rights violations, a first step in building pressure to elicit
governmental response.
Along with civil society, UN agencies in India have also advocated

strongly for the rights of specific groups, such as women (UN-
Women), children (UNICEF), refugees (UNHCR), and
elderly people, people with disabilities and people living in
poverty (UNDP). UN specialized agencies partner with local
organizations to provide technical assistance, build capacity and
undertake and support projects that work directly to improve
the material conditions of people’s lives. The date on which
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights came into force,
10 December, is marked as Human Rights Day annually, and
the UN organizes events and seminars in partnership with
schools, colleges, the National Human Rights Commission
and other organizations to reaffirm the commitments made in UN Photo/Evan Schneider
the Declaration.
Given its vast diversity, India must fully utilize the power of
international human rights frameworks to protect those who
are powerless, whether it is by virtue of their gender, religion,
language, caste, creed, economic status or any other attribute. Mahatma Gandhi said, “A Miloon Kothari served
as the United Nations
nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” India must ensure that its
Special Rapporteur on
development path is inclusive, sustainable and respectful of the rights of every citizen. Adequate Housing from
2000 to 2008.
111
10
E N DI N G
A PARTHEID
Struggle
for Equality
Racism, in its various manifestations, has led to gross violations of human rights
throughout history. Racial differences have long been used to justify atrocities ranging
from imperialism to the Holocaust – a crime so grave that a new word, genocide, was
(Left) M.K. Gandhi coined to explain its horror.
(standing, fourth from
left) with the other
A most egregious and long-standing expression of institutionalized racism was the odious
co-founders of the Natal
Indian Congress, system of apartheid in South Africa. It was ultimately eliminated by a combination of extreme
22 May 1894, international pressure organized under the aegis of the United Nations and massive protests
South Africa. both within and outside the country. At the United Nations, India stood at the front line of
the fight against racial discrimination and apartheid, a cause the country championed from the
(Right) Leaders of the
UN’s earliest days.
United Front of Africans,
Indians, and Coloureds
take an oath to carry on India’s awakening to the evil of racial discrimination in South Africa was influenced by its
their struggle at a public own experiences of oppression and discrimination under British rule. Mahatma Gandhi’s
meeting in Johannesburg struggle against racial discrimination began in 1893; as a young barrister he was humiliated
in April 1952. Nelson
and thrown off a train in South Africa, after refusing to move from a first class coach, for
Mandela, President of
the African National which he had a valid ticket. In 1894, he led the formation of the Natal Indian Congress.
Congress, is seen behind. Over the next few decades, Gandhi supported leaders of the African National Congress,
E.S. Reddy, UN Assistant Secretary-General (1983–1985), was a student

radical in India in the 1940s, with unparalleled knowledge about the
impact of Gandhi in South Africa. His book, The United Nations and
Apartheid (1948–1994), adeptly traces the UN’s role in the anti-apartheid
struggle. In fact, he researched and wrote part of this volume at the UN
Information Centre library in New Delhi.
including the young Nelson Mandela, in organizing mass movements and protests for civil
and political rights and against the oppressive regime.
When India, under Jawaharlal Nehru’s leadership, raised its voice at the United Nations in
1946 to condemn racial discrimination against Asians in South Africa, the General Assembly
rejected South Africa’s contention that the matter was within its domestic jurisdiction and that
the United Nations was not competent to deal with the issue. This decision opened the way to
subsequent discussions at the United Nations about South Africa’s racial practices. However,
even as the international community adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
1948, the South African Government expanded its restrictive policies of segregation, escalated
discrimination against non-whites and instituted apartheid as a matter of State policy.
Western powers were initially hesitant to condemn South Africa. But in 1950, the General
Assembly adopted, with a two-thirds majority, the India-sponsored resolution 395 (V) on the
treatment of people of Indian origin in South Africa. In the resolution, the Assembly declared
that “a policy of ‘racial segregation’ (apartheid) is necessarily based on doctrines of racial
discrimination”. It was the first of a series of United Nations actions against apartheid.
In 1952, the General Assembly proposed negotiations involving India, Pakistan and South
Africa, but the idea was opposed by the United States and South Africa. In response, later
that same day, the General Assembly passed resolution 616 (VII), calling for a three-person
commission to look into the racial situation in South Africa. It also urged all Member States
to align their domestic policies with the provisions and values outlined in the United Nations
Charter. The Indian delegation, led by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, co-sponsored a discussion on
the issue in the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Political Committee. Later, as leader of the Indian
delegation, V.K. Krishna Menon made a number of speeches highlighting the pernicious
practice of apartheid and the horrific atrocities committed by the South African Government.
Both of them personally led the annual debates until 1957, when Ghana won its independence
and India asked it to take the lead.
Anti-apartheid action gained momentum at the United Nations in the 1960s. Within the
Secretariat, Enuga S. Reddy, an eminent and indefatigable official from India, provided
outstanding leadership, coordinating the work of the United Nations with the global anti-
113
apartheid movement. The dynamics

of the situation had another effect: a
flood of African and Asian countries,
former colonies that firmly opposed
apartheid, all gained membership in
the United Nations.
After the 1960 massacre of 69

peaceful protesters in Sharpeville,
South Africa, the Security Council,
UN Photo/P. Mugubane
in its first action against the country,

called for the abolition of policies
of apartheid and discrimination
(resolution 134). Yet the apartheid
movement intensified in South
A boy protests apartheid Africa, forcing the African National Congress to resort to retaliatory violence. In 1962, in
outside the Auduza resolution 1761, co-sponsored by India, the General Assembly declared that apartheid
cemetery in South Africa,
“seriously endangers international peace and security”. It urged all Member States to “break
January 1985.
off diplomatic relations” with South Africa, close their ports to South African ships, prohibit
their ships from entering South Africa, impose export embargoes and boycott all South African
goods. It also formed the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid to highlight
the atrocities committed. The same year, the Security Council passed resolution 181, which
called for a voluntary arms embargo against South Africa.
The rigorous work of apartheid opponents, led by India, catalysed the General Assembly to
adopt the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1963. The
movement was further strengthened by the subsequent adoption of a series of path-breaking
conventions against racial discrimination.
In South Africa, it is the deliberate, acknowledged, and loudly proclaimed

policy of the Government itself to maintain this segregation and racial
discrimination. This makes the South African case unique in the world. It
is a policy with which obviously no person and no country which believes
in the United Nations Charter can ever compromise, because it uproots
almost everything the modern world stands for and considers worthwhile,
whether it is the United Nations Charter or whether it is our ideas of
democracy or of human dignity.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the Lok Sabha,
the lower house of the Parliament of India, in 1948
114
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

(21 March) is an opportunity to renew our commitment to building a
world of justice and equality where xenophobia and bigotry do not exist.
We must learn the lessons of history and acknowledge the profound
damage caused by racial discrimination.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the International Day for
Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2015
Despite growing international pressure, the South African Government did not show any
signs of ending its apartheid regime. This led the General Assembly, in 1966, to declare
apartheid a crime against humanity and in some cases a form of genocide. In 1974 – though Mourners at the funeral
the Security Council could not be persuaded to expel South Africa, due to opposition by for those killed by the
France, the United Kingdom and the United States – the General Assembly suspended South South African police
Africa from all its activities. at observances of the
International Day for the
Elimination of Racial
During the 1980s, movement towards reform grew as international pressure deepened. Member Discrimination, at Langa
States, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, imposed arms embargoes Township in Uitenhage,
against South Africa and encouraged divestment to assert economic pressure. The General 1 March 1985. The Day
commemorates the
Assembly proclaimed 1982 as the International Year for Mobilization of Sanctions against
21 March 1960 massacre
South Africa. In 1989, the Assembly held a special session in which, by consensus, it called on of peaceful protesters
South Africa to abolish apartheid through non-violent and democratic means. Subsequently, at Sharpeville.
UN Photo
115
Since Seven
2010, the and
Decades United
Beyond
Nations has observed
18 July as Nelson
Mandela Day.
Marked on his
birthday, it aims to
become a global
movement to honour
UN Photo/Pernaca Sudhakaran
his life's work and to
inspire individual action
to change the world for
the better.
Nelson Mandela on his South Africa embraced major internal reforms that eventually led to the transition to black
first visit to the UN after majority rule.
being released from prison,
addresses the Special
Committee against In 1990, the newly elected South African President, F.W. de Klerk, made several historic
Apartheid in the General announcements in his opening address. He lifted the 30-year ban on the African National
Assembly Hall, Congress and other black liberation parties, and announced freedom of the press and the
22 June 1990.
release of political prisoners. He also freed Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid revolutionary,
after 27 years of imprisonment. The release of Mandela echoed throughout South Africa and
the world.
However, serious political violence accompanied the start of negotiations on a new constitution
in South Africa in 1991, threatening to derail South Africa’s peaceful transition. In July 1992,
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali asked former United States Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance to travel to South Africa as his Special Representative, accompanied by former Under-
Secretary-General and Chef de Cabinet Virendra Dayal, to get the process back on track.
Eventually the situation was defused and the obstacles impeding progress were removed.
In the succeeding months, concerted efforts by all parties in South Africa, encouraged as
needed by the United Nations, led to approval of a democratic constitution for the country.
Its first free and fair elections took place soon after, monitored by the United Nations.
In India, polling booths for South African nationals were set up in Delhi and Mumbai,
managed by the United Nations offices in India. A fresh page of history was written on
10 May 1994, when a democratic, non-racial government was installed in South Africa
and Nelson Mandela took the oath of office as its President. Moments later, the Secretary-
General declared, “Today, South Africa regains its rightful place in Africa, in the United
Nations and in the family of nations.”
The system of apartheid had been brought to an end. The United Nations and India could be
justly proud of the role they played in helping achieve that goal.
116
11
DEC OLO N IZATIO N
Determining
the Self
India’s journey from a British colony to the largest democracy in the world became a potent
symbol for countries across the world. It encouraged them to actively pursue their self-
determination and shed the remnants of imperialism from their territories. With the end of the
Second World War, it became abundantly clear that the model of imperial governance that had
existed for centuries was no longer viable.
The end of colonialism in India was also hastened by the modern values enshrined in the United
Nations Charter. At the time of its founding, many UN member countries had amassed their
wealth from their colonies, yet 750 million people, including millions in India, did not enjoy
full sovereignty. This presented a contradiction, since the Charter reaffirmed faith “in the equal
rights of men and women and of nations large and small”, as well as “the promotion of economic
and social advancement of all people”. Challenged by the United Nations’ championing of
equality and freedom, justifications for colonialism could no longer withstand the force of the
changing times. The process of decolonization began to accelerate, with India at its forefront.
Participants at the
fifteenth session of the
General Assembly in
October 1960 (left to
right): Gamal Abdel
Nasser, President of the
United Arab Republic;
Sukarno, President of the
Republic of Indonesia;
Pandit Jawaharlal
UN Photo/Marvin Bolotsky
Nehru, Prime Minister

of India; Kwame
Nkrumah, President of
the Republic of Ghana;
and Saeb Salam,
President of the Council of
Ministers of Lebanon.
While various colonial powers and the newly decolonized States had markedly different
experiences of de-linking, the Indian example served as an important symbolic precedent for
the world. It marked the crumbling of the British Empire, achieved through a non-violent
struggle. It provided a stellar example that would inspire countries across Asia, Africa, Oceania
and the Middle East to fight for their independence and articulate their own identities.
India played an important role in establishing the Non-Aligned Movement, which encouraged
countries to develop independent foreign policies by maintaining good relations with both the
United States and the Soviet Union, and military alliances with neither, an approach that suited
the newly decolonized States. It emerged from 1939 discussions of plans for India’s foreign
policy and was cemented by Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1946 address to the Constituent Assembly. He
said, “We propose, as far as possible, to keep away from the power politics of groups, aligned
against one another, which had led in the past to World Wars and which may again lead to
disasters on an even vaster scale.”
This approach was first described as non-alignment at the United Nations in 1953 by V.K.
Krishna Menon, then leader of the Indian delegation. It allowed former colonies the freedom of
choice and decision-making, as well as a community of like-minded nations on whose support
they could rely. Formalized in 1961 in Belgrade under the leadership of Nehru and the Heads of
State of Burma, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia and Yugoslavia, the Non-Aligned Movement played
a significant role in setting the stage for the spread of decolonization throughout the 1960s.
In 1955, 16 new African and Asian nations were admitted to the United Nations, and 17
countries became members in 1960. At that point 44 of the 100 Member States were former
colonies. As a result, the majority in the General Assembly shifted in favour of the informal
alliance of Third World countries. Thus, in December 1960, in a resolution co-sponsored
by India, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the landmark Declaration on the
In the mid-1950s, a number of countries found their

applications for UN membership vetoed, including Cambodia,
Lao People's Democratic Republic, Republic of Korea and
Viet Nam. This was primarily at the hands of the Soviet Union,
which contended that the governments applying were not in
fact independent States but puppet governments set up by
former colonizers and their supporters. This expression of cold
war politics contributed to tensions in the region then known as
Indo-China and later was a factor in the Viet Nam war.
118
C.S. Jha (left) meets

Frank P. Graham, United
UN Photo/MB
Nations Representative
for India and Pakistan, in
New York in 1962.
At the time of India’s independence in 1947, Goa had remained under

Portuguese control, against India’s wishes. In 1960, Portugal refused
to recognize Goa as a ‘non-self-governing territory’, which would
require them to report the status of the territory to the UN under Article
73 (e) of the Charter. Portugal called its colonies ‘overseas provinces’
of metropolitan Portugal. A committee formed by the General
Assembly and headed by the Permanent Representative of India, C.S.
Jha, to settle the question, specified that they were, in fact, NSGTs,
and that Portugal was obliged to submit information on them. This was
among the many diplomatic means used by India to effect a peaceful
handover of power over the territory. Despite this, India’s police action
against the Portuguese in Goa in 1961 drew condemnation at the time.
However, as Jha argued persuasively in the Security Council, “My
country has never accepted and will never accept any legal, moral or
ethical basis for the process by which India became colonised ... It
must be realised that this is a colonial question ... this is a matter of
faith with us.” The liberation of Goa, as it was known, became a sign
of India’s strength and continued commitment to the cause
of decolonisation.
119
Photo division, government of india

A closed meeting of the
UN Trusteeship Council
in December 1956.
Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
addressed the meeting.
Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, aimed at reaching “the end of
colonialism in all its manifestations”.
The Declaration on Decolonization reinterpreted Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter,

titled ‘Declaration regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories’. The United Nations Charter
had organized colonies into Trust Territories, destined for independence, and Non-Self-
Governing Territories, controlled by administering authorities. These administering powers
were to recognize "that the interests of the inhabitants of these Territories are paramount"
and accept as a "sacred trust" the obligation to promote their well-being. But there were no
provisions regarding independence for these territories, leading some to regard this system as
simply the regulation of colonization rather than a push to end it. While there were only 11
Trust Territories, Non-Self-Governing Territories numbered 72, including a much larger share
of all colonial possessions.
The 1960 Declaration on Decolonization disrupted this understanding. It gave recognition

to “the passionate yearning for freedom in all dependent peoples” and established that “the
right to freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural
development” was a right inherent to all people. At the same time, new global configurations
and movements based on the Declaration, such as the New International Economic Order
(NIEO), highlighted the links between decolonization and economic self-determination. India
donned the leadership mantle, gathering political support for these new ideas.
India was among the most vocal advocates for the right to self-determination, using its position
as a founding member of the United Nations to initiate discussions on the matter. India gained
early chairmanship of the General Assembly Fourth Committee, the Special Committee on
120
Decolonization. It was set up in 1961 to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the
Declaration and provide recommendations for its application.
In speech after speech at the United Nations, Indian leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijaya
Lakshmi Pandit, V.K. Krishna Menon, A.B. Pant and Rajeshwar Dayal urged former colonialist
powers to give up their claims, while also highlighting and lauding the efforts of colonized
people to achieve self-determination. These efforts saw remarkable results, as new national
flags were raised over country after country throughout the former colonies. By the end of the
1960s, 40 new sovereign nations had entered the United Nations, bringing its membership to
126. They forever changed its political dynamics.
The currents of change were also reflected in other historic events, such as the civil rights
movement in the United States, the adoption of landmark human rights treaties by the
United Nations and the end of apartheid in South Africa. By the end of the 1990s, the
first International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, most colonies had achieved
independence and the status of fully sovereign States. The Trusteeship Council fulfilled its
role of overseeing independence for its 11 Trust Territories in 1994, with the independence
of Palau. A second such Decade was proclaimed in 2001, and a third in 2011, as the Special
Committee on Decolonization continues to monitor the situation in the remaining 17
territories, including Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and
others working towards independence. Since the founding of the UN, a total of 80 former
colonies have achieved independence.
India’s tradition of supporting the causes of the developing countries continues today in
various forms, though the country’s policies evolve with the changing international climate and
its own strengthening sense of self. One of these is support to the United Nations Democracy
Fund, to which India is the largest donor. While proud of its own democracy, India has rarely
attempted to export it in any way, recognizing that local realities demand localized solutions.
However, India has continued its support for capacity-building of States that request assistance,
such as by providing election observers and inviting delegations to observe India’s own elections.
In the new millennium, India remains a powerful voice for the developing world in areas such
as trade and climate change, fiercely protecting the principle of equity and offering a more just
world view.
121
AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Memoir
Keeping
the Peace
by Chinmaya R. Gharekhan
Ambassador Chinmaya
Gharekhan greets UN
Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali at UN
Courtesy: Amb. C.R. Gharekhan
Headquarters in 1986.
As the Secretary-General's
Special Political Adviser,
Ambassador Gharekhan
was tasked with handling
the peacekeeping mission
in Cambodia.
I
t was during my first foreign posting, to Cairo in 1959, life of the young nation. Congo was facing a civil war, and
that I got acquainted, however tangentially, with one of its mineral-rich provinces, Katanga, had declared
the peacekeeping function of the United Nations. secession. The Congolese Government was headed by
General Indar Jit Rikhye, Commander of the United Patrice Lumumba, a firebrand politician with leftist
Nations Emergency Force in the Sinai Peninsula, used to views but a true nationalist, not very well-liked by the
visit Cairo from time to time. My Ambassador invariably West, which was keen to see the last of him. Eventually
invited him to a meal or held a reception in his honour. I Lumumba escaped from his residence, was hunted down
met the general a few times and listened to him with great by the Sûreté Nationale (civil police), captured and taken
interest as he recounted the intricacies of peacekeeping. to Katanga, where he met with his death.
However, it was during my second posting in Leopoldville,
in the Congo (now Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic The United Nations was mired in deep controversy in the
of the Congo), that I really got exposed to the UN. Congolese crisis. The Security Council had authorized
a big peacekeeping force to preserve Congo’s territorial
Throughout my stay there, from 1961 to 1963, the UN integrity. At that time, I was not familiar with the
was intimately involved in the political, military and social distinction between peacekeeping and peace enforcement
122
Memoir
or whether the UN force was authorized under Chapter VI for most of the time. The Fourth Committee dealt with
or VII of the Charter. There were three rounds of fighting issues of decolonization, and I became a strong combatant
between the UN force and Katanga’s gendarmerie, which against colonialism. I felt proud when the British
was finally vanquished after the third round. Congo’s protested against me to my Government on a couple of
integrity was preserved. India was a big part of the occasions when they thought I had been overzealous in
Congolese operation, and Rajeshwar Dayal was the Special my advocacy; fortunately, my ministry stood by me. Once,
Representative of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. no less than the redoubtable Lord Caradon, who was
the British Ambassador, complimented me, a mere First
India had contributed a whole brigade of the Indian Army, Secretary, on my intervention on the question of Fiji. I had
and I had spent a fortnight in the Naga Hills with the argued for the application of ‘one man one vote’ because
2nd Jats. This was during my training as an Indian foreign the majority of the population was of Indian origin. As
service officer in late 1958. I also spent a week in the a member of the Committee of 24 (Special Committee
hospital run by the Indians there. on Decolonization), I travelled twice to Africa, meeting
with representatives of liberation movements, many of
One of the most tragic events was the death of whom later became presidents and prime ministers of
Dag Hammarskjöld in September 1961. He died their countries.
in circumstances that remain unclear today despite
numerous investigations. He was killed when his DC-6 It was during that three-year period that the Indo-
aircraft crashed over Ndola in Northern Rhodesia, that is, Pakistan war of 1965 and the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war
today’s Zimbabwe. His coffin was brought to the airport happened. India enjoyed an excellent position in the UN
in Leopoldville en route to Sweden. I was present at the and was a member of the Security Council at the time
Ndjili airport on that solemn occasion. of the 1967 war. Negotiations were prolonged and very
tough. They finally resulted in the adoption of the famous
We used to get regular reports from New York about the resolution 242, which made history of sorts because of one
meetings of the Congo Advisory Committee, chaired by the word, ‘the’. It was omission of ‘the’ that made it possible
Secretary-General. The reports described the apprehensions for all the members to agree to the resolution. The
of the troop-contributing countries regarding the mandate resolution called for Israeli withdrawal from “territories”
of the peacekeeping force and so on. For all these reasons, I instead of “the territories” occupied by Israel during the
became intensely interested in the UN and developed a keen war. In English, it was grammatically wrong to speak of
desire to be a part of the important work being performed “territories” instead of “the territories”, but it made no
by this world body. I had no idea then that my wish would difference in French and Spanish.
be fulfilled way beyond my expectations. In all, I spent 23
years dealing with and working in the Organization in My next posting to the UN was in Geneva as Permanent
various capacities, including two stints at the headquarters Representative of India to the European Offices of the
of the Ministry of External Affairs, three terms in the UN and Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament.
Indian missions in New York and Geneva, two of which It met twice a week and was not overburdened with work.
were as Permanent Representative, and one assignment as The main business in Geneva related to the General
Under-Secretary-General, for nearly seven years. Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
As First Secretary in the Permanent Mission in New York (UNCTAD). Since my Government had decided, in its
from 1965 to 1968, I dealt with the First Committee infinite wisdom, that the Ambassador in Brussels would
(Peace and Security) for a while and the Fourth Committee handle those subjects, I had plenty of leisure time!
123
The most interesting work was in the Commission for over six years; it is still a record for Permanent
on Human Rights. During my time, Vijaya Lakshmi Representatives in New York.
Pandit used to come from India as our representative
on community health. She was a dignified and friendly My term in New York was most satisfying but strenuous.
person; I got along very well with her. One event stands It coincided with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise
out in my memory. There was the infamous case of an of the Soviet Union; the end of the cold war; Iraq’s Saddam
Indian lady examined for her virginity at the Heathrow Hussein’s attempt to swallow a Member State (namely
airport in London. She was going to England to Kuwait); the disastrous tragedies of Somalia and Rwanda;
get married, and the British, presuming that Indian the extremely turbulent period of Boutros Boutros-
women had to be virgins before marriage, insisted on Ghali’s Secretary-Generalship; the most virulent attacks
examining her. on the UN by the United States
Congress, especially Republicans;
There was a storm of protest in
The UN is not a perfect and many other events.
India. I was asked to raise the issue
organization; nothing devised
in the human rights forum since
by human hands can be. It lacks Fortunately and happily for
this was clearly a case of insulting
independent sources of funding, me, India was a member of the
women all over the world. Vijaya
which is perhaps what the Security Council for the last two
Lakshmi Pandit was fully on board. international community prefers; years of my assignment, from
I spoke to all the delegations and otherwise, the Secretary-General 1991 to 1992, when the Security
mobilized support for a statement can become very powerful and Council became hyperactive.
expressing strong condemnation independent. It lacks a standing There were other developments,
and disapproval. Everyone was army for rapid deployment in too, such as the creation of the
ready to support the case and crisis situations. Its capacity to post of the High Commissioner
spoke up in criticism of the British influence the economic agenda for Human Rights, the post of
authorities’ action. The British were is extremely limited since the Under-Secretary-General for
rattled; their Ambassador sought principal players there are Humanitarian Assistance, the
me out and requested to find a way the Washington institutions. first stirrings of the doctrine
out. I refused. Then what happened Nevertheless, it is the only of humanitarian intervention,
is what usually happens in such institution we have where States later couched in more elegant
cases. The British approached the around the world sit together and and less offensive words as ‘the
Government in Delhi, who, in turn, discuss common problems. responsibility to protect’, and the
asked me to find a compromise that first-ever meeting of the Security
would be short of a critical statement from the Chair. I Council at the Summit level. In brief, I had the good
was most disappointed at the climb down by Delhi, but fortune of being present at creation!
had no choice.
The timing of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait was
I took charge of the office of Permanent Representative bad for him. He did it when the cold war was nearly over
to the UN in New York on 1 November 1986. Before that and the Soviets were eager to cooperate with America.
I overlapped with my predecessor, Ambassador Natarajan Thus, Saddam could not count on a Soviet veto to bail
Krishnan, for nearly two and a half months. This was him out. He invaded on 2 August 1990, and the Council
unusual, but Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi insisted on it. lost no time in condemning it and calling upon Saddam
Little did I expect that I would remain in that position to withdraw from Kuwait. Four days later, it imposed
124
Memoir
comprehensive sanctions on Iraq, with no permanent became the 16th member of the Council. That was when
member casting a veto. Yemen abstained and American CNN made its name and money.
Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering told the Yemeni
Ambassador, Abdullah Saleh al-Ashtal, that that would The break-up of the Soviet Union had a domino
be a most expensive veto for Yemen! In late November, the effect. Yugoslavia broke into six independent republics;
Council adopted resolution 678 which, for the first time Czechoslovakia became the Czech and Slovak Republics.
since the Korean War, authorized Member States to “use On the other hand, East and West Germany united to
all necessary means”, a euphemism for the use of armed form the Federal Republic of Germany. Centrifugal as well
force, to reverse Kuwait’s occupation. as centripetal tendencies were in evidence at the same time.
India joined the Council on 1 January 1991. The very first For us in the Security Council, however, the most
order of business was Iraq. Around the middle of January, difficult and problematic crises were Yugoslavia, Somalia
the ‘coalition’ started intense bombarding of Iraq. We came and Rwanda. As for Yugoslavia, the crisis began with
to learn about it through Cable News Network (CNN) Germany announcing in December 1991 that it would
broadcasts. In fact, the Council members had CNN as recognize Croatia on 15 January 1992. Secretary-General
the only source of information since the ‘coalition’ was Javier Pérez de Cuéllar wrote to the German Foreign
most reluctant to share all the information. CNN almost Minister warning him against the move, which, he said,
Courtesy: Amb. C.r. Gharekhan
Ambassador Gharekhan (centre) served as President of the Security Council when the Peacekeeping mission to Cambodia
was established through the unanimous adoption of resolution 717 on 16 October 1991. At left is Secretary-General
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
125
Ambassador Gharekhan meets with Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg in 1991.
would inevitably lead to the dissolution of Yugoslavia and Somalia presented a special problem. There was no
resultant chaos and large-scale killings and human misery. government there which could invite the UN to come in
He proved prescient. A division of labour was evolved and help. Some members, including India and China, were
whereby the UN was saddled with the peacekeeping reluctant to authorize any action in the absence of a request
mission and Europe was entrusted with the political task from the Government. The problem was easily overcome by
of reconciling conflicting parties. asking the acting Permanent Representative of the Somali
Mission to the UN, which, in any case, was being funded
The most controversial part was by the Americans, to send a letter!
In the social field
regarding ‘safe havens’ established by
especially, the UN is uniquely Somalia was a mess and remains
the UN in Bosnia at the initiative of the
placed to lay down norms such so. The Americans lost 18 Special
Venezuelan Ambassador, who received
as women and children’s issues, Forces in an operation mounted
full support from the West. It was a entirely by them without even
drug control, environment and
disastrous decision. Secretary-General informing the UN and blamed the
climate change, and so on.
Boutros-Ghali, who succeeded Mr. UN and the Secretary-General for
It would be in nobody’s interest
Pérez de Cuéllar on 1 January 1992, it! In Rwanda, too, the big powers,
to weaken the UN. who knew exactly what was going
had put down his requirements in
writing, which included 34,000 on, did everything to weaken the UN
troops. He warned that without such numbers he could peacekeeping mission and blamed the UN for the genocide.
not guarantee the safety of the safe havens. The Council In fact, the Western members refused to acknowledge the
authorized fewer than 10,000 troops, which took more nature of the killings as genocide; the Secretary-General
than 18 months to be deployed. Everyone knows about was the first to do so and was criticized for it.
the massacre at Srebrenica, for which the UN has been
blamed, but there is another side to this story – Member The Secretary-General invited me to join his staff as
States’ indecisiveness was as much to blame. Under-Secretary-General from 1 January 1993, which at
126
Ambassador Gharekhan's book The Horseshoe Table was launched at UN Headquarters by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on
28 November 2006.
the time was the senior-most position after the Secretary- crack down on Hamas and other radical elements, which, in
General. He made me his Special Coordinator for the turn, invited the wrath of human rights organizations.
Middle East Peace Process, following the Oslo Accords
between the Palestine Liberation Organization and The UN is not a perfect organization; nothing devised
Israel. But soon, he asked me to function as his Personal by human hands can be. It lacks independent sources
Representative to the Security Council. He pleaded of funding, which is perhaps what the international
lack of time to attend all its meetings. I became his ears community prefers; otherwise, the Secretary-General can
as well as his voice. I had to face a lot of flak; the five become very powerful and independent. It lacks a standing
permanent members in particular were not happy, as they army for rapid deployment in crisis situations. Its capacity
thought the Secretary-General was not being respectful to influence the economic agenda is extremely limited
to them. But gradually they reconciled, as they could since the principal players there are the Washington
criticize the Secretary-General all they wanted in his institutions. Nevertheless, it is the only institution we have
absence! Those three to four years as his representative in where States around the world sit together and discuss
the Council were most interesting, though not stress-free. common problems.
I kept notes and published a book, The Horseshoe Table:
An Inside View of the UN Security Council, which has been In the social field, especially, the UN is uniquely placed to
well-received. lay down norms for issues relating to women and children,
drug control, environment and climate change, and so on.
When Kofi Annan became Secretary-General, after the It would be in nobody’s interest to weaken the UN.
Americans denied Boutros-Ghali a second term, he wanted
me to go to the occupied Palestinian territories as the United — Chinmaya R. Gharekhan is former Permanent
Nations Special Coordinator. I welcomed the change, and Representative of India to the United Nations and
increased my understanding of the Palestinian problem and United Nations Special Coordinator for the
the ways in which the Americans and others used Arafat to Middle East Peace Process.
127
12
THE PALESTINE
ISS U E
Continuing
Support
India, sharing the fate of Palestine as British colonies subjected to the indignities of
colonialism and subsequently a brutal partition, has been a vocal supporter of Palestinian self-
determination. This stance is guided by the parallels between India’s foreign policy principles
and those of the United Nations Charter, stressing non-aggression, non-interference, peaceful
co-existence, respect for human rights and justice. India’s position on the Palestinian question
has evolved over the decades and has also been mediated by India’s gradual shifts in policy
towards Israel, particularly after the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993-1995. The evolution of the
relationship between India and Israel has been long and relatively complex. India has worked
to balance its commitment to justice, human rights and self-determination with its own
strategic interests and domestic politics.
Asaf Ali (left), the first

Indian Ambassador to
the United States and
Chairman of the Indian
delegation to the first
special session of the UN
General Assembly, talks
with Tiburcio Carias,
Jr., Chairman of the
Honduran delegation.
The session was convened
on 29 April 1947 at the
UN Photo/AF
request of the United

Kingdom to address the
issue of Palestine.
India was among the 11 countries to sit on the United

Nations Special Committee on Palestine, established by the
General Assembly on 15 May 1947 to investigate and make
recommendations on the Palestinian situation. The Committee
had two plans: the majority plan for partition into two
independent States (which was approved) and the minority
plan, proposed by India, Iran and Yugoslavia, which outlined
the possibility of Palestinian-Israeli ‘co-existence’ in the form
of a federal structure consisting of an Arab State and a Jewish
State, with Jerusalem as its capital.
At the second session of the General Assembly in 1947, mere

months after gaining independence, India voted against the
partition of Palestine. Subsequently, in May 1949, it voted
against the admission of Israel into the United Nations. This
has been attributed to the need of the new Indian Government
to cement its secular credentials in the wake of the country’s
partition on religious lines.
Along with its own strategic interest, India’s consistent support
UN Photo
for Palestinian refugees has been based on moral recognition
of their inalienable rights, disputed by many, to return to their
homeland and live in dignity. Akbar Ali Khan, a member of the Indian delegation to the Special A mother and child at
Political Committee of the General Assembly, stated in 1958 at the thirteenth session that the the Damascus Reception
Centre of the United
responsibility for the relief and rehabilitation of Palestinian refugees lay in a major part with the
Nations Relief and Works
United Nations, since they would not be in this situation without the political decisions of the Agency for Palestine
United Nations. He also called on Member States to contribute funds to the United Nations Refugees in 1948.
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which had been set up to deal Assisted by voluntary
organizations, it provided
with the question of Palestinian refugees.
supplies and medical
assistance to 750,000
It was a significant step for India to recognize Palestinians not simply as refugees but as a refugees throughout the
people with the right to determine their own future. The term ‘the Palestinian people’ was used Middle East.
for the first time in 1967, in a Joint Statement between India and the United Arab Republic.
Further, the unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 242 in 1967 after the Six-
Day War, calling for “a just and lasting peace” based on “withdrawal of Israeli Armed Forces
from territories occupied in the recent conflict” was achieved through protracted negotiations
in which India played a significant role. Resolution 242 and its varied interpretations have
remained a pivotal point of reference in all Arab-Israeli diplomacy since then.
In November 1975, India voted for General Assembly resolution 3379, which determined that
“zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination”. In his statements as President of the
United Nations Security Council in October 1977, Indian Permanent Representative Rikhi
129
[Yasser Arafat is] the symbol of

a people afire with the spirit
of freedom.
Indira Gandhi at a dinner in honour
of Yasser Arafat in New Delhi
on 21 May 1982
My sister is dead. My sister Indira

Gandhi is gone.
Yasser Arafat at Indira Gandhi’s
funeral in New Delhi
on 3 November 1984
Frontline
Yasser Arafat with Indira Jaipal emphasized the significance of resolution 3379, “not only to the Palestinian people but
Gandhi in New Delhi in also to all other peoples which are oppressed by colonialism, racism, repression and injustice”.
May 1982.
Recognizing the growth in international support for the Palestinian people during the years
leading to these international agreements, Mr. Jaipal reaffirmed India’s support for resolutions
that “recognize and affirm the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to return to their
homeland, to self-determination and to national sovereignty,” especially resolution 3379, which
he claimed held special importance in the international arena. Interestingly, in December 1991,
India voted for revocation of the same resolution. This move was the result of a political shift in
India’s foreign policy, which then called for full diplomatic ties with Israel.
India welcomed the rise of what it saw as the non-militant, secular section Al-Fatah and its
leader, Yasser Arafat, within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1974, India co-
sponsored a draft resolution in the General Assembly calling for the PLO to be invited to
debates about the future of Palestine as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people
at the General Assembly. Arafat expressed his deep gratitude and appreciation for India’s role.
He went on to develop strong rapport with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and later prime
ministers, visiting India often.
In 1993, the Secretary-General appointed Indian

diplomat Chinmaya R. Gharekhan as his Special
Representative to the multilateral talks on peace in the
Middle East. In 2005, he was also appointed by the
Prime Minister of India as the first-ever Special Envoy for
West Asia and the Middle East Peace Process.
130
Visitors at an exhibition
in New Delhi on
29 November 2013,
celebrating the
International Day of
Solidarity with the
Palestinian People. It was
organized by the United
Nations Information
Centre with the Indian
UNIC
Council on World Affairs.
India was the first Non-Arab State to recognize the PLO as the sole and legitimate representative
of the Palestinian people in 1974, and a PLO office was set up in New Delhi in 1975. India
was one of the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine in 1988, and it opened a
Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority in Gaza on 25 June 1996 (moving it to
Ramallah in 2003).
India has also played an important role in various peacekeeping operations in the region. These
have included the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (the first-ever United
Nations peacekeeping operation, set up in 1948) and the United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon. India has made a considerable financial contribution to the humanitarian activities
of UNRWA, supporting projects to build universities, sports facilities and hospitals. It has
reiterated its consistent and unwavering support for the Palestinian cause on the international
stage, co-sponsoring and supporting a number of General Assembly resolutions through the
years on various aspects of the Palestinian question. During a visit to India by Yasser Arafat
in April 1999, a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs emphasized that a just,
comprehensive and lasting peace in the region can only be based on relevant UN resolutions,
offering support to the Palestinian people's legitimate and inalienable right to homeland.
India’s support for the Palestinian people has always been more moderated than that of the Arab
States of West Asia, as it has stated it upholds the right of all States in the region, including
Palestine and Israel, to coexist peacefully with secure and internationally recognized borders.
This stance evolved after India’s own independence and recognition of Israel. India was, in fact,
131
among the first countries to recognize Israel, on 17 September 1950. Pandit Nehru remained
firm in his view that negotiations were the only way to resolve the issue, in the face of Arab calls
for the destruction of the State of Israel.
Through the following decades, India condemned attacks by Palestinian organizations,

including the attack by the fringe group Black September at the Munich Olympics of 1972. It
also condemned Israel for its expansion of settlements into Gaza and the West Bank, and for
its disproportionate response to incidents of conflict. Informal ties between India and Israel
existed, particularly in defence and military matters, and in the 1950s Israel was allowed to open
a consulate in Bombay (now Mumbai). The Indian Government, supporting the Palestinian
cause, did not want to pursue full diplomatic relations with Israel. It was only in 1992 that Israel
was allowed to open an embassy in New Delhi, and relations have flourished since then. Various
bilateral trade agreements have been implemented and others are in the process of negotiation.
In November 2012, the General Assembly, including India, voted overwhelmingly to accord
Palestine the status of a non-Member Observer State, and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has granted Palestine full membership.
However, India was also one of only five countries to abstain from a Human Rights Council
resolution condemning the 2014 Israeli offensive in Gaza.
In September 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Mahmoud Abbas
on the sidelines of the seventieth General Assembly session in New York. In October, Indian
President Pranab Mukherjee paid the first-ever state visit to Palestine, and in November,
Prime Minister Modi sent a statement to the General Assembly on the International Day
of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. He wrote, “[Today] is an important occasion for
us to reaffirm our support for the Palestinian people's struggle for a sovereign, independent,
viable and united State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and
recognized borders, side by side and at peace with Israel… We remain hopeful that talks and
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will resume soon, leading to a comprehensive peace process and
an amicable resolution of the conflict.”
India’s championing of the Palestinian cause has contributed to the State of Palestine’s
growing international legitimacy. Given the volatility of the situation, however, India’s stand
in international politics will continue to evolve in response to current events. Despite all the
intensive and extensive efforts, the Palestine issue remains unresolved. It continues to require
the urgent attention of the international community.
132
13
G l o b a l C o nf e r e nce s
Building
Consensus
The last decade of the twentieth century sowed the seeds for diversification of the UN’s activities
and intensification of its role as the political heart of a world transitioning into a post-cold-
war era. The 1990s began with a number of global conferences that reflected the emergence of
new hope, catalysed by the end of the cold war, which had precluded many actions of the UN.
The decisive victory of a multi-country coalition under a strong Security Council mandate to
end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait also contributed to the surge of cooperative momentum
among the permanent Members, which further expressed itself in the conferences and summits
held during the decade. Children’s and women’s rights, social development, the environment,
population, food security, education – all received in-depth consideration at global conferences.
Together, they amounted to an immense effort to expound, clarify and establish specific goals
and action plans for the achievement of the UN vision of social progress.
The first summit, with considerable symbolic and strategic value, was the World Summit for
Children, held in New York in 1990. Attended by 159 governments, it was the largest gathering
At the World Summit for Children in 1990, Kailash Satyarthi,

2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, was one of the Indian
NGO representatives. “The world is not fit for children,” he
said, “who are bought like animals, locked in factories and
houses and … forced into beggary where their tiny organs
are mutilated to gain more sympathy.” Nor, he said, is it fit
for the “young girls trapped in the flesh trade, or the kids tied
down on the backs of camels in the Gulf countries where
the screaming of a child makes the camel run faster and his
master is happy.”
At the United Nations Conference on the Human

Environment in Stockholm in 1972, Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi made a seminal speech introducing the idea of
sustainable development, combining poverty alleviation
and environmental protection. Over 20 years later, Prime
Minister Narasimha Rao scaled up the concept of poverty
alleviation to poverty eradication at the World Summit for
Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995. Their speeches
underscore India's role in shaping the international agenda.
ever of world leaders. It resulted in a World Declaration and a Plan of Action for the survival,
protection and development of children. Participants at the Summit designed a holistic system
of interventions to address hunger, sanitation, illiteracy, discrimination and exploitation. The
Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali Indian delegation was led by Ila Bhat, founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association and
(centre) at the Conference member of the Planning Commission. The model of this Summit – adopting a declaration
on Environment and to pledge commitment to a cause, followed by a plan of action with recommended strategies
Development (Rio de – served as a blueprint for many of the conferences to come. Member States were encouraged
Janeiro, June 1992). At
to adopt legislation and set up institutions in alignment with the outcome documents of the
far left is Nitin Desai,
Deputy Secretary-General Summit. India’s National Plan of Action was adopted in September 1990 with 27 quantifiable
of the Conference. goals placing children at the core of human development.
UN Photo/MichosTzovaras
134
As the demands of the cold war had led to a tight focus on national security, development
issues suffered from insufficient attention. Thus, many conferences during this period revisited
questions that had been previously taken up but not resolved. The conferences were crucial in
disseminating ideas and promoting their incorporation in government policy, as later United
Nations publications have shown.
The 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit,
built on the work of the Stockholm Conference of 1972 on environmental protection,
linking it with poverty eradication and development. In the 1970s, sovereignty over natural
resources and resource management still dominated the discourse around environmental
protection, perhaps as a remnant of the imperial age. The Earth Summit, held in Rio de
Janeiro, heralded a revolutionary change in perceptions, since it recognized the global nature
of complex environmental problems and linked them to wider issues of economic and social
development. It was the largest summit of its time, with 172 governments coming together
to formulate what we now know as Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development. The Earth Summit also introduced climate change onto the international
agenda for the first time, with the opening for signatures of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change. Today, this Convention remains the underlying framework for international
climate negotiations.
India was one of the most influential nations at this summit, as the voice of the developing world.
It assured the developing nations’ bloc of its commitment to gaining funding for environment
protection initiatives, while at the same time vocally opposing international supervision of
natural resources. India also followed up on the Summit by enacting the Biological Diversity
Act (2002) and the Forest Rights Act (2006) in alignment with its principles.
The human rights revolution of our age and time, I believe,

Mr. President, enshrines the legacy of many revolutions in
the history of humankind. In more recent times Mahatma
Gandhi and Martin Luther King showed the way and
wrought the blueprint of the new revolution in human rights
sensibilities and charted the path of non-violence for the
whole world to follow, for without non-violence you cannot
have human rights.
Manmohan Singh, leader of the Indian delegation,
at the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1993
135
While these conferences marked the beginning of a new phase of consensus on evolving issues,
they also had in common a refocusing of the development and human rights discourses on
people – their quality of life and well-being. At the Fourth World Conference on Women,
in 1995, 189 nations adopted by consensus the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,
a powerful agenda for fundamental change towards achieving gender equality. Through the
application of approaches such as gender mainstreaming, the life-cycle approach, human rights
and development, and partnership between the sexes, the Conference sought to promote gender
equality in 12 critical thematic areas.
India undertook commitments to invest at least 6 per cent of its gross domestic product on
education, with a focus on girls, and instituted the position of a Commissioner for Women’s
Rights, a public defender of the rights of females. The Conference suggested a target of 30 per
cent of women in decision-making positions, which was taken up in Indian panchayats, which
have mandated that one third of seats be reserved for women. The four global conferences
Prime Minister on women, beginning in 1975 in Mexico City, resulted in the establishment of a coordinated
P.V. Narasimha approach to women’s rights through collective action. The mechanisms and structures include
Rao addresses the the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the United
World Summit for
Nations Development Fund for Women (recently replaced by the United Nations Entity for
Social Development.
Copenhagen, Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or UN-Women), and the International
11 March 1995. Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women.
It is only now that the leaders of the

world have begun to think of how to
live, rather than how to kill, or escape
killing. The new task is truly new and
stupendous. Copenhagen is only a
beginning, and if what men could do for
destruction is any indication, what they
can also do for a changed agenda of
construction does hold immense hope
for humankind.
Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao

at the World Summit for Social Development, 1995
136
The Declaration and Programme of Action of the World

Conference on Human Rights in Vienna recognized
the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of
all human rights. It emphasized the responsibilities of
all States to protect and promote human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
The importance of integrating the approaches of various bodies working on the same set
of issues was also brought out at the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993).
Following up on the first International Conference on Human Rights (Tehran, 1968), the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, formulated by the 171 governments present,
instituted the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights. It also called for the fusion of the
Centre for Human Rights and the Commission on Human Rights. The point of merging the
Secretariat body of experts (the Centre for Human Rights) with the decision-making political
body (the Commission on Human Rights) was to bring expert opinions into policymaking
and to reinforce the importance of human rights to the maintenance of peace and hence to
development. At the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Indian
delegation, led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, presented closing remarks commending the solidarity
of the world on issues of human rights.
Development remained a quintessential task of the Fourth United Nations Development

Decade (beginning in 1991), particularly given the disappointing level of growth of the 1980s.
The notion of development had come a long way, from the initial purely economic idea of
development as modernization, to inclusion of other issues such as human rights, human
security and peace.
The World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995) created a new social
contract at the global level. Participating nations agreed by consensus on 10 commitments. A
new focus on international cooperation for social development emerged at the Summit due
to the weakening of East-West and North-South divides. India reiterated the importance of
international cooperation in the statement presented by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.
He stressed that the need to develop is fundamental to each nation and that cultural fault lines
between nations have created several problems in collective growth and action. This was also
the Summit that witnessed the shift in the global agenda from poverty alleviation to poverty
eradication, led by India. The social development principles of poverty reduction, employment
generation and maintenance of social harmony were reiterated at the South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit held in New Delhi later the same year.
137
UN Photo
The International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, 8 September 1994.
138
The International Conference on Population and Development

(Cairo, 1994) reached the Cairo Consensus on three quantitative
goals to be achieved by 2015: reduction of infant, child and
maternal mortality; universal access to education, particularly for
girls; and universal access to a full range of reproductive health
services, including family planning. The Indian delegation and
NGOs were ardent supporters of the recommendations calling for
a shift from family planning targets based purely on demographics
and quotas of use, to service-oriented goals that prioritized quality
of care. Following the Cairo recommendations, India was also
one of the first countries to ban the use of method-specific family
planning targets, which often focused only on sterilization, and
shift towards more comprehensive, higher quality services.
At the World Food Summit (Rome, 1996) participating nations

set a target of reducing the number of undernourished people
in the world by half by 2015. To achieve the objectives of the
Summit, the Indian Public Distribution System was streamlined
into a new Targeted Public Distribution System at a Chief
Ministers’ Conference in July 1996.
As these conferences underscore, the focus in the 1990s shifted

from development planning as solely a matter of economic
development to a more holistic understanding incorporating
employment, income, equality, food, human rights, the
environment and empowerment. The decade brought greater
consensus at the United Nations on issues of common concern.
The various conferences, each dedicated to the advancement
of thought and action on a specific thematic area, also
demonstrated a universality of concern. This is imperative to
international cooperation for development and for achievement
of the core purposes of the Charter. The conferences’ principal
recommendation was for States to take full responsibility for their
own development, promoting total human well-being, rather
than simply income growth. The momentum of these conferences
reached a head at the Millennium Summit in 2000, which laid
out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which formed
the framework for international development action for the
next 15 years. These have been followed by the Sustainable
Development Goals, adopted in 2015 to set the priorities in
economic, social, and environmental spheres until 2030.
139
Global Conferences
Memoir
The Spirit of
Internationalism
by Nitin Desai
Nitin Desai, United Nations

Under-Secretary-General
for Economic and Social
Affairs, speaking at
the World Summit on
Sustainable Development,
Johannesburg,
4 September 2002.
I
ndia was among the original members of the United resolution and economic and social development fitted
Nations that signed the Declaration of the United in well with the objectives of independent India, which
Nations in Washington, D.C. on 1 January 1942 became a strong supporter of the United Nations in
and participated in the United Nations Conference many different ways. It was truly appropriate that the
on International Organization in San Francisco in first head of the Economic and Social Council was Sir
1945. At the time India was still a British colony but, Ramaswami Mudaliar, and I can still recollect the thrill
with independence being imminent, it participated in on seeing his signature in the copy of the UN Charter
this founding process along with three other similarly kept in the visitors’ entrance lounge at UN Headquarters
placed countries. The twin objectives of peaceful dispute in New York.
140
Memoir
My formal association with the UN came rather late perspective on global economic issues – argued that the
in my career, when I joined the Secretariat of the UN impact was less than benign, and that major reforms
Conference on Environment and Development (the in trade, investment, technology and aid policies were
Rio Earth Summit) as a Deputy Secretary-General. needed to ensure that developing countries got a better
But the intellectual connection goes back many years. deal in their international economic transactions. The
During my career as a development planner, the work Washington institutions, on the other hand, believed
done in the UN Conference on Trade and Development in and promoted the advantages of the opening of the
(UNCTAD) and elsewhere on development policy was a economy to trade and investment. The two approaches
significant influence in policy debates in India. Many of also differed in their prescriptions for domestic policy.
the ideas that have shaped development thinking, such as
the dependency theory, sustainable development, human These differences were greatest in the mid-1970s when
development, basic needs, and inclusive growth, among the developing countries put forth their vision of a new
others, originated in the UN. international economic order. The 1980s were a period
when these differences, exacerbated by the emergence
The development dialogue in the UN reflects a two-way of a vigorous free market ideology in the United States
relationship between country experiences and a global and the United Kingdom, led to an impasse in the global
perspective on the forces shaping the world economy. development dialogue, which came out in the open at the
Thus, the dependency theory originated in the perceptions Cancun North-South Summit in 1981.
of Latin American countries about how their economies
were tied asymmetrically to those of the developed world India was a major player in these debates from the very
whose policies seriously affected them. Similar links beginning. Its voice was strongest in the early years,
between country experiences and global development when it succeeded in getting the developing country
ideology can be found in the UN discussions on basic exception permitting quantitative restrictions written
needs, and human and sustainable development. This into the Charter of the General Agreement on Tariffs
should not surprise anyone, because the intellectuals and Trade, and later when UNCTAD was established in
who staffed the UN economic institutions brought with 1964. I was engaged directly with the global development
them a wealth of country experience and related ideas on dialogue in the 1990s. Before that I had been involved
development strategy. more indirectly when I joined the Secretariat of the
Brundtland Commission to help draft its very influential
But the UN system is not monolithic. There are report ‘Our Common Future’. There is an interesting
differences in the approach to development among connection between domestic and international debates
different institutions. The big divide used to be between on development here. I drafted the texts on sustainable
UNCTAD, the Department of Economic and Social development that became the major theme of the report
Affairs and the regional economic commissions on one and perhaps the most important contribution to the
side and the two Washington institutions, the World report. In doing this, I drew on the ideas about sustainable
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the development that had gone into India’s Sixth Five-Year
other. These differences revolved around their respective Plan, in whose drafting I had been involved.
views on how benign the influence of global economic
developments was on developing country prospects. I joined the UN in 1990 when an exceptional window of
The UN bodies – particularly UNCTAD and the opportunity for global cooperation emerged. As far as the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the global economy was concerned, the adjustments of the
Caribbean, which articulated a developing country 1980s were now bearing fruit and we were poised for an
141
acceleration of growth. Ideological battles between capitalist growing willingness of the World Bank and the IMF to
and socialist programmes came to a virtual end with the align with the UN, and even in the Davos Forum. The UN
upheavals in the Soviet Union and the Deng revolution in has helped to delineate a new consensus on development
China. India, too, moved to open up its economy as the that defines goals and policy frameworks for public policy
foreign exchange crisis of 1991 forced a radical rethink and at the national level and for development cooperation. The
launched a slew of liberalization measures. most essential point about this consensus is that it is not
the product of an expert group exercise or the view of the
Superficially it would seem that the Washington view had UN Secretariat. It is the negotiated product of a process
prevailed over the New York/Geneva UN view. But the that involved the entire membership of the UN, and
record of the development dialogue through the 1990s is hence gives the goals and recommended policies a certain
rather different. The triumph of free-market ideology left political legitimacy. This is radically different from policy
governments without an ideological or even programmatic changes secured through aid conditionalities.
foundation for public policy. This
is where the UN stepped in with a I am particularly pleased with
series of global conferences, which Many of the ideas that the way the UN could draw the
provided the rationale both for have shaped development thinking, World Bank and International
public policy at the national level and such as dependency theory, Monetary Fund into the
for development cooperation. These sustainable development, human substantive preparations for
were the conferences that I was development, basic needs, inclusive these UN Summits. I believe
involved in, as Deputy Secretary- growth, among others, originated that my experience at the
General of the United Nations in the UN. The development top level of the finance and
Conference on Environment and dialogue in the UN reflects a development bureaucracy
Development (Rio de Janeiro, two-way relationship between in India made me a known
1992), and as the Under-Secretary- country experiences and a global entity with whom they could
General in charge of the World perspective on the forces shaping interact. This partnership
Summit on Social Development the world economy. was particularly strong for
(Copenhagen, 1995), the the Monterrey Conference.
International Conference on Financing for Development This was scheduled to be held in early 2002 and there
(Monterrey, 2002) and the World Summit on Sustainable were some voices arguing for a postponement because
Development ( Johannesburg, 2002). everyone was preoccupied with the aftermath of the 9/11
terrorist attack. I argued that, in fact, the terrorist attack
The core of the agreements reached in these conferences had made the United States more sensitive to developing
was captured in the MDGs, which were crisp enough country concerns and they would be more open to doing
to command public attention and precise enough to be something new in the field of development finance. That
monitored. They came from the goals agreed to in the is precisely what happened, as George W. Bush came to
conferences but were packaged into the Millennium the Summit and announced a major initiative to raise the
Declaration, which was approved by the Millennium level of United States assistance for development.
Summit, which met at UN Headquarters in New York in
September 2000. My career in the UN was devoted to the organization and
management of these conferences. Our role as a Secretariat
The impact of the conferences and the goals can be seen was to arrange the meetings and ensure that the papers
in the changing agenda of the G7/G8 meetings, in the required were available in time. The global conferences
142
Memoir
UN Photo/James Bu
(Left to right): Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development; S.R. Insanally (Guyana),
President of the General Assembly; and Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the Economic and Social Council, 28 June 1994.
were hosted by a UN Member State and, given their high vigorous NGO involvement, both in the main conference
profile, the host Government took a special interest in the and in parallel NGO conferences. This task was almost as
progress and potential outcome of the conference. Hence, demanding as that of managing the main political process.
a key task for the conference Secretariat was to consult In fact, even more demanding because NGOs are idealists
with them not just on organizational issues, but on the committed to a cause, and are vocal and insistent on
broader politics of securing a consensus. being heard. Other responsibilities included dealing with
the media, supporting and participating in seminars and
The host country’s diplomatic capacity was often deployed workshops outside the preparatory committee meetings,
to solve difficult issues in the negotiations. In the actual raising funds from donors to supplement the budget
negotiating meetings, the Chair of the preparatory provisions, and so on.
committee and the various ambassadors and country
delegates appointed as coordinators were the managers of I could do all this because of the dedication and
the political process, and the conference Secretariat had commitment of the UN staff members who were part
to support them in this task. These conferences involved of the Secretariat. Throughout the decade that I headed
143
UN Photo/EVAN SCHNEIDER
Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivers his closing address at the conclusion of the Economic and Social Council's substantive session
for 2000 on 28 July. Listening (left to right) are Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Patrizio Civili;
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai; Kofi Annan; Economic and Social Council President
Makarim Wibisono (Indonesia); and Council Secretary Margaret Kelley.
one of the largest departments at UN Headquarters in Now that I am out of the UN, I remember and cherish
New York as well as the secretariats for the great global this spirit of internationalism and the commitment to
conferences, I never came across a UN staff member teamwork with colleagues from all parts of the world. The
who thought of herself/himself as a national first and an culture of internationalism, respect for cultural diversity
international afterwards. And nobody ever told me I will and a commitment to peaceful progress is perhaps the
not do this because this is not my job. They did it because most important contribution the UN makes to shape the
they realized that these conferences were a unique attempt course of history.
to bring countries together to fulfil the promise of the
Charter, “to promote social progress and better standards — Nitin Desai is former Under-Secretary-General for
of life in larger freedom”. Economic and Social Affairs.
144
Promoting Sustainable
Development
14
U N REP ORTS AND
DATA C OLLECTIO N
Creating
Knowledge
Over the 70 years of its existence the United Nations has made prominent and pioneering
contributions, both nationally and internationally, in the sphere of economic, social,
environmental and developmental issues. During the post-Second World War period, it has
played a deeply influential role in quantifying the importance of human activities around the
world, by creating an internationally acknowledged statistical system. The UN has done this also
by coordinating data collection and compilation methods, proposing standard definitions and
implementing uniform frameworks across countries. Data form an essential requirement of the
decision-making process, and impartial and independent data can deepen our understanding
of the world.
The first meeting of the

Statistical Commission
of the United Nations
Economic and Social
Council, held under the
chairmanship of
Herbert Marshall,
Un phto
in New York,
27 January 1947.
Pioneering Indian statistician P.C. Mahalanobis played

a crucial role in the early work of the UN Statistical
Commission. From 1947 to 1951, he served as Chairman
of the first United Nations Sub-Commission on Sampling,
set up by the Commission in one of its first substantive
actions. His contribution was seminal, informed by his
past experiences founding the Indian Statistical Institute
Photo Division, Government of India
in 1931 and serving as Statistical Adviser to the Central

Cabinet of India in 1949. Prominent UN economist Sir
Hans Singer said that Mahalanobis “became the prophet
(or guru) of the development economists and Calcutta
became their Mecca”.
Before the Second World War, there was no global authority on data collection, and therefore P.C. Mahalanobis,
data in different countries were not collected in a coordinated and coherent way. Information Chairman of the United
Nations Sub-Commission
was also not routinely disseminated to the public. Much of the statistical information relating to on Statistical Sampling,
economic activity, prices, employment, unemployment and wages was haphazard, inconsistent in New Delhi in
and selective. Data collection was founded on definitions that were not comparable across December 1951. He
countries. Sampling methods and social inquiries were still in their infancy and were used was called “the presiding
genius of Indian statistics”
systematically only in some advanced countries.
by Prime Minister Nehru.
One of the UN’s important innovations was establishing the United Nations Statistical
Commission, in 1947. It serves as a representative body, bringing together the Chief Statisticians
from Member States. It is the highest body of the global statistical system, overseeing the work
of the United Nations Statistical Office (UNSO), now the United Nations Statistics Division
(UNSD). The Commission has devoted its efforts to developing standard statistical methods
and common classifications, and to coordinating data collection activities between countries
and agencies. Its goal is to make the data comparable over time and across the world.
In the early years, the Commission, under the direction of P.C. Mahalanobis and Richard
Stone, recommended some new and revolutionary changes in official statistics, particularly in
sampling and national accounts, which were path-breaking and had far-reaching implications.
The System of National Accounts, invented in 1947, laid the foundation for more rigorous
policy analysis. It also created an interrelated network of concepts and definitions that remain
broadly unchanged even today. The UN’s role in developing the basic concepts of gross domestic
product, gross national product and associated concepts is universally recognized. These
concepts have had huge implications for how economic activity is perceived and measured.
147
In addition to developing a global consensus on principles and standards

allowing all countries to follow the same compilation methods, the
Commission has provided technical assistance to its Member States in
developing methodologies for conducting censuses and other reporting
and in survey methods. Economic policy and development strategy have
been critically influenced by these concepts and methods of data collection,
and, in turn, they have affected the principles of data collection.
Office of the Registrar-General of India
When the United Nations was established, it emphasized the measurement

of economic activities such as production in different sectors and external
trade. These were of direct interest to the advanced industrial countries
that had major influence in the UN Statistical Office. This approach
also reflected a broader perception that the development challenge was
fundamentally one of raising the rate of growth, which was then expected
to deliver structural change, create jobs and improve living conditions. This
perception was the foundation of the development of statistical systems.
A document from the
1951 Census of India. It is important to remember that none of the ways in which citizens across the world
currently assess economic and social processes and policies would have been possible
without this foundation and subsequent refinements in data collection. But while this was
fundamental it turned out not to be sufficient. Beginning in the mid-1960s, the concern
with key economic policy variables was widened to support other initiatives to compile social
indicators. Efforts to build a new database containing a variety of social indicators reflected
the realization that economic progress alone would not secure social objectives. Subsequently,
UNSD recognized the importance of the environmental dimension and started to encourage
Office of the Registrar-General of India
A training session for

census officers in 1951.
148
the collection of data on the state of the natural environment. The underlying structure of
data generation has, therefore, moved in the direction of incorporating more and more
socioeconomic indicators.
Outside UNSD, but under the direct influence of the Statistical Commission, the UN specialized
agencies, such as UNCTAD, UNESCO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) and WHO were all developing their own statistical ideas and systems
in a wide arena to fulfil their respective strategies.
The most widely used databases include those related to population and demography, as well as
the extensive and detailed system of trade statistics, which has recently incorporated statistics
on trade in services along with trade in merchandise. The ILO statistical section recognized the
need to collect data on employment and unemployment, living conditions, consumer prices and
real wages on the basis of commonly accepted definitions so as to ensure comparability across
countries. ILO also introduced time use surveys to capture the real nature of labour inputs and
the structure of the labour market. In the 1990s, the labour accounting system was introduced,
which extended the conventional labour matrix to include education, training and information
on migrant labour.
FAO launched agricultural census work in the 1960s for all its Member States. In the mid-
1970s it developed its own system of crop forecasting by considering climatic conditions to
predict the total output of major crops. In the 1990s it started conducting national censuses
of agriculture to generate measures of total crop output by country. The need for gender-
disaggregated data was recognized early on but has acquired more urgency based on demands
from the UN system including, very recently, UN-Women. Similarly, WHO made a push
for data collection on mortality, morbidity and other indicators of personal and community
health. UNSD pointed to the important methodological distinctions between the System
of National Accounts and the system of material balance accounts (Material Product
System), which was used in centrally planned economies, and between national accounts and
business accounts.
To enable international comparisons of standards of living, the International Comparison

Programme was established in 1968 as a joint venture of the UN, the World Bank and the
University of Pennsylvania. Over a series of four phases, it has conducted price and expenditure
surveys in a wide range of countries. This has resulted in the widely used purchasing power
parity exchange rate indices, which have substituted for nominal market exchange rates when
comparing incomes across countries.
In 1990, the concept of human development emerged. It was based on the recognition that
measuring income alone is not sufficient to portray the total picture of development. The
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) began producing the annual Human
149
The first Human Development Report, published in 1990, analysed

human development over the previous three decades and in 14
countries. The first-ever subnational human development report was
published for Madhya Pradesh in 1995. Today, India publishes more
human development reports than any other country, providing insights
down to the district level.
Development Report, providing indices based on wider indicators that incorporate other
dimensions of human capability. It has become an influential policy document with significant
implications for national and international strategy and development thinking. It also changed
the underlying data structure, since, for the first time, it depended on global collection of
data on various socioeconomic indicators, beyond simply income or expenditure. It measures
human development not by a one-dimensional yardstick but by a more comprehensive Human
Development Index reflecting life expectancy, literacy and per capita income.
In 1995, the Human Development Report brought gender concerns into the analysis,
introducing the gender development index and the gender empowerment measure. These
measure gender inequality in key areas of economic, social and political participation and
decision-making. Subsequent Human Development Reports have introduced the Inequality-
adjusted Human Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional
Vice President of
India Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat (right)
launches the 2004 global
Human Development
Report in New Delhi.
The report revolutionized
the concept of development
by measuring indicators
beyond income, including
social factors such as
UNDP
education and health.
150
Poverty Index. UNDP supported the Government of India in strengthening technical capacity
on human development analysis, integrating human development in planning at national, state
and district levels, and supporting the preparation of human development reports.
In preparation for the 2000 Millennium Summit, the UN sought to combine numerous
efforts to address diverse issues such as poverty eradication, environmental protection, human
rights and protection of vulnerable people. It began to collect data on these indicators in
a holistic fashion. As part of the MDG process, UNSD has undertaken a wide range of
statistical activities to produce a set of statistics covering the environmental, social and
economic dimensions of sustainable development. UNSD has sought to enable national
governments to collect data on socioeconomic indicators that had previously been neglected.
However, there has been criticism that the MDGs did not sufficiently cover the environmental
dimension of sustainable development or address the links between the three dimensions,
referring only to quantitative outcomes rather than the processes by which these could be
achieved. For the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international community has
adopted an approach that fully integrates the social, economic and environmental dimensions
of sustainable development. This may well make new demands on the underlying data
structure at national and international levels. The Secretary-General’s Independent Expert
Advisory Group on a Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, or the Data Revolution
Group (of which India’s Chief Statistician, T.C.A. Anant, is a member), seeks to address
exactly this.
Other initiatives have emerged as well. The UN Global Pulse seeks to use big data – the data
created every day on the Internet, through the use of mobile phones, by users and on online
social networks – to measure human well-being and prevent populations from shocks. It could
be used, for example, to develop early warning systems for conflicts. In 2012, humanity managed
to generate more data over digital devices in one year than had been previously generated over
the course of human history. This rate more than doubles every year – and India’s 300 million
Internet users are massive contributors.
In India, support for the UN and the importance of the use of data are two areas that have
received a great deal of individual attention but have rarely been considered together. After
India achieved independence in 1947, its economy was oriented as a mixed economy, based
on a protectionist, centrally planned and import-substituting economic model. The goals of
economic diversification and economic planning with social justice required new types of data,
different from those of the colonial period.
The link between the planning and the development of India’s socioeconomic database was
highlighted by Indian economist P.C. Mahalanobis’ emphasis on the creation of a scientific
and organized statistical system. In the early years of development planning, the Government
established numerous agencies and institutions to collect and collate information on various
economic and social indicators. One such institution was the Central Statistical Organization,
151
Office of Registrar-General of India

Collecting national
data in a country the
size of India is no easy

task, and the methods
have remained largely
the same for decades.
Here, enumerators
collect information for
the National Census in
Kashmir in 1961 (top
left) and in New Delhi
in 1981 (top right) and
2011 (right).
responsible for coordinating the work of the various statistical agencies. The National Sample
Survey Organization was established to collect statistics on a variety of indicators, such as
consumption and household expenditure, various demographic and social characteristics, and
on topics such as land holdings and employment. These complemented the census, which had
been providing demographic data since early in the twentieth century.
Over time, the increasing sophistication of the Indian economy and the requirements of
economic management and planning generated demands for more data, resulting in the
152
creation of the Annual Survey of Industries. The surveys undertaken by the National
Sample Survey Organization have also been driven by the need to respond to particular
data requirements linked to different policy objectives. These have created some problems
of comparability over time. Simultaneously, the greater emphasis on disaggregated data at
regional and local levels has provided important inputs for policies that are essential in a
country as large and diverse as India.
In the 1990s, data collection in India was significantly affected by global changes such as
the publication of the Human Development Reports. In 1995, the first subnational Human
Development Report was published for the state of Madhya Pradesh, which included Human
Development Index measurements at the district level. This triggered discussion on the
causes of stubbornly low levels of human development, such as inadequate budget allocations
for important sectors. Since then many state-level Human Development Reports have been
published. They have proved useful in attracting public attention to human development
concerns in the different states, generating policy debates and allowing for comparisons across
states. These comparisons have been further enabled by the national and subnational human
development reports brought out by different organizations in India, including government
and civil society organizations. Such reports have created growing awareness of these issues in
policy circles, though the lack of much improvement in these indicators is a cause of concern.
This is also true of the MDGs, which resulted in the need for data on indicators at national
level as well as in more disaggregated form at state and district levels. The MDGs also raised
awareness of the successes and limitations of India’s growth process so far. While the country
has achieved targets for reducing income poverty and increasing school enrolment among girls
and boys, India still lags behind significantly in other goals. This includes those relating to
women’s health and empowerment, hunger, sanitation and urban housing. Drawing attention
to these challenges is necessary to focus the attention and efforts of policymakers and civil
society. Thus the statistical system has an important role to play in this transformation.
Despite continuing gaps in data collection, the UN can and has played a significant role in
devising statistical concepts and methods, creating uniform systems, improving technical
capacity and assisting in training personnel – all crucial elements for an effective statistical
system at any level. The United Nations can also influence governments by spotlighting
neglected areas, a purpose the Human Development Indexes and the MDGs have served. The
UN’s support for consistent data management has opened the opportunity for international
comparisons, further creating ‘peer pressure’ among nations to improve conditions. This has
certainly been the case in India, and comparisons across states have prompted locally relevant
interventions that are crucial given the scale and diversity of the country.
Data collection requires substantial financial and human resources, but it is an essential tool of
economic and social transformation. Despite the UN’s contributions in improving the base of
knowledge in India and elsewhere, much more still needs to be done.
153
15
Int e r n at ional
T r a d e C ooperat ion
Trade and
Development
International trade treaties are as old as international trade itself, but the first successful attempt
at a multilateral treaty in the twentieth century was the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT), signed in 1947 by 23 countries, including India. India was among the leading
developing nations that were demanding a more equitable international economic order through
the negotiations in GATT and UNCTAD in the 1960s. Since the 1995 establishment of the
GATT’s successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO), India has continued to be at the
forefront in advancing the interests of developing countries, seeking to balance the negotiations
with the industrialized countries, which have traditionally set the agenda at GATT.
India was among the 23 founding contracting parties when GATT was negotiated at the UN
Conference on Trade and Employment in October 1947. The Agreement aimed at “raising
standards of living [and] ensuring full employment … by entering into reciprocal and mutually
advantageous arrangements”. It was to work towards reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade
and the elimination of discrimination in international commerce. Free trade is achieved by
reducing customs duties reciprocally among all countries, known as the Most Favoured Nation
principle. This was seen as a means to the larger goal of higher standards of living for all. Free
trade was the means, and fairness the goal.
The fifth major tariff

negotiating conference
takes place in Geneva
in September 1960
under the auspices of the
UN Photo
Contracting Parties
to the GATT.
However, as the number of signatories grew as decolonization progressed in the 1960s,

developing countries began seeing GATT as inadequate to address their specific needs. They
pointed out that this system of free trade unfairly privileged industrialized countries with
strong manufacturing sectors while preventing developing countries from encouraging their
industries, as they suffered from issues such as currency fluctuations, disproportionate price
inflation of manufactured goods compared to raw materials, and losses though subsidy policies.
Led by India and other developing countries, they advocated for fair trade. As a result of
these efforts, a new Chapter IV on Trade and Development was added to GATT in 1964.
It heralded the evolution of non-reciprocity; exceptions from Most Favoured Nation status
for differential treatment for developing countries; the addition of the enabling clause in
GATT; and the start of the Generalized System of Preferences for developing countries.
Amid growing concerns in the early 1960s about the place of developing countries in
international trade, the developing countries, led by India, called for a full-fledged UN
conference on trade. This led to the organization of the first UN Conference on Trade and
Development, held in 1964 in Geneva. India also contributed to the establishment of the Group
of 77 (G-77) on 15 June 1964, when 77 developing countries signed the Joint Declaration
of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries at the end of the first session of UNCTAD in
Geneva. Ever since then, developing countries have negotiated together under the umbrella
of the G-77, which now has 131 members in UNCTAD and in other UN forums. It allows
these countries to discuss their commonalities and present a united front, strengthening their
bargaining power in negotiations with industrialized economies. India hosted the UNCTAD
II conference in 1968 in New Delhi as a part of its continuing leadership role in the developing
world. Over time, many senior Indian officials and diplomats have played an influential part
in these trade negotiations. They include Manmohan Singh, Muchkund Dubey, Chinmaya
Gharekhan, Rangaswami Krishnamurti, Prakash Shah and others. Dubey reflected in a 2014
article in the UN Chronicle, the magazine of the United Nations:
“We genuinely believed that we were engaged in the historic task of changing the rules
of the game and laying down new principles, norms and rules governing the world
economic system. India was a non-status-quo power, aiming to use the UN as a forum to
bring about a restructuring in the world economic power structure.”
By banding together in the G-77, the developing countries attempted to persuade the
industrialized countries to make technical and financial aid more easily accessible and to help
improve living standards through both trade and aid. UNCTAD II succeeded in getting the
industrialized countries to commit to providing 1 per cent of their gross national income in
aid to developing countries, although without a specified timeline. In May 1974, the General
Assembly adopted the Declaration for the Establishment of a New International Economic
Order (NIEO), outlining a new shared vision of a more equitable world order. By this time the
developing countries made up a majority in the General Assembly, and it was a tremendous
success to have this text agreed upon and adopted.
155
Indira Gandhi, Prime

Minister of India,
inaugurates the second
session of UNCTAD
in New Delhi on
1 February 1968. At
the table (left to right):
Dr. A.M. El Kaissouni
(United Arab Republic),
President of the first
session; Dr. Raul Prebisch,
Secretary-General of
UNCTAD; and Philippe
de Seynes, UN Under-
UN Photo/PR
Secretary-General
for Economic and
Social Affairs.
However, the industrialized countries, which remained status quo powers, were unwilling to
accept this new and radically equitable set of rules and norms. They broadly rejected the NIEO
and the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States. This was the beginning of a period
of retreat from multilateralism altogether, as the administrations of President Reagan in the
United States and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom turned away
from international organizations. International economic cooperation became limited only to
GATT, and this trend continues today. The WTO is the largest multilateral forum for trade
discussions, and the bulk of negotiations take place at regional and bilateral forums.
The demands of the G-77, including India, and the attempt to establish the NIEO, left its own
political, social and economic legacy, strengthening the Tokyo Round of GATT negotiations
between 1973 and 1979. Developing countries realized they had to demand greater equity
within the existing system if they were to develop the economic strength to successfully
challenge the status quo. India remained a key player in the Uruguay Round negotiations under
GATT, between 1986 and 1994, even as it went about its own transformation, embracing
economic liberalization, privatization and global economic integration.
History remembers the main outcome of the Uruguay Round as the formation of the
WTO, which replaced GATT on 1 January 1995 through the Marrakech Agreement.
The change has been described by economist Sylvia Ostry as a shift away from a model
of negative regulation – what governments must not do, such as putting up policy barriers
to international trade – to positive regulations, such as implementing domestic regulatory
systems, something the developing countries have strongly resisted. The WTO is now the
156
UN Photo/PR
only organization dealing with trade regulations between countries. It has 159 member Secretary-General
countries who together are responsible for 97 per cent of international trade. The WTO U Thant (left) with
President of India Zakir
is considered part of the UN family of organizations, and the WTO Director-General Hussain during UNCTAD
participates on the Chief Executives Board, along with the heads of UN bodies and the II in New Delhi on
Bretton Woods institutions. 9 February 1968.
157
"[The WTO] has to perform the role of speaking for

all its members and ensure that certain [items on the]
development agenda are also taken up and met with to
the satisfaction of all its members . . . India is committed
to multilateralism. We wish and want the WTO, which is in
its twentieth year, to be a very relevant forum."
Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Union Minister of State
for Commerce and Industries, in an interview ahead of
the WTO Nairobi Ministerial meet in 2015.
To address the heavy burden of the cost of implementing the Uruguay Round proposals and
to push for better negotiating positions in future rounds, a group called the Like-Minded
Group came together under Indian leadership. It had specific proposals, demanding special
and differential treatment for developing countries, challenging the provisions that favoured
industrialized countries. In the ongoing Doha Round of negotiations, launched under the
WTO in 2001, India has remained firm in refusing to accept a negotiating mandate in new
issues such as investment, competition and government procurement, which were proposed
by industrialized countries in 1996 at the First WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore.
India argues that safeguard mechanisms to protect the interests of the country’s agriculture and
industrial sectors must remain a viable option, particularly considering that many industrialized
countries retain this power.
India has also exploited flexibilities enshrined in the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Individual Property Rights to help its generic drug manufacturers continue to
produce affordable medicines, which are saving lives all across the developing world. At the
Bali (2013) and Nairobi (2015) Ministerial Conferences of the WTO, India also negotiated to
retain more control over its domestic policy options regarding food stockpiling for the purpose
of food security.
Overall, by building coalitions with fellow developing countries through the G-77 and
issue-based coalitions in the GATT/WTO, India has helped to address asymmetries in the
multilateral trade negotiations. It has also upheld the goals of equity and social and economic
development for all, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
158
16
India an d
th e UN D e v e l o pm e n t Deca d es
The Growth
Trajectory
The United Nations Charter calls for “social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom”, but when the Organization was formed in 1945, there was little experience or
even academic work on planned international development. This idea gradually grew and
evolved, both inside and outside the UN system. This took place through a series of landmark
developments including the development decades, the MDGs and the SDGs. India’s
contributions to and progress in these areas are vast and varied, engendering lessons along the
way for India and the world.
According to the UN Intellectual History Project, a decade-long research endeavour, the UN

was “a great sponge for economic talent” in its early years. It was a place where economic
thought was nurtured and internationalized, influencing policymaking. ECOSOC set up
a Sub-Commission on Economic Development in 1946, comprising representatives from
Brazil, China, Czechoslovakia, India, Mexico, the Soviet Union and the United States. Its goal
was to promote the socioeconomic development of the ‘underdeveloped’ countries through
the process of industrialization. V.K.R.V. Rao, a prominent Indian economist and politician,
was the Indian expert on the Sub-Commission. As its chairman in 1949, he came up with the
very first proposal to establish an international development authority to finance economic
development in less-developed countries multilaterally, through grants and long-term low-
interest loans.
V.K.R.V. Rao, Indian member of the ECOSOC Sub-Commission on

Economic Development, was a member of the first group of Ph.D.
graduates in economics from Cambridge University. One of independent
India’s first and foremost economists, he founded the Delhi School of
Economics in 1948, and later went on to become a Cabinet Minister.
159
Photo Division Archives, Government of India

The first meeting of the
Advisory Board of the
Planning Commission
of India was convened
by Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru in
New Delhi on
22 August 1950.
The negotiations between the industrialized and developing countries reached a compromise
and a stalemate on the creation of the Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development,
as detailed in UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice, by Richard Jolly et al., a
part of the UN Intellectual History Project. The industrialized countries, which were expected
to fund such efforts, were reluctant to set up these mechanisms at the more democratic United
Nations, preferring the World Bank (then called the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development), where they had full control.
In addition, United States President Dwight Eisenhower’s pledge to commit the peace
dividend – the savings achieved by real disarmament – to the cause of development, while
offering the benefit of political commitment, acted as a roadblock to the Fund. It made
Just as it would be absurd to claim that disarmament should wait

until the underdeveloped countries reach the level of the developed
countries, so it would be also absurd to claim that the Special Fund
should wait until disarmament takes place.
Gopala Menon, Indian representative speaking on the question of establishment
of the Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development
at the General Assembly on 5 February 1957
160
development assistance contingent upon disarmament, but the

political realities of the cold war rendered this futile, since countries
were reluctant to disarm. However, the persistence of developing Political sovereignty is but a
countries such as India, along with the UN Secretariat, led to mockery without the means of
support for a UN development authority from ECOSOC and the meeting poverty and literacy and
General Assembly. The supporters included the Soviet Bloc, which
disease. Self-determination is
expressed willingness to initiate such a fund without United States
involvement by mid-1957.
but a slogan if the future holds
no hope. That is why my nation,
By this time, the cold war was at its height, so the Soviet Bloc which has freely shared its capital
support for a development authority under the UN put pressure on and its technology to help others
the United States to quickly set up an International Development help themselves, now proposes
Association along with the International Bank for Reconstruction
officially designating this decade of
and Development to allocate soft loans and multilateral aid to
developing countries. The International Finance Corporation was
the 1960s as the United Nations
also set up, in 1956, to provide loans to private sector companies. Decade of Development.
Financial assistance faded from the mandate of the UN. Though John F. Kennedy, speaking at the UN
this was on its face disadvantageous to developing countries, it was General Assembly on 25 September 1961
overall a victory, since the efforts of the UN had led to a tremendous
upsurge in formal funding arrangements for the developing world.
The exigencies of the cold war also ensured that the great powers
gave assistance to countries they desired to have in their spheres of influence.
While financial aid had moved out of the ambit of the UN, technical assistance remained. The
UN Special Fund was set up in 1958 to provide technical assistance and studies. Its purpose was
to increase the amount of information available to both governments and potential investors
in areas such as industry, transport, health, education and public administration, to encourage
viable development projects in these areas. In the seven years of the Special Fund, India was the
largest developing country donor, providing $12.5 million, or 3 per cent of the total pledges.
The Special Fund operated through UN Resident Representatives in recipient countries,
along with the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance. In 1966 the two merged to
form UNDP. This marked the beginning of the UN’s work with development and set the
foundations for what would become the First, Second and Third Development Decades. When
John F. Kennedy proposed the idea of declaring the 1960s the First Development Decade, it
was taken forward by the UN Secretariat, led by Dag Hammarskjöld in January 1961.
As a result of India and Pakistan’s first Five Year Plans in the early 1950s, the idea of basing
international development on a scientifically rigorous planning process became the solution to
reduce the developed/developing country gap, speed up modernization and end poverty. The
linkage of development with disarmament was still strong in the idea that resources diverted
from military expenditure could be utilized in improving the economic and social conditions of
people around the world.
161
Julio Eguino Ledo of

Bolivia signs the Final
Act of the First UNDP
Pledging Conference
in New York in
October 1969, where
98 governments pledged
$131.6 million. Looking
on are (from left) C.V.
Narasimhan, UNDP
Deputy Administrator;
Paul G. Hoffman, UNDP
Administrator; and Juan
Gallardo of Mexico,
President of
the Conference.
As early as the 1960s, Secretary-General U Thant recognized that development was not only
economic but also social and cultural. However, the main goals envisaged by the UN during
the First Development Decade remained economic: 5 per cent growth in national income
for developing countries, and 1 per cent of gross national product of industrialized countries
dedicated to international assistance. It was estimated (though contested) that this would be
enough to achieve the goals laid out, since it was assumed that developing countries must all
“climb the ladder of development” – follow the same path of modernization and industrialization
as the West. Indian economists Professor D.R. Gadgil and V.K.R.V. Rao worked closely in
estimating the official development assistance that developed countries were required to transfer
to developing countries to fulfil the 1 per cent pledge; diplomatic stalwarts such as Muchkund
Dubey contributed greatly as well.
The success of the First Development Decade could be gauged by the fact that over 60 developing
countries achieved the 5 per cent growth target, though India was not one of them. The lagging
growth of the Indian economy was attributed to an industrial slowdown, a drought-ridden
agrarian sector and the financial drain caused by two major wars. Thus, living standards in the
country did not improve during this time. However, it became clear, as illustrated by the rest of
the developing world, that higher growth rates were not enough to achieve this improvement.
It was realized that specific sectors needed attention, and this led to the creation of the World
Food Programme in 1961, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in 1963,
UNCTAD in 1964 and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
162
1974–1991
D eveloping Ties
Un Photo
in 1966. Their mandates shifted the emphasis from merely the increase in national income to a In January 1978, a
wider concept of development. worker in Karnataka
spreads newly harvested
coffee beans, an important
In the plans for following two development decades, the growth rate targets for developing agricultural product in
countries grew, while the expected contributions of the industrialized countries fell. Though India. UNCTAD was
both largely failed to achieve their targets, the effort expanded the scope of what was considered working in its early years
to establish international
important to measure beyond just income to food production, inflation, exchange rates,
buffer stocks of coffee as
investment and economic stability. While the initial plans focused on a balance of trade and aid, an attempt to control
as reparation for the losses to former colonies over the decades, the balance shifted from trade price extremes for this
regulations to aid, or official development assistance. In addition, aid flows to the developing commodity on the
world – promised at 0.7 per cent of gross national income in 1970 in the plan for Second world market.
Development Decade – decreased, as the categories for what was to be included in this aid
began to grow. Instead of specific financial aid such as loans and grants, items such as debt relief,
humanitarian relief, administrative costs and other non-cash items began to be counted as aid,
leading to further economic distress in the developing world.
While growth rates in most of the developing world grew in the 1960s and 1970s, India’s
growth failed to meet the targets laid out by the development decade goals. But India’s growth
rate improved in the 1980s, when other developing countries were experiencing recessions,
163
A workshop at the Indian

Institute of Technology
in Mumbai in 1964.
Since its inception, IIT
Powai has received
assistance in the form
of expert services,
fellowships, and
UN Photo/PB
specialized equipment
from UNESCO
and UNDP.
Each economically advanced country will progressively increase

its official development assistance to the developing countries
and will exert its best efforts to reach a minimum net amount of
0.7 per cent of its Gross National Product at market prices by
the middle of the decade.
International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade
UN General Assembly resolution 2626, 1970
164
UN Photo/ILO
declining commodity prices and severe international debt, and only five industrialized countries A child gets a health
met their target for donations. This turn-around in India was attributed to the gradual opening check as part of a
UNFPA family planning
up of the economy, making it conducive to private investment. Though India was not classified campaign in Aurangabad
as an aid-dependent country, around the mid-1980s it was the world’s largest recipient of in October 1972.
multilateral aid and among the top recipients of bilateral aid. However, aid as a proportion of
gross national income remained small owing to the growth in the economy.
The Fourth Development Decade plan was derailed with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The
end of the cold war fundamentally changed the geopolitical realities, leading to a significant
decline in donor aid. It also resulted in greater competition for scarce official assistance since
a number of the countries in transition joined the developing countries in seeking aid. The
second United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (Paris, 1990) led to a
revised growth target for developing countries of an 8 to 10 per cent increase in gross domestic
product. It also encouraged these countries to contain inflation, maintain exchange rates and
165
UN
The Millennium raise investment levels. The Conference continued to stress the responsibility of industrialized
Development Goals nations to provide official development assistance despite the changed geopolitical realities. It
were adopted by the
UN in 2000 as a global
also sought to discourage protectionism among developing countries.
framework for collective
action to reduce poverty The 1999 committee that reviewed the Fourth Development Decade found a significant
and improve the lives of increase in growth, though the results were mixed across nations. India’s comprehensive
poor people. Upon their
programme of economic reforms, undertaken to insulate the economy from a 1991 balance
conclusion in 2015, they
were succeeded by the of payments crisis, resulted in average growth rates above 6 per cent during the decade.
Sustainable Development The increase in growth meant that foreign aid became far less central to India’s economic
Goals as part of development than it had been in the earlier decades, and the level of both multilateral and
Agenda 2030. bilateral support sharply dropped. On the other hand, as a result of growth in South-South
cooperation, India became a significant provider of aid to other less developed countries, such
as Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal.
The most significant lesson of the UN development decades was that development as customarily
understood – that is, pure economic growth – does not necessarily end or reduce poverty
166
substantially. Instead, the understanding evolved that poverty eradication should become a
stand-alone goal. In 1999, the G-77 presented resolutions at the United Nations advocating for
the eradication of poverty and called on all nations to focus on time-bound targets.
The Millennium Declaration in 2000 was aimed at advancing the economic and social
development of the world’s poor nations through global mobilization of resources. The goal
was to address poverty, hunger, disease, lack of education, gender inequality and environmental
degradation. In this regard, international trade and the creation of a global partnership for
development were seen as powerful instruments to address the needs of developing nations.
The aim was to stimulate economic progress by reducing trade barriers and increasing debt
relief and official development assistance, the importance of which was explicitly recognized.
The MDGs helped to promote global awareness, political accountability, better metrics, social
feedback and public pressures by packaging social priorities into eight easily understandable
yet extremely powerful goals. Over the years the development decade plans served as a
reflection of the state of international political dynamics. The improvement in economic and
Bettama (seated), a
member of a Dalit
self-help group, practises
writing her name on a
computer at the Namma
Mahiti Kendra Centre
UNDP/Anita KHEMKA
for Community
Informatics in
August 2008. Sannamma,
another member of the
group, watches.
Development projects take many forms. UNDP's IT for Change initiative

works to expand the use of information and communication technologies
in developing countries while also enhancing research and advocacy
capacities in the South.
167
Over the years, the UN’s vision of development shifted, moving

from the narrowly economic to a broader, multidisciplinary
perspective by the 1990s. People-focused human development
entered in the 1980s, formalised and elaborated by UNDP in
the 1990s and now promoted more generally in the UN, and
increasingly incorporating human rights, conflict resolution, peace,
and peacebuilding. All are seen today as important ingredients in
the construction of sustainable development.
Richard Jolly, The UN and Development: Thinking and Practice, 2005
social conditions envisioned by the Charter, which these plans sought to achieve, remained
debatable for the most part. With the failure of political commitments, along with advances
in the understanding of international development, it became clear that homogenous policies
would not work for heterogeneous countries. As a result, alternative paths to development
were framed.
The development decades reflected the evolving understanding of international development

between the 1960s and the 1990s, setting the stage for the emergence of the MDGs in 2000
and the SDGs in 2015. For India, this was a critical period. After overcoming the ravages
of two centuries of colonial rule, the economy picked up speed to become one of the fastest
growing economies in the world. The interplay of external and internal factors had a large
influence on economic performance, which showed mixed results during this period – in
some years growth targets were surpassed while in others they were far from met. In both
cases, India firmly maintained its commitment to growth and improvement in the lives of
its people.
168
17
RE G IONAL
OR G A N IZATIO N S
Cooperation in
the Region
Long before the idea of a single international organization representing every country in the
world came into being, regional arrangements between nations played a crucial role in world
politics. After the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom, favoured the creation of regional councils for Europe, Asia and the Americas, which
The opening ceremony
he christened the “three-legged stool”. However, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt
of the twenty-fifth
opposed Churchill’s proposal, arguing for a single integrated organization to prevent regional ASEAN Summit in
rivalries and facilitate global cooperation. They won – at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Naypyidaw, Myanmar in
1944, the United Nations was recognized as a multilateral organization that was to be accorded November 2014, attended
unsurpassed authority for the maintenance of international peace and security. However, by UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon. The
recognizing the merits of regionalism, the San Francisco Conference incorporated a number
twelfth ASEAN-India
of provisions in the UN Charter highlighting the key role regional organizations would also be Summit took place at the
able to play in this regard. same time.
Over 60 organizations have observer status at the

General Assembly. They include ASEAN, SAARC, the
African Union, European Union, Organization of American
States, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries, and Commonwealth of Independent States.
Other observers are the State of Palestine, International
Criminal Court and organizations such as the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
The importance of these debates shows in the organization of the Charter: the chapter on
regional organizations is placed in a prime spot, between the sections on the Security Council
and ECOSOC.
The key phrase in Chapter VIII, Article 52 (1) of the Charter states that regional arrangements
can deal with matters of international peace and security, but they must function in a manner
consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations. The second crucial concept
is in Article 52 (4), which states that the right of the Security Council and General Assembly
to take up these issues remains unencumbered.
India’s commitment to strengthening a pan-Asian identity strengthened around the time of its
independence, and it was highlighted when India hosted the Asian Relations Conference in
March 1947. However, tensions with neighbours curtailed its attempts to develop regionalism
beyond the bipolar framework of the cold war, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Government of India
turned strongly towards internationalism and united with other newly independent developing
countries that sought an autonomous foreign policy under the Non-Aligned Movement. Two
regional organizations – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – emerged as vital players in reaffirming
the identity of the Asian region. These groupings also served as regional vehicles of a radically
revised foreign policy paradigm that would emerge at the end of the cold war.
ASEAN was established in Bangkok on 8 August 1967, with the signing of the Bangkok
Declaration by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. At the end of the
1970s, seven South Asian nations – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka – coalesced to form SAARC, a trade bloc to further geopolitical and economic
cooperation. The members of both organizations had similar interests, historic influences,
geopolitical concerns and a common sociopolitical identity.
170
Though not a South-East Asian country, India started engaging with ASEAN in 1990
as part of its ‘Look East’ policy. By 1996 India became a full partner, and by 2002 it was
participating in annual summits with ASEAN, seeking to further establish itself as a
regional power along with other giants in the region. The norms and rules adopted to govern
interactions among ASEAN’s Member States were similar to the Non-Aligned Movement
– rooted in the principles of non-interference, non-use of force, regional autonomy and the
avoidance of multilateral military pacts. ASEAN’s success and the prescience of the United
Nations Charter in outlining a cooperative role for regional organizations is evident from
ASEAN’s assistance to the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Cambodia and East
Timor. By signing a free-trade cooperation pact with ASEAN in 2009, India expanded its
trade with the region, which reached $80 billion by 2012.
Cooperation has grown among SAARC Member States, and between them and the outside
world. The SAARC Summit in 2007 in New Delhi approved a series of agreements and
measures for internal cooperation, while the 2011 Maldives SAARC Summit addressed the
theme of ‘building bridges’ with countries of other regions. SAARC has also partnered with
United Nations agencies, such as UNESCO and UN-Women, to improve service delivery
in the countries of the region. Both ASEAN and SAARC hold observer status at the
UN General Assembly and seek to advance cooperation in support of their aims.
Beyond regional groupings based on shared geographies, new international groupings emerged
in the 1990s. Economic turmoil between 1997 and 1999 precipitated the formation of the Group
of 20 (G20) to discuss international financial and monetary policies, reform of international
financial institutions and world economic development. Yet when the global economic crisis
struck in 2007-2008, global institutions failed to resolve it. The newly emerging economies
– China, India and Russia – established a trilateral cooperation mechanism to address the
matter at hand. Together with Brazil, they formed the ‘BRIC’ in 2009. South Africa joined
BRIC in 2010, and the conglomerate came to be called BRICS. It focused on improving the
Our policy is not to interfere in the affairs of others. But ours is a troubled
region, most of our countries are multiracial and multi-religious. It would
be idle to pretend that we are not affected by what happens elsewhere ...
The regional grouping that brings us together is not aimed against anyone
else. Nor are we moved by any ideological or military considerations ... We
are all equals. We are against exploitation and domination. We want to be
friends with all on a footing of equality.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in the inaugural address of
the South Asian foreign ministers' meeting, organized by SAARC in 1983
171
Very often, in times of crisis, I turn to you, the heads of regional

organizations. I may ask for resources, diplomacy or collective
action, depending on the situation. And I always ask for
your solidarity in advancing our common values. With your
engagement, we have achieved real results. The collaboration
between the United Nations and our regional partners is richer
and more diverse than ever before. We have set up lines of
communication. We have developed common strategies. We
have launched joint programmes. Our relationships have gained
new dimensions. And this has enhanced our ability to serve the
world’s people.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a high-level General Assembly
debate on Strengthening Cooperation between the
UN and Regional and Sub-Regional Organizations, on 4 May 2015
global economic situation, reforming financial institutions and improving cooperation among
the four countries. The time had come for the emerging economies to create institutions better
reflecting the balance of economic power in the twenty-first century.
The BRICS summits have had numerous successes in the last few years. They include the
creation of the BRICS Bank to help financial stability of the BRICS countries; stimulation of
foreign direct investment and diversification of African exports to BRICS countries; efforts to
reduce the ‘infrastructure gap’ in Africa; promotion of capacity development; and establishment
of think tanks and business councils. Future efforts will address establishment of a framework
to position emerging economies as influential development cooperation actors. This will
underscore their transformation from aid recipients to active partners in international discourse.
Over time, global progress has resulted less from policing national borders and more from
the growth of international cooperation, including trade and economic activity, education and
innovation, and rising standards of living. These have been as much a result of bilateral and
regional cooperation as of global understanding, and the latter has been achieved primarily
through the United Nations. The argument for regional cooperation holds strong, as sub-
global partnerships contribute greatly to the larger goal
of global cooperation. The United Nations and regional
Eminent Indian banker K.V.
Kamath is the first President of the organizations must work to improve their international
New Development Bank, founded collaboration avenues, even as they pursue their goals in the
by the BRICS countries in 2014 collective interest of global peace and progress.
and headquartered in Shanghai.
172
18
G LO B ALIZATIO N , LI B ERALIZATION,
A N D P RIVATIZATIO N
Growth
Initiatives
The 1960s and 1970s witnessed the growth of international trade, and India’s policies were
increasingly aligned with the NIEO ideology being adopted by the developing nations. The
UNCTAD II Conference, held in New Delhi in 1968, was successful in establishing a sense
of solidarity among the developing nations, bound by the NIEO principles. These included
the regulation of foreign companies operating in a country and nationalizing privately
operating firms.
However, it was only in the 1980s that the concepts of transnational corporations and foreign
capital investments came into their own. In 1981, UNCTAD responded to the calls of
the Group of 77 by publishing the Trade and Development Report. It focused on how the
international economic environment influenced the growth prospects of developing countries.
This was a remarkable contrast to the World Development Report, published since 1977,
which downplayed the influence of international economic conditions on national policy. Also
during the 1980s the world turned to the Bretton Woods system to deal with recessionary Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru signing
crises in Latin America. The decade witnessed the weakening and ultimate collapse of the India’s First Five-Year
Soviet Union (in 1991). This turned the economic tide away from socialism and towards Plan document.
a new market approach, centred on individual market institutions and decentralized New Delhi, 1950.
decision-making.
At the time of its independence, India set up systems for

central planning with a mixed economy. This encouraged
self-reliance, import substitution and protectionism, and
Dr. K.N. Raj’s personal collection
it came to serve as a model for many developing nations

in subsequent decades. The disintegration of the Soviet
Union in 1991 was a loss both for Indian policymakers and
Indian producers, as the country had been a primary market
for Indian goods. This drastic change influenced India to
transform its closed economy into a more dynamic one,
opening up to market influences.
Finance Minister External pressures from the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991 and skyrocketing oil prices
Manmohan Singh worsened the global economic situation. This deepened fiscal imbalances in India, which had
addressing the media on
India’s new economic
grown since 1985 due to domestic and global political uncertainties. The Uruguay Round of
policy of liberalization. the GATT, which began in 1986, put further international pressure on India to integrate with
New Delhi, 1991. the world economy. In 1993 the World Investment Report, published by the United Nations
Centre on Transnational Corporations since 1991, was passed on to UNCTAD after the Centre
was abolished. In contrast to previous reports, which took a critical stand on foreign direct
investment and transnational corporations, the Report published by UNCTAD advocated their
potential benefits. This both demonstrated and contributed to the shift in the international
environment towards foreign trade and investment.
These external and internal factors exacerbated India’s economic woes and pushed it towards
liberalization. Double-digit inflation and declining creditworthiness led to the withdrawal of
investments by non-resident Indians and a remarkable reduction in the sources of commercial
credit. The year 1991 started with a balance of payments crisis, since the Government borrowed
heavily to support an economic strategy based on immense public spending. India was on the
brink of default, with foreign exchange reserves that would barely last three weeks.
To deal with the crisis, the incoming Government, which took office in June 1991, instituted
radical economic reforms and began negotiations with the World Bank for a structural
174
I do not minimise the difficulties
that lie ahead on the long and
arduous journey on which we
have embarked. But, as Victor
Hugo once said, “No power on
earth can stop an idea whose
time has come”. I suggest to this
august House that the emergence
of India as a major economic
power in the world happens to
be one such idea. Let the whole
world hear it loud and clear. India
is now wide awake. We shall
prevail. We shall overcome.
Finance Minister Manmohan Singh,
ECONOMIC TIMES/T. NARAYAN
presenting the new budget with major

liberalization reforms, 24 July 1991
adjustment loan of $500 million, which was finally approved in December 1991. The World
Bank’s operation had the twofold objective of solving the immediate crisis and encouraging
the Government to open up the economy through a mix of macroeconomic stabilization and
structural policies. The IMF offered a bailout deal consisting of a loan, in return for the pledging
of 67 tonnes of India’s gold reserves, which were airlifted to the national banks of England and
Switzerland. The loan was also conditional on the implementation of economic adjustments
and reforms spanning all major sectors.
For immediate results, the deal included binding constraints, such as devaluing the rupee by 23
per cent, increasing interest rates, sharply cutting subsidies, privatizing public enterprises and
gradually adopting a more liberal trade policy by abolishing licensing and strengthening capital
markets. By 1995, trade was further liberalized and public enterprises faced major privatization
and the shutdown of poorly performing units. All these initiatives – reducing expenditures and
increasing revenues – were aimed at fiscal consolidation by increasing the integration of the
domestic and global economies.
As India’s economic growth reached a steady rate of 5 to 6 per cent, the initial public outcry
over the stringent reforms gradually transformed into support. From 1987 to 1994, the share
of goods with quantitative restrictions on production and nominal tariff rates was radically
reduced. By the end of the decade, India had become intricately connected to the international
175
UNDP
Mahbub ul Haq, one trade system, primarily due to the adoption of a flexible exchange rate system in 1993 and
of the architects of the efforts to rationalize the tariff system. This period of economic reforms coincided with the new
Human Development
Reports; Erling Dessau,
GATT and the transition to the WTO, which required Member States to adopt more liberal
UNDP Resident trade policies. Thus, India’s adapted policies met the twin objectives of addressing domestic
Representative of India; needs and aligning with the international scenario. The country reaffirmed its commitment to
and Abid Hussain, a liberalized trade policy and globalized economy when it joined the WTO at the time of its
Secretary of India's
inception in 1995.
Ministry of Commerce
participate in a
seminar on the Human The upsurge in the Indian economy’s rate of growth, from three decades of low growth
Development Report in to the almost miraculous progress thereafter, has gained worldwide attention. The success
New Delhi in May 1993. of the country’s reforms was also something of an anomaly, since the World Bank’s harsh
structural adjustments had previously failed in much of Latin America and Africa, causing
indebtedness, widening inequalities, poverty and, in some cases, even a fall in income. India’s
success sparked a trend towards globalization in other developing nations. As John Glenn
argues in Globalization: North-South Perspectives, the success is attributed to the gradual
strategic sequencing of reforms, as compared to the ‘shock’ approach followed in other
developing nations. For instance, India opened up to international capital flows only after
developing a sound financial system, a step commonly skipped during reforms in East Asian
nations, and one that is cited as the primary reason for the East Asian economic crisis of the
late 1990s.
176
Developing countries have

increasingly felt under-represented
and underserved by the
international political and financial
system. In 2014, the BRICS
(Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa), which together
represent nearly 42 per cent of the
global population, announced the
formation of the New Development
Bank. Seen as an alternative to
the World Bank for the developing
nations, it will offer financing for
development projects in those
countries. The New Development
Bank, to be headquartered in
Shanghai, will be headed by India
for the first five years.
PIB
These economic reforms were a watershed event in India’s economic history and were (Left to right):
instrumental in insulating the economy, which was at the brink of a meltdown. A 2011 World Vladimir Putin, President
of Russia; Narendra
Bank publication details how the growing benefits of the reforms became clearer, as both Modi, Prime Minister of
urban and rural poverty rates declined by 1993-1994. Further, publication of the first Human India; Dilma Rousseff,
Development Report catalysed a more direct focus on human development, which can be seen President of Brazil; Xi
beginning with India’s Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992-1997). Jinping, President of
China; and Jacob Zuma,
President of South Africa,
It is still ironic, however, that in the 1990s, as international discourse began to focus on at the BRICS Summit in
environmental concerns and holistic social development, these values were not adequately Brazil in July 2014.
reflected in the new systems or reforms implemented in India. Despite their many successes,
the economic reforms also demonstrated the damage caused by deregulation, including an
increase in income disparities and a shift in focus away from social development. The global
financial crisis of 2008 again brought into question the stability of the current international
economic system. It fed into the global discourse on sustainability and the need for alternative
models of development that shift the focus from GDP growth towards a broader understanding
of development.
177
19
SO U TH- SOU TH
C OOP ERATIO N
Sharing
Expertise
India has had a major role in shaping the discourse on economic and technical cooperation
among developing countries and its evolution into the broader development strategy of South-
South cooperation. Collective self-reliance was seen as an important engine of growth during
the 1960s, as developing countries emerging from colonization struggled with poverty and
underdevelopment, lack of financial and technological resources, and western apathy. The 1955
Afro-Asian Conference, held in Bandung, Indonesia, was an important milestone in political
self-determination for the 29 countries participating, and in the later establishment of the
Non-Aligned Movement, UNCTAD and the Group of 77. Despite their limited capacities,
developing countries were committed to assisting one another.
In 1990, the UN’s South Commission Report described developing countries as existing on the
periphery of the North, mostly weak and powerless in the world arena. Today the nations of the
South have much greater capabilities and work to help each other in their development. South-
South cooperation is now recognized as complementing traditional North-South cooperation
and as a means of implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, adopted in July 2015 at
At a summit in Havana in 2000, the G-77 established the

framework for the Marrakesh Declaration, which set forth
strategic goals for a unified vision of South-South cooperation.
By reducing trade barriers, the Marrakesh framework helped
to improve cooperation among Member States regarding
direct investment in infrastructure and information systems. It
also provided a structure for countries to assist in eradicating
hunger and HIV/AIDS and in promoting debt relief.
the Third International Conference on

Financing for Development.
India, having recognized the importance

of sharing its development experiences
Mahatma Gandhi at
with other developing countries in
the Asian Relations
the early years of its independence, Conference, held in
launched the Indian Technical and New Delhi in
Economic Cooperation programme March-April 1947.
(ITEC) in 1964. The programme has been steadily scaled up in terms of its scope, coverage
and impact. Along with the Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme and the
Technical Cooperation Scheme of Colombo Plan, ITEC has focused on capacity-building.
In 2012, nearly 9,000 civilians from 161 countries attended training courses conducted by 47
Indian institutions in a variety of disciplines. India also offers 2,300 scholarships annually for
degree courses in Indian universities.
In addition, courses are organized at the request of countries on specialized subjects such as
election management, parliamentary practices and public-private partnerships. In the India-
Africa Forum summits held once every three years, India has committed to establishing about
100 institutions in African countries to strengthen capacities. India also sends experts abroad
to share expertise in diverse subject areas. During the 1970s and 1980s, for example, India
supported Viet Nam in rice farming by sharing its research on high-yielding rice varieties
through exchanges of scientists and the establishment of a rice research institute. Today Viet
Nam is a major rice producer and exporter.
India invests around $1.5 billion in development cooperation activities annually. The country
has also extended lines of credit for infrastructure development totaling around $10 billion to
South Asian and African countries through the Export-Import Bank of India. The country
offers duty-free entry for products from least developed countries, covering 94 per cent of total
tariff lines and 92.5 per cent of India’s imports from these countries.
Highlights of India’s development cooperation include partnering with Bhutan on hydroelectric

power generation; providing agricultural equipment and expertise to various African countries;
constructing hospitals and providing health services across South Asia; assisting with vocational
training and entrepreneurship development in South-East Asia and parts of Africa; establishing
300 study centres operated by Indira Gandhi National Open University in 38 countries in
Africa, the Persian Gulf countries and Central Asia; forming an e-network connecting 53
African countries through a satellite link; and various other forms of technological assistance.
Regional cooperation is an important dimension of India’s South-South cooperation activities.

It was one of 10 countries that established UNESCAP (then known as the UN Economic
Commission for Asia and the Far East) in 1947. It has since played an important role in its
179
UnPHOTO/SZ
Representatives of 77 developing countries meet at the first UNCTAD session to discuss the declaration that
established the G-77, on 15 June 1964 in Geneva.
180
PHOTO DIVISION, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

sAARC
activities and hosts its regional technology transfer centre (APCTT) and a subregional office. (Left) The first SAARC
India was also a member of the earliest regional trade agreement, the Bangkok Agreement Summit in Dhaka,
December 1985.
(now called the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement) and the clearing and payments arrangement
established in mid-1975 under UNESCAP’s auspices (the Asian Clearing Union). India (Right) From left to right,
has played an important role in the evolution of SAARC, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for the President of Pakistan,
Multisectoral Techno-Economic Cooperation and the Indian Ocean Rim Association for the President of Maldives,
the King of Bhutan, the
Regional Cooperation.
President of Bangladesh,
the Prime Minister of
As part of its Look East Policy, India has engaged the ASEAN countries in multifaceted India, the King of Nepal,
cooperation, including through an ASEAN-India free trade agreement. As a ‘dialogue partner’, and the President of Sri
India participates in annual ASEAN-India summits and East Asia summits. Under the Initiative Lanka met in Dhaka on
7 December 1985
for ASEAN Integration, India has set up training centres for entrepreneurship development for the inaugural
in the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet SAARC Summit.
Despite remarkable advances in achieving the Millennium Development

Goals, progress across the South has been uneven. Extreme poverty,
rampant inequality, malnutrition and vulnerability to climate and weather-
related shocks persist … In the face of this stark reality, South-South
and triangular cooperation offer a path to balancing growth and equity in
the context of a new Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
I encourage countries of the South and all development partners
to come together to share, disseminate and scale up successful
development solutions and technologies.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki–moon in his message
on United Nations Day of South-South Cooperation, 12 September 2014
181
The vast numbers of
UNDP/P. Vishwanathan
vote-counting tables,
shown in Pune in
October 2014, indicate
the scale of elections in
India, the world's
largest democracy.
Construction of the
Dagachhu Hydropower
Development in Bhutan
in 2013. A joint venture
of Druk Green Power
Corporation (a Bhutanese
state-owned utility) and
Tata Power Company
(an Indian private power
company), it is one of
the many hydropower
ventures under an
India-Bhutan agreement
to promote cross-border
ADB
power trading.
182
While the original idea of the “Look East Policy” was

promoted by former Prime Minister of India, P.V.
Narasimha Rao, it remains a key area of focus for the
current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. He remarked
in November 2014, “Since entering office six months
ago, my Government has moved with a great sense
of priority and speed to turn our ‘Look East Policy’
into an ‘Act East Policy’.”
Nam) and has offered training opportunities in India. India also participates in a number of
subregional cooperation programmes, such as Mekong Ganga Cooperation with the CLMV
countries and Thailand.
India is an active participant in the group known as G-77 and China, which functions across
the United Nations system. The country works with issue-based coalitions at various forums,
such as the G20 and G33 on agriculture; the G-24 on Bretton Woods Institutions; and
Argentina, Brazil, China and South Africa on climate change negotiations. In recent times
new cooperative groupings have emerged such as the India, Brazil, South Africa Trilateral
Commission, which promotes South-South cooperation, and the BRICS countries (Brazil,
Russia, India, China, South Africa), which together are becoming an important collective
voice on global issues, along the lines of the G-7. The BRICS have also established the New
Development Bank to support infrastructure development in the developing world. India
launched the International Solar Alliance at the twenty-first Conference of the Parties of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in December 2015 to
assist developing countries in harnessing their solar energy potential.
India has nurtured the evolution of South-South cooperation as a development strategy

throughout its history. With one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world,
the country is now supporting other nations in their sustainable development, a role that will
continue to grow.
183
20
U N ITED N ATIO NS AND
DISASTER M ANAGEM ENT
Humanitarian
Response
Disasters have led to unspeakable human suffering across the world in the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries. Their frequency and intensity are growing with climate change,
making an effective disaster management response imperative. Though responsibility for
disaster management falls primarily on domestic governments, international organizations
offer assistance across all the phases of disaster management: preparedness, prevention,
mitigation, response and recovery. The United Nations provides humanitarian assistance during
emergencies and disasters resulting from natural and manmade hazards, wars and civil conflicts.
A robust system for providing this assistance has developed over time. Within this framework,
the Government of India and the United Nations have collaborated extensively on disaster
management over the years.
During the 1960s, the UN focused largely on relief in response to disasters after they had taken
place. In 1971 the United Nations Disaster Relief Office was formed, with responsibility for
institutional planning. It was only in the 1990s (the Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction)
that the UN shifted its approach, focusing not only on post-disaster response, but also on
disaster risk mitigation, primarily preventive action. The link between disaster management
and development was also underscored at the 1994 World Conference on Natural Disaster
Reduction in Yokohama.
We are playing with fire. There is a very real possibility that

disaster risk, fuelled by climate change, will reach a tipping
point beyond which the effort and resources necessary to
reduce it will exceed the capacity of future generations.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking about the
2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction
184
After the 2001 earthquake

in Bhuj, Gujarat, the UN
Office for Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs set
up temporary operations
to support relief efforts by
the Government of India.
This public kitchen served
more than 24,000 meals
UNOCHA
within one month after

the quake.
Today, the UN takes a proactive role in disaster response, rehabilitation and recovery through
three entities: the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which brings together UN and non-
UN humanitarian partners to improve delivery of services; the United Nations Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which provides guidelines and training
to help countries develop and implement national and local disaster preparedness plans and
coordinate disaster response; and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, which
coordinates disaster risk reduction activities of the UN system and regional organizations. In
addition, all UN agencies contribute to risk reduction and response individually in their own
fields of expertise. In India, the United Nations Disaster Management Team, which comprises
12 agencies, takes the lead in coordinating the UN response to emergencies.
The UN’s disaster-related activities include development of early warning systems and raising
awareness as well as strengthening institutions and building resilience against hazards. The
Hyogo Framework for Action was the first plan to detail the work required from all sectors
and actors to build resilience and reduce disaster losses. Covering the period 2005-2015, it was
endorsed by the General Assembly. It was developed and agreed on with the many partners
that have a role in reducing disaster risk, including governments, international agencies, disaster
experts and others.
India – with 60 per cent of its landmass prone to earthquakes and 68 per cent prone to droughts
– is extremely vulnerable to natural hazards. The super cyclone in Odisha in 1999 and a massive
earthquake in Gujarat in 2001 emphasized the need for a multidimensional approach to disaster
185
Along with India's central government, state governments take an

active role in foreign assistance. Working through the ICRC, Tamil Nadu
provided in-kind humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka of $2.7 million in
2008 and $3 million in 2009.
management. Different bodies handle disasters at the national, state and district levels, working
in tandem with each other. Until 2002, disaster management came under the purview of the
Ministry of Agriculture, and subsequently it was transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The National Crisis Committee, state relief commissioners and district-level bodies handle the
response process under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A defining step in managing disasters was the Government’s enactment of the Disaster
Management Act 2005. It led to creation of the National Disaster Management Authority,
headed by the Prime Minister; state disaster management authorities, headed by the Chief
Ministers; and district disaster management authorities, headed by the Collector, District
Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner. The goal is to adopt an integrated approach to
disaster management. The new structure, which coexists with the previous structures, is
driven by prevention, mitigation and preparedness, a major shift from the earlier relief-
centric approach.
Finally, within the Ministry of Home Affairs, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)
provides support to the states for relief activities. The NDRF consists of 10 battalions of the
Central Armed Police Forces, which includes 3 battalions each of the Indian Border Security
Force and the Central Reserve Police Force and 2 battalions each of the Central Industrial
Security Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The Indian Armed Forces also play a
significant role in supporting search and rescue, evacuation and relief efforts.
The international community assists India in times of crisis, through bilateral aid and the
contributions of international NGOs, and India also aids its neighbours. Despite being hard hit
by the 2004 tsunami, India reached out to help other affected nations, such as Indonesia, Sri
Lanka and Thailand. India is now among the group of non-Western humanitarian donors that
together account for at least 12 per cent of worldwide humanitarian aid. India’s humanitarian
assistance in other countries also increases cooperation and builds ‘soft power’. Following the
March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, India sent tonnes of supplies and a 46-member
NDRF team, including a doctor and two paramedics, to aid the people of Onagawa, one of the
worst hit areas.
The majority of India’s humanitarian assistance has been in South and Central Asia. India
provided aid to Pakistan following the 2005 earthquake and the 2010 floods, including
186
$25 million in cash assistance and $15 million in in-kind contributions. In 2010, at the request
of the Government of Pakistan, this aid was provided through OCHA ($20 million) and WFP
($5 million). India provided food and medical supplies for search-and-rescue operations in
Nepal after the massive 2015 earthquake and pledged $1 billion for earthquake reconstruction.
While contributions to Africa and South America have been low, they have gradually increased
in the last 10 years.
Though India has traditionally preferred giving and receiving humanitarian financial assistance
through bilateral structures, it is gradually becoming a larger donor in the multilateral framework.
WHO/P. FRANCIS
The 2004 Indian Ocean

tsunami destroyed or
WHO/P. FRANCIS
damaged many boats in

South India's harbours,
such as these in
Tamil Nadu.
187
WHO provided relief

materials and serviced
shelter camps, like this
one in Tamil Nadu, for
WHO/P. FRANCIS
internally displaced people
who had lost their homes
in the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami.
This is useful when the recipient country prefers such a channel, as Pakistan did in 2010, and
also in complex humanitarian situations, when India wants to avoid the appearance of taking
sides in a conflict. A tangible measure of India’s changing policies towards using multilateral
bodies is the increase in contributions to UNRWA, UNHCR and ICRC, which have grown
from symbolic amounts to several million dollars. Realizing the role of disaster risk mitigation,
in 2014 India announced a donation of $1 million to the UNESCAP Tsunami Trust Fund to
strengthen early warning systems.
The UN’s Disaster Management Team in India is prepared to respond to any disaster. In
the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, it assisted the Government of Tamil Nadu, one of
the worst affected states, to identify immediate needs and provided personnel to strengthen
coordination. UNDP provided technical assistance to help establish early warning systems, as
well as systems to track damage suffered by individuals, monitor progress of relief and recovery
projects, and address grievances. With funding from the World Bank, the state government is
now building on this initiative by setting up early warning systems to reach 36 million people
living in densely populated coastal areas.
Other coastal states at risk, including Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, are part of the National
Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project, through which they are also establishing early warning
systems. Since 2002, UNDP has partnered with the Ministry of Home Affairs in empowering
communities to manage disaster risk in urban and rural areas. From 2002 to 2008, the
programme reached out to approximately 300 million people living in areas vulnerable to
multiple hazards. The results were evident in the reduced loss of life when cyclone Phailin hit
188
Preparedness for disasters is increasing worldwide, but it lags

behind for people living with disabilities. In 2013, the first-ever UN
global survey of how persons with disabilities cope during disasters
found that their mortality rate is two times higher than for the general
population. Like many nations, India needs to work on a disability-
inclusive disaster management system.
in 2013. That same year the UN Disaster Management Team stepped in at the request of the
Uttarakhand state government to prepare an emergency needs assessment and social sector
recovery plans in hard-hit districts. It also assisted the government-led roll-out of these plans
through multi-stakeholder coordination that involved NGOs and the corporate sector.
In addition to providing financial assistance, the UN agencies in India have been working
together to develop a holistic package of disaster response assistance aimed at improving
the quality of life for affected populations. Post-impact rehabilitation has been efficiently
linked to broader development activities carried out in the nation, especially with regard to
education and health care. Following the Gujarat earthquake and the Odisha super cyclone,
UN Volunteers worked with what was then called the UN Information Technology Service to
set up online information booths in villages, training local people, including women, to manage
them. Initiatives such as the distribution of sports equipment in Bhuj by the United Nations
Messenger of Peace Vijay Amritraj, and UNICEF’s work promoting education in Tamil Nadu
following the tsunami, were aimed at helping the affected population return to normalcy.
Disaster management approaches have been revamped in recent years to link sustainable
development to disaster preparedness, mitigation and response, involving all stakeholders.
The focus on preparedness and prevention is consistent with the global focus on disaster risk
reduction (DRR). India has now integrated DRR into development through its Five-Year
Plans, and up to 10 per cent of funds under centrally sponsored schemes can be used for DRR.
India’s success in limiting casualties during recent cyclones has positioned it to influence new
global frameworks for DRR. Learning from the tsunami experience, India established the
Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System in 2006. India also increased its cooperation in DRR
at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan,
in 2015, at which India agreed to host the Seventh Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster
Risk Reduction in 2016.
India’s influence on humanitarian aid and disaster management assistance is increasing with
its leadership in South Asia and growing presence in Africa. Climate change will inevitably
bring more natural disasters, and India is working to enhance its regional and international
partnerships for better alignment with the multilateral DRR framework, and thus its regional
and global influence.
189
21
M ILLEN N I U M
DEVELO P MENT GOALS
Dignity
for All
India was a signatory to the historic Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly
in September 2000 – a global compact to free millions across the world from the bondage of
poverty, hunger and other deprivations. The Declaration was to be implemented through the
Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015. The MDGs placed poverty reduction
and freedom from other deprivations at the top of the global development agenda and helped
invigorate governments, the domestic and international development community, and other
stakeholders to achieve specific goals and targets.
The MDGs helped to bring a much-needed focus on basic development issues, which, in turn,
led governments at both national and subnational levels to integrate inclusive policies and
programmes into their planning processes so they could meet the overarching objectives. India’s
Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007), for instance, aimed for more ambitious accomplishments
with respect to a number of MDG priorities. This was especially the case for reducing poverty,
providing gainful and high-quality employment, providing universal primary education,
reducing gender gaps in literacy and wage rates, and
reducing infant and maternal mortality.
The Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012) recognized

the need for better implementation of initiatives for
achieving the MDG targets, and included various
flagship programmes for expanding health (National
Rural Health Mission), sanitation coverage (Total
Sanitation Campaign), meeting the MDGs on gender
equality and empowerment, and improving the health
The MDG Progress and well-being of children. The Twelfth Five Year
Report produced in Plan (2012-2017) noted that the paucity of data on
February 2015 by
many health indicators constrained the monitoring
UNESCAP on behalf of
the UN Country of health and nutrition outcomes. It emphasized the
Team in India. need to improve outcome indicators in these areas by
UNESCAP
aiming for a significant reduction in infant mortality, maternal mortality and undernutrition in
children under 3 years, among other targets.
India made notable progress towards reaching the MDGs, but achievement varied across the
goals, as well as across states. Progress is described in India and the MDGs: Towards Sustainable
Prosperity for All. This 2015 report was prepared by the South and South-West Asia Office of
UNESCAP under the auspices of the UN Country Team. It noted that the target for reducing
poverty by half was achieved, according to national estimates, and was almost achieved according
to international estimates. India reached gender parity in primary school enrolment and was
likely to reach parity in secondary and tertiary education by 2015.
The country was close to reducing hunger by half and maternal mortality by three quarters.
The spread of deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis was controlled.
The proportion of people without access to clean drinking water was halved, and forest cover
191
was increased. But India lagged behind on targets for achieving universal primary school
enrolment and completion; achieving universal youth literacy; empowering women through
employment and political participation; reducing child and infant mortality; and improving
access to adequate sanitation to eliminate open defecation.
India’s achievement in poverty reduction was a result of both economic growth (including
in agriculture) and increased social spending on interventions such as the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the National Rural Health Mission.
Nevertheless, nearly 270 million Indians remain trapped in extreme poverty, according to the
last census, in 2011. This makes achievement of the post-2015 goal of eliminating extreme
poverty by 2030 challenging, but feasible.
Poverty is increasingly concentrated in economically disadvantaged states due to varying

levels of growth within India and rising inequality. These states can be divided into two main
groups: the North-East States, such as Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram; and the
more poverty-ridden states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh. The incidence of poverty in rural India is twice that of urban areas, and higher among
excluded groups. To eradicate poverty, India’s policymakers will need to pay more attention
to augmenting basic social services, institution-strengthening and improving anti-poverty
programmes, particularly in the states that are falling behind.
Accelerated economic progress in recent years put India on track to achieve the goal of cutting
hunger by half just after the 2015 deadline. Nevertheless, the country remains home to one
quarter of the world’s undernourished people, over a third of the world’s underweight children
and nearly a third of the world’s food-insecure people. India has joined the new global pledge to
end hunger by 2025 as a part of the SDGs. Hunger responds sluggishly to growth and requires
complementary interventions in several other areas. So the country will need to improve poor
people’s access to nutritious food and medical facilities, focus on child nutrition (especially the
critical first 1,000 days of life) and immunization, provide adequate sanitation and hygiene,
and promote faster change in cultural practices to promote nurturing physical and mental
environments for the development of children and adolescents, especially girls.
Despite high growth, India has seen limited employment creation, which has slowed poverty
reduction. Greater efforts are needed to take full advantage of India’s demographic dividend (the
expansion of the working-age group). This will need to be done by creating decent, productive
jobs to reinforce and underpin sustainable growth. Job creation is low for two main reasons:
First, the surplus people working in agriculture have not found jobs in industry, particularly
in manufacturing and services. Second, the level of labour-force participation by women has
dropped, reducing the overall employment rate.
It is clear, therefore, that if India is to generate employment for its youth, it must create more
jobs in both manufacturing and services. It is not just any jobs that are needed, but decent
192
Key drivers of MDG achievements

India can improve its human development performance by helping weaker states emulate better performers. A
UNESCAP analysis found that states that performed better focused on the following five key drivers:
F Accelerated broad-based economic growth focused on employment creation: Across states in India,
economic growth is closely related to MDG performance. This is because of indirect impacts on growth from
state governments' expanding revenues, the direct impact of growth from employment creation and higher
incomes in poor households, allowing them to invest in their nutrition, health and education.
F Channeled resources into human development: Across India, states spending more on health and
education in per capita terms have seen their human development surpass others.
F Promoted good governance and effective delivery of public services: States with higher quality, more
accountable and more responsive service delivery performed better on the MDGs. For example, states that
created more work for poor people under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
and provided more food grains to poor households from the Public Distribution System also achieved better
MDG performance scores.
F Extended infrastructure networks: States that extended roads and transport and electricity lines saw
higher rates of MDG achievement in areas such as health and education. In states with better access to all-
weather roads, more births are attended by skilled health personnel. States with better access to electricity
tend to have higher rates of literacy.
F Promoted gender equality and women's empowerment: States that reduced fertility, population growth
and child mortality, and that improved nutrition, household hygiene and health, and children's performance
in school performed better on the MDGs. States that have empowered women more than others -- as
measured by the Gender Empowerment Measure -- also performed better on the MDGs.
Some of these drivers of development have been incorporated into the Sustainable Development Goals --
including inclusive growth, employment creation and infrastructure.
jobs. The focus should be on both expanding formal-sector employment and increasing the
productivity of those in informal employment. To do this, the country needs to overcome a
major shortage of skills. At the same time, it needs to step up public employment initiatives
that contribute to infrastructure and other public assets to provide livelihoods for workers who
cannot find work in the private sector and elsewhere.
Around 6 million children (2.97 per cent) between 6 and 13 years were estimated to be out of
school during 2014. Children from disadvantaged groups were more likely to be out of school,
including Scheduled Castes (3.24 per cent), Scheduled Tribes (4.2 per cent) and Muslims (4.43
per cent). In addition, 1 per cent of all children in this age group were identified as children
with special needs, and 28 per cent of such children were out of school in 2014. Girls, especially
those from rural areas, were also more likely to be out of school.
193
UN Millennium Campaign
Syeda Hameed (left, The quality of education is a major concern. The surveys and tests of primary school students
behind poster), Member, indicate that children are learning poorly. In addition, extensive efforts are required to make sure
Planning Commission
of India, joins the UN
education is inclusive of all children, including those who are the hardest to reach and continue
Country Team led by to remain out of the classroom. This is particularly the case in the states that have fallen behind.
Resident Coordinator
Patrice Coeur-Bizot India made good progress on gender issues in education. The country achieved the MDG
(centre), and UN HIV/
target of eliminating gender disparity in primary education, and is on track to achieve parity in
AIDS ambassador Preity
Zinta (right, behind secondary and tertiary (higher) education as well. The Gender Parity Index rose from 0.76 in
poster), at a concert for 1990-1991 and went beyond parity (1.01) in primary education in 2011-2012, an increase of 33
the MDGs at the historic per cent. The Index increased from 0.60 to 0.93 (55 per cent) in secondary education and from
Purana Qila fort in 0.54 to 0.88 (63 per cent) in higher education in the same period. In primary and secondary
New Delhi, on
18 September 2010. education, most states have already reached parity or are close to doing so. Some states have
to make a greater effort, particularly at secondary level. These include Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In tertiary education, most states need to make more effort.
Greater efforts are needed as well to improve women’s literacy rates, which have failed to
keep up with those of men. Women’s lower literacy results in fewer opportunities to get
ahead. India also lags behind in achieving women’s economic empowerment and equal
representation in Parliament.
194
UNIC New Delhi
Infant mortality has constituted a large and persistent share of India’s child (under-five) An orchestra of 100 string
mortality. More progress has been achieved in lowering child mortality than infant mortality, and percussion musicians
from across India came
and in many cases the high child mortality numbers are a result of persistently high infant together in New Delhi
mortality. There were sizeable gaps in achievement of the MDG target for reducing child for a concert celebrating
mortality in less-developed states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. the MDGs on
These states may need more focused efforts and support. Slow progress was also made in the 18 September 2010.
relatively more developed states such as Haryana and Andhra Pradesh, which should be able
to accelerate performance if they make more effort. In contrast, states such as Tamil Nadu
and Kerala, and Jharkhand among the less-developed states, made good progress, indicating
what is possible.
India improved maternal health, though there was wide variation in performance among
states. Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have done well in reducing
maternal mortality ratios, while Haryana appears to be regressing from the high achievement
level attained earlier. On the other hand, states such as Assam and Odisha have not made
much progress since 1990. Some states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, made
progress but remained far from achieving the MDG targets. Most states (other than
Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu) are far from ensuring that all deliveries are assisted by skilled
health professionals.
195
UNIC
In 2006, to mark the
halfway point of the
MDG period, UNIC,
under the theme of 'Keep
the Promise', invited
contemporary artists
to express their visions
of the eight MDGs.
(Above) Depicting the
fight against HIV/AIDS,
malaria and other
diseases is Akhilesh's
'Search and research for
cures and good health'.
(Below) Jayasri Burman's
work, 'Healthy mothers –
happy families', addressed
UNIC
maternal health.
196
India did well on Goal 6, halting and reversing the spread of communicable diseases (malaria,
tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS). India’s success is due largely to making simple treatments and
knowledge about prevention widely available throughout the country. However, a number of
non-communicable diseases have emerged as a major challenge in recent years. These include
heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases as well as chronic respiratory diseases,
diabetes and cancer. The rise of such diseases will place a significant burden on India’s public
health system, which must prepare itself to deal with them.
In the post-2015 period, India should reform its long-term health care delivery strategy to
guarantee comprehensive and universal access to the entire range of health and sexual and
reproductive health care services. India has not only achieved but exceeded the target of
reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, both nationally
and in most states. All states achieved or exceeded their targets for safe drinking water, except
for Sikkim, Manipur and Meghalaya in the North-East as well as Delhi, Jharkhand and
Kerala. Yet challenges remain, such as insufficient availability of water, inequity in access and
sustainability of water sources.
The country faces a much bigger hurdle in sanitation, where progress was held back by the
massive open-defecation challenge. The fact that India is still home to more than half the
world’s open defecators – nearly 600 million people – threatens progress on poverty reduction
and other goals. Open defecation also hampers efforts to reduce stunting and improve nutrition
as well as child and maternal health.
There is also a need to bridge gaps in access to sustainable energy and other basic infrastructure, an
area that received little attention in the MDGs. This omission has been addressed in the Sustainable
Development Goals, which emphasize access to sustainable energy and other infrastructure
components. India faces major infrastructure gaps: one third of Indian households do not have
access to electricity, and close to 70 per cent lack clean and affordable energy for cooking.
India lags behind other Asian countries in other basic infrastructure as well. This includes
roads, which are critical for economic development as well as access to schools and hospitals.
India’s urban infrastructure is greatly overstretched; a fifth of the urban population is living in
poor conditions. New technologies can help meet these challenges. One example is integrating
energy generation with sanitation.
India’s performance on the MDG environment targets varied. On the positive side, India has
increased the geographical area under biodiversity protection as well as overall forest cover.
Forest cover as a percentage of the total geographical area in the country increased from 19.32
per cent in 1997 to 21.23 per cent in 2013. Most states showed small increases in forest cover,
while states such as Tripura, Goa, Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi recorded large increases.
Forest cover decreased in the North-East border states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and
Manipur, and also in Chhattisgarh. However, these positive national trends mask depletion of
197
UN Millennium Campaign
Indian women in the growing stock in India’s forests. More effort is needed to increase the forest cover and the
Gwalior, Madhya growing stock.
Pradesh, at a rally
demanding land rights in
October 2005 were among Overall, India still has relatively low levels of pollution per capita, or per dollar of GDP, given
those mobilized by the its population size. Yet because of the rapid urbanization expected over the next few decades,
UN Millennium India is likely soon to become one of the planet’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
Campaign and
partners during the
MDG timeline. The global partnership for development envisioned in MDG 8 called on industrialized and
developing countries to work together to further their common goal of global development.
However, developing countries have generally been critical of the efforts made to develop global
partnerships, because industrialized countries have not lived up to their commitments to provide
0.7 per cent of their GNP as official development assistance to developing countries. It will be
critical for sustainable development in the post-2015 period to strengthen global partnerships.
This will also require strengthening the means of maintaining partnerships, including through
finance, technology, capacity-building and data gathering and monitoring.
India has recently become an important participant in the changing dynamics of development
cooperation. While the country is a recipient of international assistance, it has scaled up its own
grants and loans to other developing countries and has offered capacity-building support and
198
market access to them, both in its own neighbourhood and elsewhere around the globe. India’s
role in regional cooperation in South Asia and beyond is likely to grow. As a complement
to North-South cooperation, South-South cooperation is an important strategy for sharing
development experiences and good practices and for developing innovative and sustainable
technological solutions. Such efforts can involve pooling resources and setting up joint research
and development centres to address common challenges faced by developing countries. A third
form of cooperation – triangular, involving a traditional donor from the industrialized world, an
emerging donor in the South and a beneficiary country in the South – as well as international
support of joint research and development activity in India may help to harness the country’s
potential in cost-effective engineering.
The world reached a milestone of global development in September 2015 when the
transformative and universal SDGs were adopted by the General Assembly and endorsed
by world leaders as a part of the post-2015 development agenda. The new sustainable
development agenda seeks to ensure that the momentum generated by the MDGs is carried
forward beyond 2015 – not just to reduce poverty, hunger and other deprivations, but finally
to end them, so that all people may live in dignity. India is a crucial factor in taking the
unfinished agenda forward through the SDGs. Given the country’s sheer size and share of the
world’s population, it assumes a critical role in reducing the global burden of poverty, hunger,
undernutrition, illiteracy, disease and gender discrimination, among other core development
challenges targeted by the MDGs and SDGs.
At this crucial juncture, the responsibility of steering development in India has been passed on
to a new Government, whose vision and priorities strongly converge with those of the SDGs.
While promising to end poverty and deprivation in all its forms, the SDGs at the same time
aim to make development economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Likewise,
India’s vision can be seen in the principle it has adopted under the Narendra Modi Government
since 2014: Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (Together with All, Development for All).
Moreover, the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee stated in 2014 that the “first claim on
development belongs to the poor”. The Government is calling for improved sanitation, through
its Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (#MyCleanIndia); financial inclusion, as set out in Pradhan Mantri
Jan Dhan Yojana (National Mission on Financial Inclusion); and security and dignity for all,
especially women, through Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (Save a Daughter, Educate a Daughter).
The Government is also seeking to create decent jobs through its Skill-India and Make-in-India
missions. Simultaneously it is prioritizing improved environmental development with respect
to water, air, soil and the biosphere, by treating the challenge of climate change adaptation as an
opportunity rather than a problem. For this reason, the Government has quintupled the target
for solar power by 2022.
The world will be watching to see how India implements its new strategic direction through
concrete actions, and what the country can achieve to provide a sustainable future for all.
199
22
C LI M ATE
C HAN G E
Concerted
Action
Climate change caused by human activity has been identified as one of the biggest threats to the
planet today and for the future. It is an issue that overarches and underpins much of the activity
that takes place at international forums. This is because life on Earth will be impossible if we
cannot sustain conditions that make the world habitable and are conducive to food production.
It is often said that we are destroying the planet. This is misleading – the planet will survive
long after us. It is the habitability of the planet for human beings that is at risk.
The environment first emerged on the agenda of the United Nations with the UN Conference
on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm in 1972. Other than the Swedish Prime
Minister, Olof Palme, the only Head of Government present was the Prime Minister of India,
Indira Gandhi. Her seminal speech poetically and forcefully laid out the idea that protecting the
environment and ending poverty go hand in hand. Her speech is referred to as a foundational
exposition of such concerns, even today. The major outcomes of the Stockholm Conference
were the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the
Brundtland Commission, which produced the seminal 1987 report Our Common Future,
laying out the case for sustainable development. It was decided that a second conference would
be held 20 years later. As its name indicates, the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and
Even though our industrial development is in its infancy, and at its

most difficult stage, we are taking various steps to deal with incipient
environmental imbalances. The more so because of our concern for
the human being – a species which is also imperilled. In poverty he
is threatened by malnutrition and disease, in weakness by war, in
richness by the pollution brought about by his own prosperity.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the UN Conference on the
Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972
Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, made development a key focus, inseparable from that on Prime Minister Indira
the environment. Indira Gandhi’s vision was becoming reality. In the mid-1980s, two scientific Gandhi addresses
participants at the
conferences – in Villach, Austria, and Bellagio, Italy – established a case for anthropogenic global Conference on the Human
warming, or warming caused by human activity. It was the southern European island State of Environment, the first
Malta that brought climate change to the UN in 1988, initiating a General Assembly agenda of its kind, which took
titled ‘Conservation of climate as part of the common heritage of mankind’. When negotiations place in Stockholm from
5 to 16 June 1972. In her
began, India made a significant contribution to the discussions on how climate change would
influential speech, Gandhi
impact developing countries and how they should respond. In 1991 in Washington, D.C., at emphasized the connection
the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee set up under the General Assembly, India was between sound ecological
the first country to table the full consolidated text of a draft convention on climate change. This management and poverty
would eventually become the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the framework alleviation.
under which all climate negotiations now take place.
In these negotiations, India and other developing countries, as ‘first-movers’, succeeded in

embedding the moral imperative of climate change into the text of the UNFCCC. They took the
position that excessive emission of carbon dioxide is a root cause of climate change. Therefore,
principles of equity and justice suggest that a country’s responsibility to address climate change
can be determined by its total emissions over time as well as its current emissions per capita. This
Indian Permanent Representative to the UN Chandrashekhar Dasgupta led

the Indian delegation to the 1991 Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee
for a Framework Convention on Climate Change, and served as its Vice-
Chair. India was the first country to table the full text of what later became
the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He also served as
Vice-Chair of the preparatory committee for the 1992 Rio Conference.
201
As one of the most critically important Member States of

the UN and one of the fastest-growing economies, India
should lead this campaign to address climate change so
that we will be able to have a universal and meaningful
climate change agreement in Paris in December.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, January 2015
presumes that every individual on the planet has an equal right to the common atmospheric
space. Countries have a common responsibility to address climate change according to factors
such as their emissions over time, population size and level of wealth. This idea of equity, after
Artwork by students
much tough negotiation, was embedded into the UNFCCC in 1992, and thereafter into the
from one of the seventeen
schools invited to Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997. All later negotiations and agreements have taken place within
participate in UNIC's these frameworks.
#ARTisTRY4SDGs
exhibition, in New The Kyoto Protocol extended the achievements of the UNFCCC, fixing binding targets on
Delhi in 2016, as a way
Annex I parties (industrialized countries) to reduce their emissions. This was a crucial step in
to spread awareness
on the Sustainable global climate diplomacy. Yet, despite the agreement reached, global emissions have shown
Development Goals. no signs of slowing down, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A
major cause of this is the growth in emissions of
China and other emerging economies, including
India. Blame cannot be easily shifted onto these
countries, however, particularly since their per
capita emissions are still lower than those of the
industrialized countries. India monitors and
regularly reports on its emissions and other areas
pertaining to climate change. Two of its reports to
the UNFCCC, known as national communications,
were drafted in consultation with UNDP.
For India, the climate change question is crucial

and complex, spanning political, social, economic
and environmental fields. In political terms, it is a
cornerstone of Indian foreign policy today, an area
in which India can assume a leading role in the
international system. It is also a multi-stakeholder
and multi-agent issue, involving action across
ministries, from those overseeing power to those
UNIC
overseeing agriculture, the environment, external
202
affairs and so on. Similarly, the UN system has a multiplicity of bodies dealing with various
aspects of the issue, from UNEP to the UNFCCC Secretariat to FAO to the World Bank.
Managing the complex mechanics of this engagement is another challenge, as is dealing with
pressure from other industrialized and developing countries and fossil fuel lobbies.
Solar energy is one of the
Members of the academic community, including researchers Katharina Michaelowa, Axel fastest-growing forms of
Michaelowa and Navroz Dubash, have delved into this complex issue and India’s role in renewable energy in India
and worldwide.
it. These researchers note, for example, that India has tended to maintain a strong position
To emphasize the
based on moral and distributive principles, emphasizing the historical level of emissions importance of renewable
and their contribution to development. The country has sometimes been characterized as a energy, Secretary-
difficult negotiating partner in this regard. It stands firmly by the principle of common but General Ban Ki-moon
differentiated responsibility enshrined in Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration, which states: “The inaugurated the Canal
Top Solar Power Plant,
developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of
pictured here, during his
sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment visit to Vadodara in
and of the technologies and financial resources they command.” January 2015.
203
"The principles of equity and common but differentiated

responsibilities must remain the bedrock of our collective
enterprise across all areas – mitigation, adaptation and means for
implementation. Anything else would be morally wrong... Ultimately,
for success, moderating our lifestyle is necessary, and possible,
for a low carbon future... The presence of 196 countries tells us
that we have a chance to unite behind a common purpose. We will
succeed if we have the wisdom and courage to craft a genuinely
collective partnership that balances responsibilities and capabilities
with aspirations and needs. I am confident that we will."
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, at the Paris Climate Change Conference,
30 November 2015
Some commentators consider India’s stand in climate discussions to be a display of the country’s
position as a large developing country protecting the right to pursue economic development for itself
and other developing countries. In this vein, it could be argued that the reluctance of India to take
on international legal commitments with respect to emissions allows it to move towards reaching
more ambitious targets through voluntary domestic action, resulting in maximum effort and results.
India’s action in this regard bore fruit on 30 June 2008, when its Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh,
released India’s first National Action Plan on Climate Change. This Plan outlined priority policies
and programmes addressing development as well as climate mitigation and adaptation. It included
eight national missions: solar energy, energy efficiency, sustainable habitat, water, agriculture,
afforestation, Himalayan ecosystems and strategic knowledge. The Plan also supported India’s
assertion that the country can leapfrog to a low-carbon economy using emerging technologies,
bypassing the high-emission industrialization phase followed by most industrialized nations. Action
plans for climate change were also drafted for every state, with UNDP assistance in nine states and
its coordination in all. The country pledged to reduce its carbon intensity – the amount of emissions
relative to GDP – by 33 per cent to 35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
In terms of strategies, India sees most return on actions that have what are called co-benefits,
meaning benefits that deliver both development and climate gains. As a middle-income
developing economy that is also home to one third of the world’s poorest people, India has per
capita levels of emissions and energy consumption that are less than a third of the global average.
India’s levels are between one quarter and one sixth of those of other emerging economies.
It is clear that India, like many other developing countries and emerging economies, needs
carbon ‘headroom’ and increased use of energy-based services to grow its economy and lift its
population out of poverty. This growth, in turn, is vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate
204
UNDP India/Prashanth Vishwanathan
change. For this reason, India’s domestic action focuses on adaptation measures that will reduce In a UNDP-assisted
the negative impacts of climate change on its people and increase their resilience when faced project on climate change
adaptation in Odisha
with such effects. in 2014, women form
a chain to uproot water
In international negotiations, India focuses on ensuring access to financing and technology hyacinth, an invasive
for accelerated climate-related action. However, the most closely watched metrics for the species that contaminates
waterways and spreads
2015 UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP 21), held in Paris, were of mitigation efforts –
disease. The women are
that is, commitments to contain emissions. For the Conference, India developed its Intended clearing the pond so they
Nationally Determined Contributions on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and can use it for fishing and
capacity-building. It is suggested that taking action to avoid locking its economy into a high- duck farming.
emissions path will afford India the best negotiating position in the future, and give it related
advantages known as co-benefits.
205
Action is being taken across the world, including in India, to address climate change. In
September 2014, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted the Climate Summit in New
York in order to catalyse climate action in the run-up to COP 21 in Paris. In December 2015,
these efforts bore fruit as the Paris Agreement was adopted – all nations pledged for the first
time to keep temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with concerted efforts to limit
this to 1.5 degrees. India endorsed the Paris Climate Change Agreement on 2 October 2016,
paving the way for its coming into force on 4 November 2016.
On the ground in India, UN agencies are mainstreaming the concern for climate action and
sustainability into their mandates. Across the UN system, climate change and sustainable
development concerns are integrated into projects and programmes, permeating work at every
level. The UN Disaster Management Team in the country addresses the challenges associated
with climate change impacts by providing support for climate change adaptation and disaster
risk reduction, with the aim of enhancing community resilience. The Global Environment
Fund Small Grants Programme, in line with the sustainable development credo of ‘think
globally, act locally’, has an active presence in India, supporting community-level projects
addressing climate change, which are implemented by UNDP. Specialized training modules
have also been developed and used by UNDP for the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy
of Administration and at state administrative training institutes.
Significant work has taken place on biodiversity and water management. For example,
multisectoral coordination in the Gulf of Mannar has resulted in a 7 per cent increase of coral
cover. Conservation of medicinal plants and protection of traditional knowledge have been
promoted through the establishment of 74 medicinal plant conservation areas in 12 states.
Peoples’ biodiversity registers and biocultural community protocols have also been established
in five states. Newly identified endangered species, including the Black Buck, Olive Ridley
Turtle and crocodiles, are being better protected through the creation of 500 community-
conserved areas in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
Other UN agencies are providing valuable support to India’s work on climate change. UNIDO
works closely with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Bureau of Energy
Efficiency on sustainable energy initiatives, particularly the Secretary-General’s Sustainable
Energy for All campaign. UN-Habitat’s Smart Cities project, launched in collaboration with
the Government, aims to develop cities that are regenerative – that is, energy efficient, low-
carbon and increasingly reliant on renewable energy sources. A strong focus of the project is on
walking and using public transport to minimize emissions. Urban resilience plans emphasize
disaster preparedness strategies.
UNEP, too, is working on a project promoting low-carbon transport in line with India’s national
action plan on climate change. FAO implemented a project on gender-sensitive strategies for
adapting to climate change, drawing on the experiences of Indian farmers. UN-Women brings
to its work an emphasis on green economics and climate change in the context of women’s
206
Solar Impulse
The lightweight Solar Impulse aircraft lands in India in March 2015, during its round-the-world flight.
Fueled only by solar power, it showcases innovative technical solutions for clean energy to mitigate
climate change. At the successful end of its journey in July 2016, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said to
the pilots, “You may be ending your journey, but the journey to a sustainable world is just beginning,”
economic empowerment. One example is support for training community members through
the volunteer Social Work and Research Centre, widely known as the Barefoot College.
India is today the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, after China, the
United States and the EU. Its people are already suffering from changing climatic conditions.
This is particularly true as monsoon patterns shift, bringing flooding and other adverse impacts
to the vast majority of the population and destroying their livelihoods, especially of those
engaged in agriculture. Climate change impacts, including sea-level rise, ocean acidification,
melting of Himalayan glaciers and high-intensity cyclones, will continue to affect the entire
country, perhaps for decades. The 2014 floods in Kashmir and a monsoon crisis, coupled with
heat waves and drought in 2015 and 2016, provide compelling examples of what could be in
store. India must ensure that its climate action is concerted, thorough and effective in order to
protect its people and the global commons.
207
The Sustainable Development Goals are projected against the UN Headquarters building
ahead of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.
UN Photo/Cia Pak
23
A G E N DA 20 3 0
Fostering Sustainable
Development
The United Nations’ seventieth anniversary coincided with the culmination of the Millennium
Development Goals. The landmark commitment entered into by world leaders in 2000
dominated the global development discourse, helped lift more than 1 billion people out of
extreme poverty, reshaped decision-making and enabled people across the world to improve
their lives and future prospects. But despite the successes, significant gaps remained in
eradicating poverty, bridging inequalities and addressing development in all its dimensions –
social, economic and environmental.
Ahead of the 2015 deadline for achievement of the MDGs, the United Nations conducted
the largest consultation in its history to gauge opinion on what the new development agenda
should include. The outcome document of the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the UN General
Assembly in 2010 recommended that the Secretary-General facilitate discussion on a post-
2015 Development Agenda.
The Secretary-General undertook several far-reaching initiatives. One was to appoint a High
Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, chaired by the
President of Indonesia, President of Liberia and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a new campaign

called ‘2015: Time for Global Action’ at the General Assembly
in January 2015 to catalyse action towards adopting the
Sustainable Development Goals. He called on the international
community to join forces to combat terrorism, prepare for
possible new epidemics and work on transformative global
action to ensure sustainable development for all.
A volunteer in New York

in 2013 demonstrates
'My World', the UN-led
platform encouraging
people to share their

ideas for creating a
better world. This was
one of many initiatives
that contributed to the
inclusive approach taken
to craft the SDGs.
UN Photo/Guilherme Costa
211
UN
included 11 thematic and 83 national consultations, door-to-door surveys and the online ‘My
World’ survey. In India, the National Consultation on the Post 2015 Development Framework,
facilitated by the UN Country Team, was informed by substantive inputs from the Government,
civil society, women’s groups, youth groups, farmer’s associations, trade unions, industry and
business associations, and think tanks.
Importantly, establishing the post-2015 development goals was one of the main outcomes of
the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro
in June 2012, at which Member States agreed to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable
development goals. While Rio+20 did not elaborate specific goals, it stated that the SDGs
should be limited in number, aspirational and easy to communicate; and should balance all three
dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental. Subsequently,
a 30-member Open Working Group of the General Assembly was given responsibility for
preparing a proposal on the SDGs.
The Open Working Group, co-chaired by the Permanent Representatives of Hungary and Kenya,
had representatives from 70 countries, including India. It held 13 sessions between March 2013 and
July 2014. The Goals were negotiated at these sessions, which involved participants from Member
States, the UN system and nine sectors of society termed ‘major groups’, including women, children
and youth, along with NGOs. In July 2014, the Open Working Group published its final draft, with
17 suggested goals, which was presented to the UN General Assembly two months later. Member
212
"Just a few days ago we adopted the

new Development Agenda, with the
Sustainable Development Goals at their
core, a blueprint more comprehensive and
holistic than the Millennium Development
Goals. However, their successful
implementation will require political
resolve and an inclination to share - both
technology and financial resources - while
simultaneously improving our delivery
mechanisms... Our future must rest on
building a sustainable planet for our
UN Photo/Cia Pak
children and our children’s children."
Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister at the
70th UN General Assembly session, October 2015
State negotiations followed, and the final wording of the goals and targets, the preamble and the Sushma Swaraj, External
declaration were agreed to in August 2015. India played an important leadership role through Affairs Minister, addresses
the 70th UN General
the negotiation process and in voicing the concerns of the developing countries. Amit Narang, Assembly session in
Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, described the outcome document as October 2015.
“a visionary and transformative document, a blueprint for common action for the common future
of us all.”
The SDGs were also influenced by three key summits in 2015: the UN World Conference
on Disaster Risk Reduction (Sendai, Japan); International Conference on Financing for
Development (Addis Ababa); and the UN Climate Change Conference (Paris).
In September 2015, at the historic seventieth session of the UN General Assembly, 193 world
leaders unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committing to
achieve an ambitious set of 17 universal goals by 2030.
Addressing the General Assembly at that session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that much
of India's development agenda is mirrored in the Sustainable Development Goals. Expressing
satisfaction that the elimination of poverty in all forms everywhere is at the top of the goals, he
said, “Just as our vision behind the Agenda 2030 is lofty, our goals are comprehensive. It gives
priority to the problems that have endured through the past decades. And, it reflects our evolving
understanding of the social, economic and environmental linkages that define our lives.”
213
Nagarjun Kandukuru on Flickr

(Above) Jaisalmer Wind The agenda for action, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Park in Rajasthan is Development, is ambitious and far-reaching. It seeks to “strengthen universal peace in
India's largest operational
onshore wind farm. It
larger freedom” and stimulate action in five areas of critical importance: people, planet,
is juxtaposed here with prosperity, peace and partnerships. The Sustainable Development Goals represent an
the sixteenth-century approach to development that is more holistic and integrated than anything seen before.
architecture of the garden In simultaneously addressing the three core pillars – environmental, social and
oasis of Bada Bagh.
economic – it recognizes that they are all interconnected and indispensable for lasting
human progress.
(Facing page)
A beneficiary of UNDP
and the Government of Unlike the MDGs, which were exclusively focused on developing countries, the
Nagaland's partnership SDGs are universal – they apply to all countries, both industrialized and developing.
to promote sustainable They are also comprehensive, tackling the issues of development and climate together
farming in Nagaland
in 2012.
and addressing both global public goods problems as well as national concerns.
The SDGs have a strong focus on means of implementation, particularly the mobilization
of financial resources, capacity-building and technology, as well as on strengthening
data collection and institutions. While Agenda 2030 is a transformational new
development paradigm, the responsibility for implementing and nationalizing it lies
with the Member States. It takes into account different national realities, capacities
and levels of development and respects national policies and priorities.
214
UNDP/Zubeni Lotha
215
In September 2016, the Secretary-General's Envoy on

Youth announced the UN Young Leaders for the Sustainable
Development Goals – 17 outstanding young people from
around the world recognized for their leadership in advancing
Agenda 2030. Among them were two young people from
India, Ankit Kawatra and Trisha Shetty. Kawatra founded
Feeding India, an organization that aims to work for Zero
Hunger (SDG 2) by eliminating food waste, while Shetty’s
SheSays addresses gender equality (SDG 5) through ending
violence against women.
The Government of India has taken the lead in designing the framework for nationalizing and
implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Nationally, the task of coordinating them is
entrusted to the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), which is also responsible
for formulating a 15-year vision agenda, in keeping with the SDG timeline. The Vision 2030 Agenda
The High-level Panel would replace the previous Five Year Plans. Simultaneously, in consonance with NITI Aayog, 29 states
on the Post-2015
and 7 union territories are also charged with developing long-term vision plans consistent with the
Development Agenda
presented its report to the SDG framework.
UN Secretary-General
on 30 May 2013. The The importance of the collective journey of the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be
Panel comprised 27 emphasized enough. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that recognizes that the dignity
eminent persons, included
Indian economist Abhijit of the human person is fundamental. It calls on us, where and when we can, and based on our
Banerjee (Back row, collective will and action, to reach the furthest behind first and make a lasting difference so that
first from left). no one will be left behind.
216
II
United Nations
of the People
The United
Nations Organization
symbolizes the hopes and aspirations of the
peoples of the world ... [it] hopes to give that
soul or that conscience to the World community,
which is emerging.
Dr. S ar v epal li R adhakr ishnan

P re s id e n t o f I n d ia
10 June 1963
People
Across the Globe
24
U N SE C RETARIES -GENERAL
A N D I N DIA
Leadership
at its Best
The Secretary-General, the top official of the United Nations, shapes the Organization’s
agenda and defines its role in the world community. Loyal only to the United Nations Charter,
the Secretary-General represents the collective interests of the global community, aiming to
positively influence international actors towards greater cooperation. Over the decades, the
visits of United Nations Secretaries-General to India have marked moments of significance in
the affairs of South Asia.
Trygve Lie (Norway), 1946-1952
Rajeshwar Dayal, newly

appointed Permanent
Representative of India
to the United Nations,
in a tête-à-tête with the
UN Photo/AF
first Secretary-General,
Trygve Lie in New York
on 29 February 1952.
Uni ted Nat ions of the P eople
Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden), 1953-1961

Secretary-General Dag
During his first visit to India, on 3 February 1956, Dag Hammarskjöld spoke at the Indian
Hammarskjöld opens the
Council of World Affairs, calling the United Nations “a symbol of faith … an instrument for twelfth session of the
action inspired by hope, and … a framework for acts of charity”. In 1959, Hammarskjöld again UN Economic
visited India, travelling to New Delhi, Jammu, Srinagar and Amritsar. Commission for Asia
and the Far East in
Bengaluru in
February 1956.
UN Photo
221
Secretary-General
Dag Hammarskjöld
calls on Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru on
UN Photo
18 March 1959 during

his visit to India.
222
U Thant (Burma/Myanmar), 1961-1971

U Thant played a noteworthy role in containing the India-Pakistan conflict through
individual interventions in the two nations, and later at the Tashkent Summit of 1965. His
next visit to India was in 1967. He was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International
Understanding in 1965 and the Gandhi Peace Award in 1972.
Secretary-General U
Thant (right) confers
with Prime Minister
UN Photo/PNS
of India Lal Bahadur

Shastri in 1965 in
New Delhi.
UN Photo/MB
Secretary-General U Thant reviews the Guard of Honour representing the three armed services, at New Delhi's
Palam Airport in 1967.
223
Kurt Waldheim (Austria), 1972-1981

Kurt Waldheim became the United Nations Secretary-General shortly after the India-Pakistan
war of 1971, when the two nations had begun relying on bilateral negotiations. His visit to
New Delhi in February 1973 focused on relief operations for refugees from Bangladesh in the
aftermath of the war. Subsequently, in 1980, he returned to New Delhi to participate in the
UNIDO General Conference.
UN Photo
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi welcomes Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim in New Delhi on 21 January 1980 for the Third
UNIDO General Conference. At right is M.A. Rangaswamy, Secretary of the Conference.
224
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru), 1982-1991

As Secretary-General, Pérez de Cuéllar first visited India in 1983 to address the Non-Aligned
Movement Summit, and then again in 1988 to receive the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for
International Understanding from the Government of India. He appointed former Indian civil
servant and UN official Virendra Dayal as his Chef de Cabinet.
Secretary-General Javier
Pérez de Cuéllar visits
the United Nations
Transition Assistance
Group operations in
Windhoek, Namibia on 1
July 1989. He is flanked
by two Indian officials:

Lieutenant General Prem
Chand, UNTAG Force
Commander (left), and
Virendra Dayal, his Chef
de Cabinet.
Prime Minister Indira

UN Photo/Saw Lwin
Gandhi confers with

Secretary-General Javier
Pérez de Cuéllar at UN
Headquarters on
28 July 1982.
225
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt), 1992-1996

The sixth Secretary-General visited New Delhi in September 1994. Among his activities, he
offered his good offices to mediate on the issue of Kashmir, although India reiterated its well-
known position of preferring bilateral negotiations.
Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali (centre)
meets with Indian
Members of Parliament
at UN Headquarters
on 5 November 1993
UN Photo/Ron da Silva
(Left to right): Syed Ali
Geelani, E. Ahamed,
M.M. Jacob, Secretary-
General Boutros-Ghali,
Unnikrishnan, Brajesh
Mishra, Hamid Ansari.
Kofi Annan (Ghana), 1997-2006

As Secretary-General, Kofi Annan visited India twice, in 2001 and 2005. Widely respected as a
great world leader, he led the UN in international relief operations following the Indian Ocean
tsunami in 2004, which affected hundreds of thousands of Indians.
Secretary-General Kofi
Annan visits Raj Ghat,
the memorial to Mahatma
Gandhi in New Delhi, on
27 April 2005.
226
Secretary-General
Kofi Annan chats with
President A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam in New Delhi on
27 April 2005.
The Secretary-General
addresses the team at UN
House in New Delhi
in 2005.
Ban Ki-moon (South Korea), 2006-2016

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first visit to India was in October 2008, when he declared
India a model of development through democracy. In February 2009, he was honoured with
The Energy Resources Institute’s Sustainable Development Leadership Award. On receiving
the honour, he stressed the importance of green growth and the need to address climate change
along with economic stimulus, by investing in renewable energy. During his visit in 2012, he
drew attention to the complex issue of maternal health in India. On his fourth trip to India, in
January 2015, he participated in the Vibrant Gujarat international conclave in Gandhinagar,
inaugurated a solar power project in Vadodara and delivered the thirteenth Sapru House lecture,
‘India and the United Nations in a Changing World’, which was hosted by the Indian Council
of World Affairs.
227
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon meets
patients at Mumbai's
Cama Hospital in
a 2012 visit focused on
maternal health care.
UN Photo/Prashanth Vishwanathan
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon meets
with Prime Minister
Navendra Modi in
Ahmedabad in a
2015 visit aiming to
strengthen the UN-India
relationship.
228
On 11 Janaury 2015
Ban Ki-moon inaugurates
the Canal Top Solar
Power Plant in Vadodara.
The next Secretary-General of the United Nations will be elected

by the General Assembly in 2016. Under article 97 of the UN
Charter, this appointment is made by the General Assembly on
the recommendation of the Security Council. The process is being
improved to make it more robust, inclusive and transparent, and
ultimately more effective. Whichever nation the next Secretary-General
hails from, he or she, as the most prominent international diplomat,
will continue to play a seminal role in shaping the global agenda and
maintaining a neutral global voice seeking healthy relations with all
United Nations Member States.
229
25
P RI M E M I NISTERS OF INDIA
A N D THE UNITED NATIO NS
Shaping the
Global Agenda
The dynamic nature of the relationship between India and the UN has always been defined by
India’s prime ministers. The speeches and initiatives by elected Heads of State in an international
forum such as the UN offer an insightful narrative revealing the nation’s evolving sense of
self in the larger global community. There is a clear thread of themes in the prime ministers’
speeches that reflect evolving global concerns – from racial discrimination and decolonization
to international development and UN reform, and from nuclear disarmament to terrorism,
environmental concerns and questions of trade and economy.
The early years of engagement between India and the UN set the tone for the emerging global
discourse. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s addresses to the UN, touching on the dangerous drifts in
‘great power’ relations and the need for strengthening the Organization, bear witness to his broad
internationalist vision and the convergence of the values of newly independent India and the
UN. He first addressed the General Assembly in Paris in 1948, where he pledged the absolute
adherence of India to the United Nations Charter, including its underlying principles and mission.
Nehru drew particular attention to the emergence of Asia in global affairs and the urgency of
ending colonial and racial domination across the world. He also recognized the importance
of public opinion in supporting the relevance of the UN, emphasizing that the Organization
could not achieve its aims without substantial public support. For the global public discourses
to be best gauged, he recognized that all nations must be independent and gathered within
the fold of the UN. In a broadcast on UN Radio in 1950, Nehru stressed his astonishment
at the proposal to limit the UN’s membership, claiming the proposal appeared to “forget
the very purpose and the very nature of the United Nations”. In 1955, the efforts of Indian
representatives in New York and Nehru’s parallel talks with leaders from the Soviet Union
in New Delhi were vital in supporting the greater inclusion of non-industrialized nations in
the United Nations.
Speaking to the General Assembly in 1956, Nehru articulated his famous concept of a ‘world
community’ without the looming influence of armed nations. Integral to this were conditions
Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru is
greeted by Secretary-
General Dag
UN Photo
Hammarskjöld in New
York in December 1956.
that ensured disarmament, a reduced number of military installations across the world,
independence of all nations (subject to reasonable restraints) and the abandonment of power
competitions between nations. He criticized military alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw
Pact, denouncing them as being “completely out of place”. This is best reflected in Nehru’s
championing of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was established in 1961. Speaking on the
subject, he said:
“I have not originated non-alignment; it is a policy inherent in the very circumstances

of India, in the conditioning of the Indian mind during the struggle for freedom, and
inherent in the very circumstances of the world today.”
These words reflect India’s early commitment to peace through disarmament, as well as the
principles of equity and justice. In 1963, Nehru’s efforts to increase the representation of
non-Western States were met with success when the General Assembly adopted resolutions
1991(XVIII)A-B and 1992(XVIII) to expand the membership of the Security Council and
the Economic and Social Council. This was done in order “to reflect correctly the membership
of the United Nations”, that is, increase representation from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
These resolutions marked the beginning of India’s efforts to occupy a greater role in the UN.
231
Since then, the call for more representative membership in the UN has been central to demands
made by all Indian prime ministers.
In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected Prime Minister of India following the deaths of both
Nehru, her father, and his successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri. In her first address to the UN in 1968,
Gandhi’s rhetorical approach to world issues of the time mirrored that of Nehru’s. She focused
on creating a world order driven by the troika of disarmament, decolonization and the absence
of racial discrimination. However, where Nehru spoke with idealism about political ends,
Gandhi brought in a more practical dimension to her appeals, especially in what she termed
the lingering “colonial pattern of economy” in developing countries. Referring to foreign aid as
only a “partial recompense”, she urged members to give their fullest support to UNCTAD and
help make international trade fairer for less-industrialized countries. It was in 1968 that Indira
Gandhi inaugurated the second session of UNCTAD in New Delhi. This reflected a growing
concern over the economic status of developing countries, now that political independence was
well within reach for most countries.
In 1971, Indira Gandhi addressed the Security Council on the issue of Bangladeshi refugees and
the imminence of war, securing the support of a Russian veto against a resolution considered
inimical to India’s interests. She further built upon this by entering into a Twenty Years’ Treaty of
Peace, Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1971. Later that year, she quickly
withdrew Indian troops from Pakistan after a 16 December Security Council resolution. Her
stewardship of India as Prime Minister marked the end of the war with Pakistan and the birth
of Bangladesh from the former East Pakistan. The Twenty Years’ Treaty, however, somewhat
complicated the country’s professed stand of non-alignment, though it did not impede Indira
Gandhi’s later chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement Conference in New Delhi in 1983.
Gandhi’s address at the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm stands
among the most noteworthy speeches by an Indian leader at the UN. She illustrated the connection
between ecological conservation and poverty alleviation, using India’s example to link the two:
“Unless we are in a position to provide employment and purchasing power for the daily
necessities of the tribal people and those who live in or around our jungles, we cannot
prevent them from combing the forest for food and livelihood … How can we speak to
those who live in villages and in slums about keeping the oceans, the rivers and air clean
when their own lives are contaminated at the source?”
Apart from Prime Minister Olof Palme of Sweden, Indira Gandhi was the only Head of State
at the Conference. It has been widely regarded as a watershed in environmental diplomacy,
marking the early origins of today’s sustainable development agenda.
In 1984, after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, her son Rajiv Gandhi took office and reinforced
India’s powerful rhetoric at the UN. Carrying forward his predecessor’s legacy, he utilized
232
Prime Minister Indira

Gandhi addresses the
General Assembly at its
plenary session in 1983.
his first speech at the General Assembly in 1987 to advocate ecological prudence in the path
towards growth. Reflecting his appreciation of science and nature, he said that in addition to
the important issues of threatened plant and animal species, “answers … of health and survival
might be found in the yet undiscovered secrets of these gene pool reserves”. He also evoked and
built upon Nehru’s ‘One World’ concept, saying, “We must also recognize that environmental
issues are closely linked to the larger issues of peaceful coexistence and international cooperation,
disarmament and development.”
233
In 1988, in his second speech at the General Assembly, Rajiv Gandhi confronted the question
of nuclear disarmament. Indira Gandhi’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
and India’s testing of a nuclear device had drawn criticism in 1968 and 1974. In the now-
renowned Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan, he proposed that nuclear disarmament must proceed in
timed stages, setting the target year of 2010 for reaching “zero possession of nuclear weapons”.
Although this proposal was not implemented, the idea was tabled of pushing States possessing
nuclear weapons to act on a timetable. The proposal served to counter the pressures on India to
sign the treaty or to accept full-scope safeguards. Assassinated in 1991, Rajiv Gandhi served a
single term as Prime Minister.
After this, P.V. Narasimha Rao came to power, leading a minority Government. In his address
to the General Assembly in 1995, Rao became the first Prime Minister of India to raise
terrorism as a central issue in that forum. His speech came against the background of the serial
terrorist bombings in Mumbai in 1993, the Tokyo subway Sarin attack in Japan in 1995 and the
Oklahoma City bombing in the United States, also in 1995. He said:
“International terrorism haunts the innocent. Harmony in many pluralistic societies,

whose number is the largest, is being disrupted by increasing fundamentalist trends, based
on exclusivism and intolerance, and in many cases hatred … The world's great danger
today is the spread of terrorism. When sponsored and supported by States, terrorism
becomes another means of waging war. The international community must therefore
resolve to combat this menace, since it threatens the very basis of peaceful societies.”
This attention to peace and security was accompanied by a corresponding call to action to attain
development and “a vision of global harmony and cooperation [to] lead the world to a safe
haven in the coming millennium.”
UN Photo/Saw Lwin
(Left to right): Former

Prime Ministers of India
– Rajiv Gandhi and
P.V. Narasimha Rao.
234
For the next year, from 1997 to 1998, Inder Kumar Gujral occupied the office of Prime Minister,
continuing the theme of conventional and nuclear disarmament at the UN. By refusing to
sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, he reiterated India’s view that fair play
was essential in the disarmament debate. In his speech to the General Assembly in 1997, he
underscored the need to adopt a nuclear weapons convention, reiterating that the UN remained
the forum at which countries must continue to demand nuclear disarmament. He also touched
upon themes of India’s readiness for permanent membership of the Security Council, and the
importance of a legal instrument to preserve the environment and prevent climate change.
In 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee took up his post as Prime Minister, serving through 2003. His
debut speech at the General Assembly as Prime Minister emphasized the fact that times
had changed since the 1970s. He said that India would support a “revitalized and effective
United Nations” that is “responsive to the concerns” of the majority of its Member States.
He persuasively argued India’s case for permanent membership in the Security Council.
Speaking on terrorism, he stressed the need to take a multilateral approach to “manage change”
in globalized times to fend off the menace. On the sluggish world economy, he compared
economic models of industrialized and developing countries, suggesting that “unbridled free
markets” and “premature liberalization” were among the reasons for sluggish global markets.
In 2002, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave his famous speech at the General Assembly
in Hindi. He also raised the issue of terrorism emanating from Pakistan, the first time an
Indian Prime Minister had done so at the United Nations. He informed the Assembly in
no uncertain terms that only when “cross-border terrorism stops – or when we eradicate (Left to right): Former
Prime Ministers of India
it – we can have a dialogue on other issues between us [India and Pakistan]”. Continuing
– I.K. Gujral, Atal
India’s legacy of advocacy for the interests of emerging economies, Vajpayee introduced the Bihari Vajpayee, and
formation of the India-Brazil-South Africa dialogue forum, of which he was a founding Manmohan Singh.
UN Photo/Evan Schneide
UN Photo/Evan Schneide
235
leader. Justifying this forum, he explained, “Developing countries need to coordinate their
position in international negotiations to promote the adoption of regimes which would help
in poverty alleviation”.
In 2004, Manmohan Singh was nominated to be India’s next Prime Minister. Aware of the
General Assembly’s concern over India-Pakistan tensions, Singh assured the international
community of India’s continued commitment to peace. He expressed the determination of
his country “to carry forward the India-Pakistan composite dialogue to a purposeful and
mutually acceptable conclusion”. During his second address to the General Assembly, in 2005,
he continued Vajpayee’s call for more inclusivity at the UN, warning of the Organization’s
“democracy deficit”. In this vein, he argued the case for India, as well as Brazil, Germany
and Japan, to be inducted as permanent members of the Security Council. His bilateral
meetings with officials alongside the General Assembly session bolstered these proposals.
The United Kingdom, France and the Russian Federation reiterated their unreserved support
for India’s position. However, he failed to convince the United States of the need to include
Brazil and Germany. China, meanwhile, refused to entertain Japan’s claim to a seat on
the Council.
In 2008, Singh expressed full support for the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change and introduced India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, carrying
forward the thread of ecological concerns. As an economist of immense stature, he continued
to make critical remarks about the global economy, which were received with interest. Among
his significant observations was the need for structural reforms in the world financial system.
The “explosion” of financial innovation without systemic regulation, he said, had rendered the
situation most vulnerable. In 2011, in another address that followed the global financial crisis,
he suggested that a contributing factor to the crisis was that “the world had taken for granted
the benefits of globalization and interdependence”. During this address, Singh also announced
vocal support for the Palestinian aspirations for membership in the United Nations, a throwback
to Indian support for the right of self-determination for all peoples.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, and his first speech at the General
Assembly carried forward the themes of terrorism, environmental concerns and UN reform.
He highlighted India’s apprehension over Pakistan’s alleged militant activities across the
border and the rising menace of global terrorism. He also suggested that, with global issues
demanding increasingly urgent response and cooperation, the UN may “lose relevance” if
countries such as India were not inducted into its core fold. In 2015, at the Leaders’ Summit
on Peacekeeping, Modi identified the significance of the peacekeeping operations across the
world, re-emphasizing India’s commitment to United Nations peacekeeping. He announced
new intended contributions to the operations, including “an additional battalion of up to 850
troops in existing or new operations; additional Police units with higher representation of female
peacekeepers; commitment to provide critical enablers; deployment of technical personnel in
the UN missions; and, additional training for peacekeepers”.
236
UN Photo/Cia Pak
Prime Minister Narendra

Modi addresses the
General Assembly at UN
At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit for the adoption of the post-2015
development agenda, he said he valued “ensuring a peaceful, sustainable and just world”.
Addressing the subject, he said:
“Just as our vision behind the Agenda 2030 is lofty, our goals are comprehensive. It
gives priority to the problems that have endured through the past decades. And, it
reflects our evolving understanding of the social, economic and environmental linkages
that define our lives… Today, much of India’s development agenda is mirrored in the
Sustainable Development Goals… We are here today in the United Nations because we
all believe that international partnership must be at the centre of our efforts, whether it
is development or combating climate change.”
Tracing Indian prime ministers’ speeches at the UN offers insight into the changing face of
India and the world. It also shows India’s great intellectual contributions in helping to lead
the developing world and shape the global agenda – on issues ranging from decolonization to
nuclear disarmament, and from terrorism to sustainable development. The stances so forcefully
and eloquently taken by India since the founding of the UN attest to the centrality of India in
global affairs over the decades.
237
26
VIJAYA LAKSH M I PANDIT
A N D V. K . KRISHNA M ENON
Indian Pioneers at
the United Nations
Indian diplomats played a crucial role in formulating UN policies in the early years. Two stand
out in particular: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon.
Pandit contributed significantly to India’s growth and development, locally and on the
international stage. She was born in 1900 into the family of Motilal Nehru, a leading barrister
and freedom fighter who served twice as the President of the Indian National Congress. Her
brother, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was the first Prime Minister of independent India. Active in
India’s freedom struggle, Pandit was imprisoned three times by the British. After independence,
she joined the diplomatic service and led the Indian delegation to the United Nations at various
India's Vijaya Lakshmi

Pandit addressing the
Plenary of the First
General Assembly,
UN Photo
New York,
25 October 1946.
UN Photo/AF
UN Photo
times between 1946 and 1968. She was the first woman and the first Indian to serve as President of (Left) Pandit at the
the General Assembly, in 1953. Only two other women have held that position ever since: Angie Security Council with
Elisabeth Brooks, of Liberia, in 1969, and Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, of Bahrain, in 2006. Hammarskjöld, during
her presidency of the
During her years on the global stage, Pandit concentrated on human rights issues, and she General Assembly,
represented India in the Human Rights Commission in 1979. She focused particularly on 16 September 1953.
racial issues in South Africa and on the right to self-determination for the countries still under
(Right) Pandit with
colonial rule. Through her, India championed the cause of independence and UN membership Secretary-General Dag
for trust territories and non-self-governing territories. In the General Assembly, one of the Hammarskjöld,
major political issues she presided over was the conflict in the Korean Peninsula, and the United Nations Day.
armistice agreement was signed under her chairmanship. Of the United Nations she said, “The New York,
24 October 1953.
The recent triumph of India in the Assembly of the United Nations

proves that India is no more a family concern of British Imperialism.
India has attained the status of a free and powerful nation. I can find
no words to praise the unique work done by Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi
Pandit in this direction. She has held the head of India high and the
immortal glory of Mrs. Pandit shall ever remain in the history of India
in golden letters.
R.V. Dhulekar, Constituent Assembly Transcripts, 21 January 1947
239
existence of the United Nations depends on its ability

to translate the noble words and high ideals of the
Charter into the lives of the humblest individuals in
the smallest nations.”
V.K. Krishna Menon was involved in some of the

most historic geopolitical moments of the 1950s and
1960s, serving as India’s representative to the United
Nations from 1952 to 1962. He was a diplomat and
statesman who inspired both widespread adulation
and fervent criticism in both India and the West.
Menon’s role in key affairs was significant during that
UN Photo
tumultuous decade. It included his personal mediation
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru between Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower for
and V.K. Krishna Menon the release of United States airmen shot down over the Democratic Republic of Korea in 1954.
representing India at the He also mediated the Suez Canal crisis with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1956
General Assembly.
and helped to negotiate the ceasefire in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos at a 1954 conference in
Geneva. As Defence Minister, he was known for influencing the Indian action in Goa in 1961
and preparing for the Chinese conflict of 1962 (see chapter 8 for more details).
Menon’s eight-hour speech defending India’s stand on Kashmir was the longest ever delivered
at the Security Council. It covered five hours on 23 January 1957 and two hours and 48 minutes
the next day, after which he collapsed of exhaustion on the Security Council floor. Menon’s
passionate defence of Indian sovereignty in Kashmir enlarged his base of support in India and
led the Indian press to refer to him temporarily as the Hero of Kashmir. Global impressions of
Menon’s address, however, remain mixed.
The achievements of V.K. Krishna Menon and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit are still remembered,
and they remain an inextricable part of India’s history at the UN.
Krishna Menon was like seismograph in the United Nations, vibrating

to every fluctuation in world affairs and registering India’s reactions to
each one of them. There was such a thing as a Menon Scale which, like
Richter’s, recorded vibrations of different intensity depending on the gravity
of the tremor. And so Krishna Menon at the UN was capable of cautioning,
warning, and exposing every specious move on the part of the Big Powers.
R. Venkataraman, former President of India,
in Krishna Menon at the United Nations (1994)
240
V.K. Krishna Menon

(left) with Christian
Pineau (second from
right), Minister for
UN Photo/MB
Foreign Affairs of France,

New York,
14 February 1957.
India has gone through many changes since the days of Menon and Pandit, as it transformed
itself from a fledgling democracy to one of the largest global economies and a world leader. The
interests of this dynamic country have been successfully articulated at the UN by succeeding
generations of diplomats who continue to map India’s strategic engagement with the global
issues of the day in the world body.
That is why I said in the beginning that it is not sufficient

to catch an argument somewhere at a cross-section
and say that that is THE picture. You have to look at
what is behind, at what is going on, and what is likely to
go on in the future, if the words are to be construed in
their proper meaning.
V.K. Krishna Menon during his historic eight-hour speech
241
27
I N DIA’ S P ERM ANENT
REP RESE NTATIVES TO THE U N
Maintaining
Healthy Relations
The Permanent Missions of UN Member States located at UN Headquarters in New York
are the primary channels of communication between the Organization and its Member States.
Permanent missions serve many purposes: advancing their nations’ interests through advocacy,
diplomacy and negotiation; keeping their governments posted on important developments;
and handling relations with representatives of the other Member States, observer missions and
NGOs, and with the staff of the United Nations Secretariat. As a UN founding nation, India
has operated its Permanent Mission to the United Nations since 1945. In 1953, India opened
a Permanent Mission in Geneva, where another UN headquarters office is located.
Since the appointment of Samarendranath Sen as Permanent Liaison Officer of the

Government of India with the United Nations in 1946, representatives have been veterans in
the field of diplomacy and international relations. This ensures that India’s contributions to
the UN remain aligned with both national and international aims. Padmanabha Pillai became
the first Permanent Representative of the Government of India to the United Nations and
raised the flag of independent India at the UN for the first time in 1947. Following him was
Sir Benegal N. Rau was a highly respected diplomat, as

anecdotes about his days at the UN reveal. Rajeshwar Dayal
writes of an incident when two Latin American States, each
with support from their Governments, called upon Sir Rau
to arbitrate on a long-standing boundary dispute between
them. He somewhat reluctantly agreed to do so in his
personal capacity and, upon receiving his judgment, both
countries accepted it unquestioningly, bringing an end to
many years of conflict and bloodshed.
Sir Benegal N. Rau, known primarily

for his role in drafting the constitutions
of India and Burma, as well as for
representing India at the Security
Council from 1950 to 1952. He held
the presidency of the Council in June
1950 and March 1951. His meticulous
and compelling interventions in
General Assembly and Security Council
proceedings earned him a reputation as
an objective mediator. Rau was appointed
as a judge at the International Court of
Justice in The Hague, where he served
until his death in 1953.
In 1952, Rajeshwar Dayal was appointed

as Permanent Representative. An Indian
civil servant since 1933, he developed
a strong camaraderie with Secretary-
UN Photo/MB
General Dag Hammarskjöld. When
Dayal was later appointed Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Hammarskjöld requested Sir Benegal N. Rau
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to free him from his duties so he could serve as the official (left), Permanent
Representative of India
representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in the Congo, a role for which he
to the United Nations,
earned great international acclaim. He retired after serving as the Foreign Secretary in the and Charles Malik, Vice
Government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. President of the delegation
of Lebanon, converse
From 1954 to 1958, Arthur S. Lall served as India’s Permanent Representative to the United in the delegates’ lounge
during the sixth session of
Nations. Lall, known for his opposition to nuclear weapons and testing, represented India at the General Assembly, in
the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1962. During the Suez Crisis in 1956, India December 1951.
was a crucial player at the United Nations, working to defuse the crisis, and Lall became a key
negotiator. In close and constant contact with his Egyptian counterpart, he recounted in an
interview recorded by the UN:
“Suddenly I was awakened at about two in the morning by Omar Loutfi, the Egyptian
Ambassador, saying, ‘A terrible thing has happened.’ I said, ‘What’s happened?’ He said,
‘The British and the French and the Israelis are attacking Egypt. They’ve launched an
attack on us. What should we do?’ At two o’clock in the morning you don’t have your
wits about you. We hastily got dressed and met. We called the Security Council at once.”
After Lall, C.S. Jha was appointed as the Permanent Representative in 1959. Jha expressed strong
support on several occasions for the representation of the Republic of China in the UN. Jha was
also active in responding to Portugal’s claims on the Indian state of Goa at the emergency session
243
In 1956, the British, French, Americans and other major users of the Suez
Canal gathered at a conference in London to discuss the nationalization of
the Suez Canal Company by the Egyptian Government and its impact on
world trade. Though they were contemplating war, Egypt was not invited
to the conference.
Arthur S. Lall, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations

from 1954 to 1958, later spoke of defusing the crisis, noting, "We were
the only delegation that was in constant touch with [Egyptian President
Gamal Abdel] Nasser." When the British and French invaded, Lall achieved
a compromise on UN resolutions by leaving out words of condemnation,
instead simply urging forces to leave the area. This phrasing allowed
countries across the board to vote in favour of the resolutions, eventually
bringing an end to the Suez crisis.
Arthur S. Lall (right)

presents his credentials as
India’s new Permanent
Representative to
UN Photo/MB
Hammarskjöld in
New York on
15 September 1954.
244
of the Security Council on that issue,

held in 1961. In 1962 B.N. Chakravarthy
was appointed. He addressed the issue of
Kashmir at the Security Council, replying
in many meetings to Pakistan’s allegations
of ceasefire violations.
G. Parthasarathi, appointed in 1965,

spoke on several issues, including the
1965 India-Pakistan conflict, the conflict
in Southern Yemen, the United Nations
Emergency Force in the Sinai and
the importance of decolonization. He
held the presidency of the Security
Council in September 1967. Parthasarthi
went on to become Vice-Chancellor of
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New
Delhi and was instrumental in building
its strong foundation.
Samar Sen was appointed in 1969, and

he was pivotal in resolving the issue of
Bangladesh in the aftermath of the war in 1971. He served as President of the Security Council Ambassador Rajeshwar
for the month of December 1972. Following Sen, Rikhi Jaipal was appointed in 1974. He Dayal (left) on
2 September 1960, before
remained an avid advocate of the Non-Aligned Movement and decolonization, undertaking
he leaves New York for the
extensive roles with the Trusteeship Council and holding Presidency of the Security Council Congo as the Secretary-
in October 1977. He was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General and General's Personal
Secretary of the Committee on Disarmament in 1979. Representative.UN
Under-Secretary Ralph
Bunche, his predecessor,
Brajesh Mishra was appointed in 1979 as Permanent Representative. In this post, he formally briefs him.
stated India’s support for the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. After this appointment, he joined
the staff of the Secretary-General, serving as the United Nations Commissioner for Namibia
from 1982 till 1987. He went on to become India’s first National Security Adviser. After
Mishra, Natarajan Krishnan was appointed in 1981. He represented India at the Preparatory
Committee for the Second Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to Disarmament,
in 1982.
In office from 1986 to 1992, Chinmaya R. Gharekhan was one of the longest-serving Indian
Permanent Representatives to the United Nations. In 1993 he was appointed as the Secretary-
General’s Special Representative to the multilateral peace talks on the Middle East, and in
2005 he became the Indian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for West Asia and the Middle
East Peace Process.
245
Deputy Secretary-General
Asha-Rose Migiro
(centre) meets with Vijay
K. Nambiar (left), Chef
de Cabinet to Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon,
and Kim Won-soo,
Deputy Chef de Cabinet
and Special Adviser to the
Secretary-General of the
United Nations on
12 December 2011.
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon (left)
meets with Asoke Kumar
Mukerji, Permanent
Representative of India to
the United Nations on
16 April 2013.
246
The current Vice President of India, Mohammad Hamid

Indian Ambassadors
Ansari, also served as the Permanent Representative of
to the United Nations
India to the UN from 1993 to 1995. Following Ansari,
Samarendranath Sen 1946–1947
Prakash Shah was appointed in 1995. After his term as
the Permanent Representative, Shah was appointed as the Padmanabha Pillai 1947–1948
Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General Sir Benegal N. Rau 1948–1949
on Iraq from 1998 to 2000. Following him, Kamalesh
Sharma served as the Permanent Representative from Rajeshwar Dayal 1949–1954
1997 to 2002. He also served as the Special Representative Arthur S. Lall 1954–1958
of the United Nations Secretary-General to Timor-
C.S. Jha 1959–1962
Leste from 2002 to 2004, after which he served as the
Commonwealth Secretary-General until 2015. Nirupam B.N. Chakravarthy 1962–1965
Sen was appointed after Sharma, in 2004. After his term
G. Parthasarathi 1965–1968
ended in 2009, Sen was called upon to serve as the Special
Senior Adviser to the President of the General Assembly Samar Sen 1969–1974
on the global financial and economic crisis. Rikhi Jaipal 1974–1979
Hardeep Puri was appointed in 2009 and served as the Brajesh C. Mishra 1979–1981
President of the Security Council twice. Puri also remained Natarajan Krishnan 1981–1986
the Chairman of the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism
C.R. Gharekhan 1986–1992
Committee from 2011 to 2013. Vijay K. Nambiar occupied
the office of the Permanent Representative from 2002 to M.H. Ansari 1993–1995
2004. He then rose to the position of Chef de Cabinet
Prakash Shah 1995–1997
to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, remaining in the
post until 2012. His responsibilities included advising the Kamalesh Sharma 1997–2002
Secretary-General, representing the Secretary-General Vijay K. Nambiar 2002–2004
in New York and elsewhere, and liaising with permanent
representatives. Nambiar was appointed as the Special Nirupam Sen 2004–2009
Advisor to the Secretary-General on Myanmar in 2010. Hardeep Singh Puri 2009–2013
Asoke Kumar Mukerji 2013–2015

Asoke Kumar Mukerji was appointed Permanent
Representative in 2013. A veteran diplomat, he is known Syed Akbaruddin 2015–present
for spearheading the campaign at the General Assembly to
declare 21 June as the International Day of Yoga. He was
succeeded by Syed Akbaruddin, who had worked previously with the IAEA in Vienna, as well
as with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.
Over the years, the Permanent Representatives of India to the United Nations, with their
experience, knowledge and deft handling of crises, have played a key role in advancing
international peace and security. Moreover, even after their terms ended, many continued
contributing to the UN in various capacities, thereby facilitating India’s continued prominence
at the Organization.
247
28
I N DIA N C ELE BRITIES AND
THE U N ITED NATIO NS
Important
Roles
In a speech made at UNICEF during a Goodwill Ambassadors Gala in 2003, former
Secretary-General Kofi Annan remarked:
“On the day Danny Kaye became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, a new kind of star
was born. The kind that shines its light on the hardship and injustices suffered by the
children of this world. The kind that confronts us and melts away our indifference. The
kind that forces us to admit that we can and must do something to help.”
Danny Kaye, the famed American comedian and performer, became the first Goodwill
Ambassador of the United Nations in 1954, appointed by UNICEF. Over the next 33 years,
Indian actor and social

activist Shabana Azmi
(seated, facing camera),
speaks to the media in
Kabul in July 2009 about
a report launched by the
United Nations Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan
and the Office of the High
UN Photo/Fardin Waezi
Commissioner for Human

Rights detailing the
violence, including sexual
violence, that inhibits
participation in public life
by Afghan women.
Kaye circled the globe, making speeches, giving performances, acting as master of ceremonies
for special events and informing the public about children's needs.
Since then, numerous celebrities have served as Goodwill Ambassadors, Messengers of Peace
and other kinds of supporters, representing various United Nations organizations. The United
Nations guidelines specify that a Goodwill Ambassador is someone highly accomplished in
public life – in the arts, sports, literature or the sciences – and possessing the integrity, personality
and dignity required to promote the values of the UN in international venues and platforms.
With the assistance of experts in field offices and academia, these personalities have been
extremely effective in drawing attention and funding to various causes. In an age of Internet
connectivity, where innovative interventions quickly gather interest and reach wide audiences,
celebrities help to expand this reach to new demographics that may not otherwise have
exposure to information about global issues and international development. The ambassadors
and other supporters have been engaged in raising awareness about issues such as HIV/
AIDS, child mortality and human trafficking. They have also played an important role in
fundraising. A few have highlighted and initiated dialogues among parties to conflict in
situations of humanitarian crisis.
Indian diplomat, artist, writer and public figure Madanjeet Singh was appointed Goodwill
Ambassador for UNESCO on 16 November 2000. This appointment followed the creation
of the biennial UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-
Violence. In 1998, India’s National Film Award-winning actor Shabana Azmi was selected
as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. Azmi is known for her fierce commitment to advancing
the rights of women and disadvantaged groups, making her a powerful candidate for Goodwill
Ambassador. Actor Manisha Koirala, a Nepalese national noted for her work in Indian cinema,
was selected as an ambassador for UNFPA in 1999, followed by Indian actor Lara Dutta in 2001.
Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan became Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in 2005,
focusing primarily on polio eradication
and immunization. As part of the polio
eradication drive, he participated in various
publicity events, lent his voice to public
service announcements on the radio and
appeared in numerous television and print
advertisements, generating large-scale In New York on
awareness. His sustained efforts had an 9 February 2001,
important part to play in India’s achievement Secretary-General
of polio-free status in March 2014, a colossal Kofi Annan appoints
renowned tennis star
success for global health cooperation.
Vijay Amritraj of India
Bachchan was honoured for this feat in a (left) as a United Nations
ceremony in July 2014. Messenger of Peace.
249
I have played and enjoyed my cricket across the planet. Now it’s
also time to do something for the planet, which is our only home.
Sachin Tendulkar, upon his appointment as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador in 2010
While Goodwill Ambassadors are designated by the heads of UN funds, programmes and
specialized agencies, and subsequently endorsed by the Secretary-General, Messengers of Peace
are directly appointed by the Secretary-General. In 2001, Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj
was appointed as a Messenger of Peace for his relentless efforts to raise awareness about HIV/
AIDS worldwide. Visiting earthquake-hit Gujarat, he presented students of makeshift schools
with toys for use in their psychosocial rehabilitation.
A celebrity closely associated with fighting the spread of HIV is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, a
world-renowned Bollywood face, who was appointed Ambassador for the Joint United Nations
Michel Sidibé (right), Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2012. UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé
Executive Director of
welcomed Bachchan to the UNAIDS family in this way:
UNAIDS, announces the
appointment of Indian
actor Aishwarya Rai “Through her work in raising awareness of the issues and advocating for increased access
Bachchan as a UNAIDS to services, Mrs. Rai Bachchan will be instrumental in helping to ensure that no more
Goodwill Ambassador at
babies are born with HIV and that their mothers stay alive and healthy. We look forward
a news conference on
24 September 2012. to working with her to reach our collective goals.”
I am honoured to accept this

appointment. Spreading awareness
on health issues, especially related
to women and children, has always
been a priority for me. And now, as a
new mother, I can personally relate to
this – the joys and concerns of every
mother and the hopes that we have
for our children … I will do my utmost
to make this happen.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, upon her

appointment as a UNAIDS Goodwill
Ambassador on 24 September 2012.
250
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon launches
UN@70 in New Delhi on
12 January 2015 along
with Indian Goodwill
Ambassadors (left to
right): Nandita Das,
actor and advocate for
UNICEF India; Kailash
Satyarthi, Nobel Laureate
and child rights advocate;
Ban Ki-moon; Sachin

Tendulkar, cricketer and
UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador; and
Sharmila Tagore, actor
and UNICEF National
Ambassador.
Earlier, in 2010, actor Preity Zinta had been working for the same cause as the UNAIDS
ambassador. Actors Rahul Bose and Priyanka Chopra also teamed up for World Environment
Day in 2011, encouraging pledges of ‘green’ activities in a challenge organized by UNEP.
Famed cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was named a Goodwill Ambassador by UNEP in 2010,
enabling the agency to utilize his worldwide appeal to raise awareness and harness support
for environmental protection. UNEP Chief Achim Steiner said, “We need to make the right
choices in terms of how best to manage energy and natural resources. To borrow a cricketing
metaphor, these choices will define whether the world is running or soon will be run out.”
Strengthening his association with the UN, Tendulkar was also appointed as a Goodwill
Ambassador for UNICEF and was made a part of the HeForShe gender equality campaign
by the Secretary-General.
In 2014, film actor and producer John Abraham came on board with UNHCR, engaging in
public advocacy and interacting with refugees. Actor Celina Jaitley has also made her mark as
a supporter for the UN’s Free and Equal Campaign, for which she starred in a Bollywood-style
video titled ‘Welcome’, advocating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
Music artists Rabbi Shergill and Suneeta Rao have also been engaged by UNFPA to campaign
against sex selective abortion, through songs such as ‘Ballo’ and ‘Sun Zara’. A younger generation
of celebrity activists is represented by sitar player and musician Anoushka Shankar, spokesperson
for WFP and a vocal advocate of ending violence against women.
Since celebrities are widely recognized, their endorsements raise the visibility of the issues they
represent, often enabling them to transcend geographical and regional borders. Among their
many contributions, Indian celebrities have successfully brought global issues to new audiences
in India, moving beyond simplistic symbolic gestures to catalyse meaningful action. Indeed,
they have played their part in helping India to fulfil its role as a UN Member State.
251
29
LI N KIN G W ITH
THE ARTS IN INDIA
Saluting
Creativity
Bharat Ratna
M.S. Subbulakshmi
(centre) and her
accompanists performing
at the General Assembly
Hall in New York on
23 October 1966.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the General
Assembly in December 1966, lays down the right to participate in cultural activities and to
create and benefit from the products of art in an atmosphere of creative freedom. The covenant
also acknowledges the centrality of such freedoms to a nation’s identity and thus promotes the
development of international cooperation in both cultural and scientific fields. Throughout
India’s history with the UN, the value of these means of expression has been showcased in
varied and colourful forms.
As early as 1966, Secretary-General U Thant invited M.S. Subbulakshmi, a maestro of Indian

music honoured with the Bharat Ratna (India’s highest civilian award), to perform at the
General Assembly Hall as part of the United Nations Day celebrations in New York. Indian
dance forms have been celebrated as well. The first Bharatnatyam recital at the UN took place in
1969 at the twentieth anniversary celebration of Human Rights
Day, featuring celebrated dancer and film artist Vyjayanthimala.
In the following years, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, the renowned

sarod expert awarded the Padma Vibhushan (India’s second
highest civilian award), performed at UN Headquarters on
multiple occasions. In September 2010 he and his sons, Amaan
Ali and Ayaan Ali, were part of the Ode to Peace concert in
memory of the victims of the September 11th terrorist attack in
New York. In March 2014, Amjad Ali Khan was again part of
the Music for Peace concert organized by the Permanent Mission
of India at New York Headquarters. This event celebrated the
common spirit of humankind and the transcendence of art over
human suffering. Asoke K. Mukerji, Permanent Representative
of India to the United Nations from 2013 to 2015, underscored
that the medium of music as an instrument of peace was shared
by Indians globally.
The human race is filled with passion. And

medicine, law, business, engineering, these
are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain
life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these
are what we stay alive for.
Robin Williams as John Keating,
Dead Poets Society, 1989
253
UNIFEM/Vandana Kohli
Various paintings and sculptures, donated by Member States from around the world, grace the (Above) Ustad Amjad Ali
United Nations Headquarters. These make up the United Nations Art Collection. In 1982, Khan (centre) with his
sons at the “Ode to Peace”
India presented Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar with an eleventh-century black
concert. New York,
stone statue of the sun god Surya. Indian artists have also participated in various exhibits September 2010.
and performances at Headquarters, including Indian classical dance, music, photography and
painting. Subhankar Banerjee, a leading artist and educator, displayed his photographs of the (Facing page) Classical
Arctic and its indigenous populations as part of the ‘Unlearning Intolerance’ seminar series dancers Sonal Mansingh
(left) and Geeta
in 2008.
Chandran perform
in support of women’s
Within India, various UN agencies have facilitated art projects that highlight the country’s empowerment for
cultural identity and address sociocultural issues. In 1994, UNDP assisted the Indira Gandhi UNIFEM, in New Delhi
National Centre for the Arts in establishing the Cultural Informatics Division to virtually in 1995.
recreate India’s heritage and preserve manuscripts and books through digitization. In 1998,
UNIFEM (now part of UN-Women) organized a dance recital, ‘Shattering the Silence’, as part
of its global ‘Celebrate and Demand Women’s Human Rights’ campaign. Two eminent classical
dancers, Sonal Mansingh and Geeta Chandran performed in New Delhi as part of this event.
The MDGs were a subject of much artistic exploration. For United Nations Day in 2006, the
United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in New Delhi commissioned eight contemporary
artists – Veer Munshi, Naresh Kapuria, Anupum Sud, Madhvi Parekh, Jayasri Burman,
Akhilesh, Jogen Chowdhury and Sakti Burman – to produce work reflecting their vision of
255
Springdales School, Pusa Road

One of the artworks the eight MDGs. Fifty per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the artwork was dedicated to
depicting a global vision funding UN development projects in India, especially those working to achieve the MDGs. In
of peace prepared by
children from schools
2007, the midpoint year of the MDGs, the UN system in India commissioned eight craftsmen
across Delhi as part of an and village artisans of the Dastkari Haat Samiti (a national association of craftspeople) to
art competition organized design images reflecting the Goals, in an exhibition called ‘Crafting the Future’. The resulting
by UNIC to mark creations were subsequently donated to the Crafts Museum in New Delhi.
United Nations Day
in October 2012.
In 2012, UNIC New Delhi organized the ‘Weaving Disarmament’ exhibition in collaboration
with the Control Arms Foundation of India. It displayed handicrafts and photographs from
the conflict areas of the North-East region and united the promotion of cultural heritage with
advocacy for disarmament. Similarly, UN-Women organized a photography competition,
‘Freedom from Violence’, that culminated in an exhibition held at the India Habitat Centre in
New Delhi in March 2013. The exhibition was a powerful photographic expression of hope.
Demonstrating the link between culture and development, UNESCO in New Delhi is working
on livelihood initiatives in handicrafts and traditional performing arts, in collaboration with the
Government of West Bengal. The initiatives have reached 3,000 handicraft artisans across 10
craft hubs through Contact Base (Banglanatak), a social enterprise. Some of the project activities
include product development, exposure visits, entrepreneurship training, infrastructure and
credit access, cultural festivals and market linkages. Another initiative, ‘Art for Social Change’,
256
UN Photo/Jagminder Singh
was created by UNFPA in collaboration with the Centre for Media Studies. Through this Launch of the UN Bollywood-
initiative, a national college-level painting competition was organized to raise public discourse style music video in Mumbai
on 30 April 2014. (left to
on gender-based sex selection. The winners were selected from 474 entries by a panel that right): Actors Cyrus Broacha
included famed artist Anjolie Ela Menon. The works were then exhibited for a month at the and Imran Khan; actor and
India Habitat Centre. UN Equality Champion
Celina Jaitly; OHCHR
representatives Charles
India has become home to many refugees over the years. To highlight their plight, UNHCR,
Radcliffe and Jyoti Sanghera;
in collaboration with the famed photographer Raghu Rai, marked World Refugee Day in 2014 journalist and lesbian/bisexual/
by initiating a series of photographs titled ‘The Longing to Belong: Refugees in India’. The gay/transgender activist Ashok
photographs documented the lives of people from the seven largest refugee communities, in Row Kavi; and transgender
New Delhi and Chennai. activist Laxmi Tripathi.
257
Magnum/UNHCR/Raghu Rai
Refugees in a classroom The UN also released a music video, ‘Welcome’, as a part of the Free and Equal Campaign
in New Delhi in 2014,
photographed by
launched in 2014, advocating for the rights of LGBT people. Within eight days it became
Raghu Rai in a project the most widely watched UN human rights video ever produced. On the occasion of the
exploring the experiences launch, Charles Radcliffe of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
of refugees from delivered the Secretary-General’s message: “I am honoured by the presence of leading stars
Afghanistan, Myanmar,
of Indian cinema and influential Indian human rights activists who have come today to help
Pakistan, Somalia as
well as Tamils from us unveil the first-ever United Nations Bollywood-style music video, which we hope will
Sri Lanka and Tibetans. carry a message of equality to millions of people.”
258
UNIC
At its best, Indian art underscores the overlapping of cultural identities, uniting India’s Renowned Indian
celebrated soft power with the values of peace and harmony that the United Nations stands photographer Raghu Rai
(centre) at an exhibition
for. To quote former Secretary-General Kofi Annan: of his photographs for
UNHCR, to mark World
“People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, Refugee Day in New
and most of us have overlapping identities, which unite us with very different groups. We Delhi, June 2014.
can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not. We can thrive in our
own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.”
259
30
AR C HITE CTU RE at
Building
the Future
In late 1945, the Congress of the United States unanimously agreed to invite the United
Nations to establish its headquarters in the country. The decision to locate the UN near the
City of New York was made by the General Assembly at its first session, held in London on 14
February 1946. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., made an offer of $8.5 million for the purchase of the
current Headquarters site. This offer was accepted by a large majority of the General Assembly
on 14 December 1946. From 1946 to 1952, before the complex was built, the United Nations
was temporarily headquartered at the Sperry Corporation’s offices in Lake Success, New York,
a suburb in Nassau County on Long Island.
United Nations
Headquarters seen from
UN Photo
Queens, New York

in 1960.
UN PHOTO/LOIS CONNER
The UN Secretariat
building lit up to
commemrate the
UN's 40th anniversary
in 1985.
A 1947 drawing by Hugh

Ferriss showing a possible
treatment of the plaza in
front of the Secretariat
building, viewed from the
UN Photo
corner of 1st Avenue and

42nd Street.
261
UN PHOTO/violaine martin
The Palais des Nations,
seat of the United Nations
in Geneva, in 2013.
Work began in 1948 and with the cornerstone was laid on 24 October 1949 (the date now
celebrated as United Nations Day), and the buildings were completed in 1952. The construction
was financed by an interest-free loan of $65 million made by the United States Government.
The site, now owned by the UN, is an international territory with diplomatic privileges and
immunity. It cannot be accessed by any federal, state or local officer or official of the United
States, except with the consent of, and under conditions agreed by, the Secretary-General.
The four major buildings of the complex were designed by architect Wallace Harrison and
a Board of Design including 10 internationally famed architects. While the Secretariat
Ford Foundation
UN House in
New Delhi.
262
building is most predominantly featured in depictions of

Headquarters, the complex also includes the domed General
Assembly building, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and
the Conference Building, including the Visitor Centre. The
flags of all 193 United Nations Member States and non-
Member States with observer status, along with the United
Nations flag, are flown in front of the complex. The flags
are arranged in alphabetical order by their country names
in English. An ambitious renovation of the United Nations
complex, amounting to roughly $1.9 billion, was completed
between May 2008 and January 2015.
The European Office of the United Nations was created

in Geneva in 1966 in the Palais des Nations, which had
previously served as the headquarters of the League of
Nations. The United Nations Office in Geneva, the
second-largest United Nations centre, is situated in a
beautiful part of the city and is a testament to twentieth-
century architecture. The Asia-Pacific headquarters of
the United Nations are in Bangkok, the third-largest UN
complex. It houses the headquarters of the United Nations Two bronze sculptures by
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Amar Nath Sehgal grace
and the Asia-Pacific offices of UNEP, the United Nations the grounds of UN House
in New Delhi, a floating
Committee for Development Policy, UNFPA, UNAIDS,
nymph (above) and an
UN-Women, UNHCR, ILO and the United Nations abstract piece that rotates
Information Service (UNIS). in the wind.
The Indian headquarters of the United Nations are situated in New Delhi in a complex
commonly known as the UN House. It was created in 1975 when several UN agencies
opened offices at 55 Lodi Estate. Today, the complex houses national offices of UNDP, FAO,
United Nations Volunteers (UNV), UNFPA, UNIDO and UNIC, as well as the United
Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office.
The celebrated architect of the New Delhi building, Joseph Allen Stein, was an American
educated in architecture in the United States and France. He moved to India in 1952 and
began working in New Delhi in 1955, along with another American architect, Benjamin Polk.
Over the years, he brought ‘California modernism’ to several buildings he designed in New
Delhi, including the UN House and the adjacent India International Centre, UNICEF and the
Gandhi-King Plaza.
Before becoming the UN House, the site belonged to the Ford Foundation, which commissioned
Stein to design its headquarters and guest house on the two-acre site in 1966. Stein worked
263
with landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, who helped ensure that

the new building was environmentally friendly. Stein was one of
the first architects in India to incorporate traditional elements into
a modern building. His use of local stone and perforated screens
that filter light is particularly noteworthy. The same local stone
that forms the outer walls is exposed in the interior. The exterior
concrete is continued into the coffered ceilings of the interior. Teak
is used throughout the complex to provide a contrast to the wood
and stone.
The complex’s two- and three-storey structures are composed of

articulated concrete frames, decorated with stone, glass and jali infill
screens. The structures have a rich interior of teak paneling, coffered
ceilings and terrazzo floors, all set in a landscape of terraced gardens,
pools and fountains. The massive vertical elements of large stone
piers are tied together with horizontal bands of blue tile, which
demarcate the floor and roof levels and recall the tiles of the nearby
Lodi Tombs. In addition to protecting the windows, these bands
form tiers of planting boxes, creating vertical gardens that provide a
home for nature in an urban context.
Two bronze sculptures by Amar Nath Sehgal adorn UN House.

One, in the front lawn by a flagpole, is a rotating abstract piece
that reacts to the wind. The other is a sculpture called Floating Nymph that welcomes visitors
adjacent to the lobby door.
Stein’s belief that relentless urbanization was harmful for rural lands led him to design
a complex that included both lush gardens and fountains. He wanted to ensure that the
Ford Foundation
complex restored the pristine beauty of nature in the ever-growing megalopolis. Stein is well
remembered in India. In 1992 he was given a Padma Shri award – one of India’s highest
civilian honours.
(Top) UN House under Like Stein, the other architects of UN offices throughout the world have aimed to
construction in the 1960s create structures that exemplify the true spirit of the Organization – unity and solidarity.
and after its completion.
Though it is difficult to represent the core objectives of the UN in steel and stone, the
aesthetic style of the offices reflects the promise of a future in which nations have given
(Above) Architect Joseph
Allen Stein, who designed up their conflicts and become partners in a collaborative project to achieve a peaceful and
UN House in New Delhi. prosperous world.
264
Partnerships
Hand in Hand
265
31
N O N - G OVERNM ENTAL
ORG A N IZATIONS
Diverse
Voices
Non-governmental organizations have been active partners of the United Nations since its
founding, engaging with all of its organs and agencies. NGOs have diverse roles – including
advocating for realization of human rights and related policies, providing services to citizens
and mobilizing people to adopt healthy behaviours and practices. Thus they serve as important
catalysts for change.
Article 71 of the United Nations Charter assigns the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
with responsibility for NGO affairs and engagement. ECOSOC grants accreditation to NGOs
at one of three degrees, and the degree of accreditation is the basis for the entity’s level of
engagement and consultation. The highest level is general consultative status, which allows
organizations the right to make oral presentations at ECOSOC meetings. This has been
granted to approximately 150 organizations worldwide as of 2016. Next is special consultative
status, which is granted to organizations that work in areas with some overlap in the issues
ECOSOC addresses, held by about 3,500 organizations. Last is the roster, which is meant for
NGOs that make occasional useful contributions to ECOSOC. Almost 1,000 organizations
are on this list.
In 1946, the General Assembly assigned the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) with
the task of providing information to NGOs. As with many of the early decisions of the United
Nations, this simple mandate has evolved into a sophisticated system, now administered by the
Article 71 of the United Nations Charter

The Economic and Social Council may make suitable arrangements for
consultation with Non-Governmental Organisations that are concerned
with matters within its competence. Such arrangements may be made with
international organisations and, where appropriate, with national organisations
after consultation with the Member of the United Nations concerned.
UN Photo
NGO Relations, Advocacy and Special Events Section. Serving as the primary contact for civil Andrew W. Cordier,
society actors such as the media, it liaises with over 1,300 organizations. The NGO Relations Executive Assistant to
UN Secretary-General
Office provides thematic briefings, communications workshops, an orientation programme Trygve Lie, speaking at
for newly associated NGOs and youth representatives, and access to the Dag Hammarskjöld the Department of Public
Library at Headquarters and the annual UN DPI/NGO Conference. Today the Conference Information Conference
attracts around 2,000 NGO representatives from approximately 90 countries. The sixty-sixth of International NGOs
in New York,
conference took place in 2016 in Republic of Korea.
10 February 1947.
The relationship between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the United Nations has
been transformed and enriched over the years. For the first 30 years most of the accredited
entities were international NGOs based out of the global North, and the relationship was more
267
The five Indian NGOs with

General Consultative Status with
ECOSOC and the years of their
accreditation are:
F Youth for Unity and Voluntary
Action (1996)
F Brahma Kumaris World

Spiritual University (1998)
F International Institute for

Non-aligned Studies (1998)
F Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar

Purushottam Swaminarayan
Sanstha (2000)
F Sulabh International (2011)

UN Photo/MigueL Jimenez
Sarita Bali of India’s formal and ceremonial than substantive. Yet NGOs were granted the right to participate in the
Permanent Mission to workings of the UN as early as 1948. The first set of rules was adopted in 1950 and revised in
the UN speaks at the
1968, forming the framework for collaboration for almost the next three decades.
Annual NGO Conference
in New York in 1981.
Conference Chairman After somewhat deeper NGO engagement in the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human
Philip Oke is at left. Environment and North-South dialogues around the New International Economic Order, the
United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) was set up in 1975 as a
mechanism for coordination between the UN system and CSOs.
NGLS supports CSOs in their work with the United Nations through several means. These
include disseminating information about UN activities through a vast network of organizations;
organizing consultations to facilitate meaningful partnerships with the UN; and providing
strategic analysis on emerging trends in UN-civil society relations. NGLS is especially committed
to enhancing the participation of underrepresented civil society actors from the global South.
In the 1990s the relationship between the United Nations and NGOs grew considerably
more dynamic as the NGOs increased their involvement in the various world conferences.
268
UN Photo/Zheng Yan Hui
In the lead-up to the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Fourth World Conference
environmental NGOs made significant efforts to participate in policymaking. Nearly 2,400 on Women in Beijing,
5 September 1995.
NGO representatives attended the Summit, and another 17,000 people attended the parallel
NGO forum, which held consultative status. The influence of NGOs on the Summit can be
most clearly seen in the inclusion of language on public participation, indigenous knowledge,
the role of women and benefit-sharing with local communities. It is also apparent in the
Convention on Biodiversity and the statement on forest principles, both of which were adopted
during the Conference. Eventually, the 1992 Earth Summit stood as a testament to the growing
role of non-State actors in pushing for action on issues reflecting the diverse concerns of citizens
around the world.
India’s dynamic civil society is unflagging in its advocacy on behalf of people, working to
ensure that alternative Indian voices are always a part of the international discourse on
emerging issues. At the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), India was
represented by a delegation of women members of Parliament, along with a 31-member
delegation of women from seven national women's organizations with an overall membership
of nearly 8 million. These groups were led by the All India Women’s Conference, whose
269
Indian organizations affiliated with

the UN Department of Public Information
Agewell Foundation
All India Human Rights Association
All India Women's Conference
Anuvrat Global Organisation
Asian Environmental Society
Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
Consumer Education And Research Centre
Gandhi Global Family
Guide of Service
Indian Federation of United Nations Associations
International Federation of Training and Development Organisation, Ltd.
ISHA Foundation
Jigyansu Tribal Research Centre
Public Service Broadcasting Trust
Shri Ram Chandra Mission
UNESCO Association, Guwahati
representative signed the Conference Declaration on behalf of the others. These included the
All India Democratic Women’s Association, Young Women’s Christian Association of India
and the Mahila Dakshata Samiti (Women’s Skills Association). The NGO Forum conducted
in Huairou, near Beijing, welcomed 25,000 to 30,000 participants from all over the world.
Together with the roughly 17,000 participants in the formal conference, this became the
largest gathering to date for a UN conference.
The General Assembly also increased its interactions with civil society around this time. In
1996, with passage of resolution 1996/31, the General Assembly allowed subregional, regional
and national NGOs to be accredited along with international NGOs. This greatly increased the
presence of NGOs across the UN system, according to NGLS Director Tony Hill. In a 2004
article for Global Policy Forum he explained, “In marked contrast to the first generation of UN
relations with non-governmental actors, the newly emerged national and regional NGOs sought
270
to engage directly in intergovernmental deliberations

and, through advocacy and mobilization work,
influence their outcomes.” In this vein, Hill said, this
phase reflected “the motivation of NGOs to engage
with the United Nations as part of the institutional
architecture of global governance.”
The General Assembly also began to organize

informal interactive hearings with CSOs prior to
high-level dialogues on important issues. The first
hearing took place in June 2005 before the World
Summit, which brought together 170 heads of
State during the sixtieth session of the General
Assembly. More than 360 NGO observers took
part, and 35 delivered statements. The Security
Council, too, has increased its interaction with civil
society. For example, the NGO Working Group on
the Security Council, established in 1997, brings
together a group of 30 NGO representatives
for annual meetings with delegates to address
issues such as human rights, humanitarian relief
and disarmament.
Another crucial contribution made by NGOs is
preparation of shadow reports to treaty bodies.
Sometimes called alternative reports, these
complement the official reports governments
submit to treaty bodies such as the Committee on
the Rights of the Child, which cover a country’s
actions to implement treaty requirements. By
providing alternative perspectives, these shadow reports give a platform to people to express Jean Ping (left), President
their views. They also encourage governments to be more transparent. One example is a of the fifty-ninth session of
the General Assembly, and
shadow report submitted by the Inter State Adivasi Women’s Network to the fifty-eighth Under-Secretary-General
session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2014. It for Communications
highlighted the lack of policies and budget allocation for rehabilitation homes for indigenous and Public Information
women who were victims of human trafficking. Shashi Tharoor at the
opening ceremony of the
58th Annual DPI/NGO
As in many other countries, in India civil society organizations play an important role in Conference in 2005 in
delivering services and implementing the work of UN agencies. Because NGOs tend to focus on New York.
a single specific issue or set of issues, they focus resources and action in a way that governments,
with their diverse priorities, may not be able to do. For example, in 2003, UNAIDS worked
with SAATHII, an Indian NGO dedicated to HIV and AIDS issues, to create the country’s
271
The UN system in India supported the creation of a network of over

3,000 development organizations across 23 States, which worked to
hold the Government accountable to meet the Millennium Development
Goals and National Development Goals. The network, called Wada Na
Todo Abhiyan, produces reports, conducts consultations, organizes
events, and runs campaigns to ensure Government action to end
poverty, social exclusion, and discrimination.
first national directory of HIV/AIDS services, called the Red Ribbon Pages. The directory
facilitates NGO partnerships, helps donors to identify (and fund) promising programmes, and
enables people to access prevention, care, support and treatment services.
Similarly, Bodh Shiksha Samiti, an NGO working for equitable and quality education,
worked with UNICEF in 2005 to develop an urban education programme, called Janbodh.
It worked with the government of Rajasthan to establish schools in low-income urban
neighbourhoods and organized integration activities to mainstream out-of-school
children. Jan Sahas, another community-based organization focused on the inclusion
of disenfranchised sectors of society, partnered with UNDP in an effort to find more
dignified work for scavengers. In 2014, United Nations Volunteers joined hands with the
Centre for Community Initiative in Manipur to provide rehabilitation services for persons
with disabilities, while UNHCR relies on a formal network of eight national NGOs to
implement its projects in India.
With the support of the United Nations, NGOs bring diverse voices into the global discourse.
They make sure that international policymaking reflects the needs of the people and assist
in providing a more democratic platform for pursuing social, economic and environmental
development. Their goal is to ensure that international relations are not monopolized by
governments and the private sector, but support the formation of bonds between societies
and peoples.
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32
India n F e d e r at i o n o f
Un ite d N at i o n s A s s o ciat ions
A Peoples’
Movement
The Preamble to the United Nations Charter begins “We the Peoples of the United Nations”,
underscoring the fact that the people of the world are its foundation. This was a deliberate choice
by the founders of the United Nations. It was in contrast to the preamble of the Covenant of the
League of Nations, which began with “the High Contracting Parties”, referring to the governments.
Yet governments (not individual citizens) are represented in the six organs of the United
Nations. So in 1946 the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) was
formed to reach out directly to the people and help make the United Nations more democratic.
Soon after, in 1953, the Indian Federation of United Nations Associations (IFUNA) was set up
for the same purpose among the people of India.
Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, WFUNA has
viewed human rights advocacy as a core part of its mission. Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
original champions of human rights, supported WFUNA during its early days. She elevated (standing) at an
IFUNA reception in
the profile of the organization, influenced its thinking and advanced the idea of a peoples’
honor of a cultural
movement. The objective was to highlight the distinction between the political establishment delegation to China in
and the people, an idea embodied in the concept of human rights. New Delhi, 1952.
National United Nations associations around the world strive

to underscore their identity as a peoples’ movement. Almost PHOTO DIVISION ARCHIVES, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
100 countries have their own national associations under the

umbrella of WFUNA. In India IFUNA was established by
Acharya Narendra Dev, a political thinker and social reformer.
The organization was founded in Allahabad in 1953, but
it remained relatively low profile, perhaps as a result of its
location far from the centre of political activity in New Delhi.
In 1960, at the urging of its Secretary-General, S.D Pandey,
IFUNA was moved to New Delhi, where it was inaugurated
by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Moving to New Delhi
273
Eleanor Roosevelt holds

a copy of the Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights in Spanish in
November 1949. She was
deeply involved with the
formation of WFUNA
as an organization
UN Photo
representing the people
of the world.
brought a number of advantages, including support from WFUNA, the Government of India
and the United Nations itself. By enlisting the support of the Prime Minister’s office and
moving to the capital city, IFUNA was able to inject new life into its activities, build networks
of support and achieve greater prominence.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit became the fifth President of WFUNA in 1954, and also held the
presidency of IFUNA around this time. Selection of an individual of her stature underscored
the political establishment’s commitment to the United Nations as an organization and to
the philosophy of peace and internationalism behind it. The organization was founded on
four pillars: peace, international understanding, the environment and human rights. Within
the United Nations, IFUNA is the only organization responsible for representing the Indian
people, independent of their Government.
IFUNA began by concentrating on building youth awareness of the United Nations. It

established partnerships with schools to hold quizzes on UN topics and encourage study of the
UN. All participants were awarded certificates, reinforcing citizen involvement in the United
Nations and encouraging a sense of ownership among young people.
274
IFUNA was eager to incorporate the United Nations into the formal education curriculum.
This led to the founding of the United Nations Institute in 1969. Through its six-month
diploma course, it has taught hundreds of thousands of post-secondary students, including
diplomats and dignitaries, about the work, structure and values of the United Nations. It was
established by Dr. Nagendra Singh, an IFUNA member who went on to become a judge at the
International Court of Justice. Today, IFUNA encourages schools to observe United Nations
commemorations, such as through UN Day and Human Rights Day, spreading UN messages
among communities.
Since 1973 IFUNA has published the quarterly magazine People and UN, providing news
and analysis about India’s global partnerships. These are both intergovernmental, such as a
development pact between India and China, and non-governmental, such as the Tata Group’s The simply produced
collaboration with UNDP to craft the Tata Index for Sustainable Human Development. The IFUNA Newsletter (in
magazine also highlights issues of common concern for the Indian people and the United an issue from June 1986)
informed the Indian
Nations, bridging the gap between international and domestic affairs. Advertisements in people about international
the publication also help to finance the organization, supplementing funds provided by the issues such as the
Ministry of External Affairs and external grants. independence of Namibia.
IFUNA serves not only as a forum for the people

of India to learn about the United Nations, but also
as a conduit for the UN to reach the Indian people.
India hosts a number of regional and subregional
conferences, as well as WFUNA plenary assemblies.
According to Suresh Srivastava, IFUNA Secretary-
General, the organization has had the distinction of
receiving almost all the United Nations Secretaries-
General who have visited India: U Thant, Kurt
Waldheim, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Boutros Boutros-
Ghali, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon. During the
UN’s fiftieth anniversary celebration, IFUNA was
made the official ‘ambassador’, hosting celebrations
across the country. At pivotal moments in India’s
history, IFUNA has also helped enable ‘track II’
diplomacy, informal and unofficial dialogue involving
private citizens that can inform official processes.
Partnering with UN agencies in India to

commemorate observances such as World Literacy
Day or World Food Day, IFUNA seeks to bring
the ideas and themes of the United Nations to the
attention of communities. IFUNA’s decentralization
IFUNA
makes this especially effective, as it is the only body
275
Indian states with United Nations Associations

Andhra Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Meghalaya
Assam Karnataka Odisha
Bihar Kerala Rajasthan
Chandigarh Madhya Pradesh Tamil Nadu
Chhattisgarh Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh
Haryana Manipur West Bengal
IFUNA
An image from IFUNA’s

IFUNA
newsletter from 1993.
276
Suresh Srivastava,
IFUNA Secretary-
General, at the launch
of the yoUNg@70
campaign in
New Delhi in
unic
October 2014.
associated with the United Nations that, through its 18 state chapters, spans almost the
entire country.
State chapters often look to politicians and leading members of society to take on leadership
roles, as this adds to their outreach capacity and resources. The state chapters facilitate discussions
by academics, practitioners and civil society to provide inputs on shaping global discourse on
topics ranging from disarmament and racial discrimination, in the early years, to the post-2015
development agenda today. For instance, in 2014, IFUNA and WFUNA together organized a
workshop, ‘Freedom from Violence – Peace, Security and Conflict Prevention in the Post-2015
Development Agenda’, to further the cause of a just and peaceful world.
The United Nations system is often seen as large or unwieldy, a confusing ‘alphabet soup’ of
acronyms and entities. The UN associations, however, enhance the direct relationship between
people of a Member State and the UN itself. The work of IFUNA, by linking Indians with
other countries and cultures, helps to promote the goal of making the United Nations truly
representative of the peoples of the world. IFUNA aims for a bright and ambitious future,
including expansion to all the states in the country, to make it a true people’s movement.
277
33
U N ITED N ATIO NS
G LOB AL COM PACT AND INDIA
Private Sector
Cooperation
In a rapidly globalizing world, the landscape of international affairs is constantly evolving.
Sovereign nations are no longer solitary actors in the international arena, as growing economic
prosperity has led to the emergence and strengthening of transnational corporations. In an
ideal world, States and private industries would both function in a manner that enables holistic
development in a rights-based framework. However, reality often falls short of this ideal.
There have been numerous cases of egregious human rights violations by major corporations,
operating with very little oversight. These include dumping of sewage, tax evasion, illegal
Secretary-General Kofi
Annan meets with
correspondents following a
high-level meeting on the
UN Global Compact in
New York in July 2000.
Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon addresses a
reception on women’s and
children’s health hosted by
his Special Envoy for the
Financing of the Health-
related Millennium
Development Goals
(MDGs), Ray Chambers,
and Mukesh Ambani,

MDG Advocate and
member of GCNI, with
the Bollywood creative
community in Mumbai
in 2012.
evictions and hazardous working conditions. In an attempt to address this gap, Secretary-
General Kofi Annan established the United Nations Global Compact in 2000. The Global
Compact Network India (GCNI) was created the same year.
The UN Global Compact works by encouraging governments to adopt and implement policies
conducive to sustainable business practices. Its underlying philosophy is that the private sector
must not only avoid harmful practices, but must contribute in four core areas: protection
of labour, promotion of human rights, conservation of the environment and elimination of
corruption. Thus, the Global Compact is a voluntary corporate citizenship initiative aiming to
promote sustainable and socially responsible practices in business. It has grown to include 8,000
businesses in 145 countries. The first Global Compact Leaders’ Summit was held in 2004, and
one has been held every three years since.
The Global Compact and its regional networks provide a forum through which policymakers
and business executives can work together to develop policies that align with the four areas of
emphasis. It also provides valuable networking support to smaller businesses that seek to source
their supplies in a more ethical manner. It encourages companies to develop, implement and
disclose sustainability principles and practices related to these core areas.
A sizeable number of large corporate entities joined the Global Compact, including KPMG, BP,
PepsiCo, Airbus and Microsoft. The executives of these member firms are directly responsible
279
for implementing the Global Compact
Global Compact
directives, which are developed through
academic, corporate and governmental
dialogue across the globe. The Global
Compact includes companies that
have been rights violators in the past
but have since chosen to improve their
Indian CEOs visit
the UN Global corporate social responsibility. It uses
Compact offices in a principle-based framework, best
New York in 2007. practices, resources and networking
events to enable companies to do business responsibly and keep their commitments to society.
The Compact also connects corporations with UN entities. This links agencies with companies
that can help them achieve their mandate, while helping the companies improve their image
through their connection with entities focused on development and human rights.
In India, GCNI has been a particularly strong network, ranking third among 102 Global Compact
networks worldwide. Beginning with a membership of 42 organizations, today it has 250 leading
businesses and is the largest corporate social responsibility organization in India. Based in New
Delhi, it has chapters in five other metropolitan areas. GCNI’s members include such major
Indian companies as Tata, Jindal Steel, Mahindra and Mahindra, and HCL Technologies. GCNI
works to establish closer links among business leaders, public and private sector workers, and
think tanks, to promote the work and principles of the Global Compact in India.
GCNI has undertaken a number of innovative initiatives. In 2013 it established the India
Sustainability Dialogue, a series of sessions promoting sustainable value chains. In 2014 it
established the Asia Pacific Resource Centre on Responsible Business Practices to disseminate
information among corporations about sustainable business activities. Other initiatives
include CEO Forums, which bring together the leaders of industry, and India Collaboration
Lab, a platform to promote private sector actions in health, education and agriculture.
These initiatives aim to establish GCNI both as a forum to provide businesses with access
to information and resources and as a think tank to promote activities and programmes on
sustainable development.
In 2005, Jamshedpur became one of five cities in the world

selected for Global Compact Cities, a pilot programme aimed at
promoting ethical and sustainable urban development through
local governance. Today, it is designated an ‘Innovating City’
under the project.
280
UN Global Compact Network india

The Confederation of Indian Industry has a long-standing relationship with the Global In September 2015, the
Compact. In 2007 a contingent of Indian CEOs, led by Confederation President UN Global Compact and
Global Compact Network
Sunil Bharti Mittal, visited Global Compact headquarters in New York to reaffirm India hosted an event
their commitment to the principles of the United Nations and the Global Compact. in New Delhi on gender
The Confederation has pledged to help corporations in India and around the world to equality in business. Over
implement the directives of the Global Compact. It will do so through its Centres for 150 representatives from
various sectors attended.
Excellence, which encourage sustainability among businesses through provision of advice,
training and consulting.
The United Nations Global Compact resulted from the evolution of international standards
for corporate behaviour. Corporations themselves recognize that having a harmful impact on
the communities and societies they serve is not acceptable. At the Second Global Compact
Leaders’ Summit in Geneva in 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encapsulated this ethos.
He called it a “new phase of globalization – one that creates inclusive and sustainable markets,
builds development and enhances international cooperation”.
281
34
E N G A G I N G W ITH
PARLIAM E NTARIA NS
Global
Democracy
The vision of a global parliamentary assembly is not new. It has been translated into a number
of international legislative bodies, but none have evolved into a true global parliament. The
UN General Assembly comes closest to such an entity, but its representatives are nominated
or otherwise chosen by the governments of Member States, whereas parliamentary
representatives are elected directly by the people. This ‘non-representative’ nature of the
General Assembly is sometimes seen as contributing to a democracy deficit in the functioning
of the United Nations. To correct this, a number of campaigns have emerged to strengthen
the system of parliamentary democracy at the global level, and India has played a strong role
in each. In addition, the United Nations system seeks to engage with elected representatives
in a variety of ways.
The largest initiative for making the General Assembly more representative is the Campaign
for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, launched in 2007. It has
been taken up by parliamentarians and NGOs across the world with the goal of establishing
a democratic global parliament. While the United Nations is the single most representative
intergovernmental organization in the world, it still reflects the power balance of the 1940s. The
proposed assembly seeks to complement the existing system of global governance by bringing
citizens into decision-making.
Former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali

pointed out that the United Nations Parliamentary
Assembly “could invigorate our institutions of global
governance with unprecedented democratic legitimacy,
transparency and accountability”.
As of 2016, the Campaign is supported by 394 NGOs from 73 countries and 778 members of Secretary-General Kofi
parliament from 107 countries. Together they represent an estimated 128 million people. In Annan (sixth from
left) with a delegation
India supporters include 26 NGOs, 31 current Members of Parliament and 31 former Members from the Multiparty
of Parliament. They include Shashi Tharoor, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Manish Tewari. Several India-US Forum of
distinguished individuals from politics, science, civil society and cultural life around the world Parliamentarians. Dr.
have also expressed support for the idea. Shashi Tharoor, Under-
Communications and
Another tool for engagement with parliamentarians is the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Public Information,
one of the world’s oldest networks. Founded in 1889, it connects parliaments of 143 nations. It is on the far left.
is considered a precursor of the League of Nations, the organization that preceded the United New York,
Nations. The IPU works to enhance peace and cooperation among peoples and to support 24 October 2005.
global representative democracy. It has permanent observer status at the United Nations and
holds general consultative status with ECOSOC. IPU also cooperates closely with regional
interparliamentary organizations and NGOs.
Since joining in 1949, India has hosted and presided over three IPU conferences, in 1969,
1993 and 1997. Two prominent Indian parliamentarians have presided over IPU meetings: G.S.
Dhillon, Speaker of the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) from 1973 to 1976, and Najma
283
Coins issued by the

Reserve Bank of India
Joseph Kunnappally
to commemorate the
hosting of the 89th
Inter-parliamentary
Union Conference.
New Delhi, 1993.
Heptulla, former Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) and Union
Minister for Minority Affairs, from 1999 to 2002. Before her presidency, Heptulla also founded
the Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum for Human Development in 1993.
UN agencies in India work regularly with political representatives to expand engagement

with communities and promote development at the local level. For example, the Ministry
of Labour and Employment has formulated a model to end child labour in four states in
collaboration with a cluster of UN agencies led by UNICEF and UNESCO. The model
includes improving enrolment, attendance rates and education quality in Bihar, Odisha,
Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Similarly, legislators from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, Haryana and Delhi were sensitized on the importance of improving newborn survival
by a UNFPA-led cluster over a five-year period starting in 2008. ILO and UNDP have led
initiatives in cooperation with elected representatives in Bihar and Rajasthan, including the
establishment of the Bihar Poverty Reduction Summit.
At the national level, the UN conducts interactive discussions with the Parliamentary Fora of
the Parliament of India. Members of Parliament from across party lines attend these events,
which have addressed such wide-ranging issues as groundwater management, climate change,
neonatal health, life skills for youth, and sanitation and hygiene. On issues like governance
and working with elected representatives, the UN in India occupies a unique position not
available to any other bilateral and multilateral agencies.
Thus, while the political structures of the United Nations do not, in fact, constitute a parliament
in the true sense of the word, there is growing engagement with directly elected representatives
across the UN system, including a vibrant community in India. Simultaneously, the global
movement for a world parliament continues, continuing to garner support to fulfil this vision.
284
Indian parliamentarians
Najma Heptullah and
Yashwant Sinha are
seen here with UN
Resident Coordinator
Brenda McSweeney in
an interaction around the
Human Development
Report. New Delhi,
UNDP
28 July 1998.
Najma Heptulla,
President of the Inter-
Parliamentary Union,
speaks at the World
Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD).
WSSD
Johannesburg, 2002.
285
35
FAITH - B ASED
ORG A N IZATIONS
Fostering
Harmony
Throughout the world, most religious faiths have in common concern for the welfare of the
planet and its inhabitants. This can be a powerful source of motivation for promoting peace and
development. The vast majority of people identify themselves as religious or spiritual, so faith
has a tremendous influence on people’s attitudes, opinions and behaviours. In addition, religious
leaders are pillars of their communities. Their close relationships with their people help them
to mobilize grass-roots support and earn the trust of vulnerable groups. Collaboration with
faith-based organizations is an important tool for advancing the values and principles of the
United Nations in India and around the world. These partnerships are an important part of
UN outreach efforts, particularly through initiatives such as the International Day of Tolerance,
marked on 16 November since 1996.
The Tree of Harmony
Ceremony during the
The UN system’s engagement with faith-based groups began in the 1970s, particularly
Interfaith Harmony Week
at the United Nations in, involving UNFPA. The initial focus was on health advocacy, which expanded to cover care
February 2012. and service delivery. Religious and spiritual groups have tended to reject a narrow economic
Un PHOTO
When the essence of religion and spirituality are universal human values,
it is vital that we drop our miniscule identities, join hands and take bigger
responsibilities to make this world free of disease, stress and social evils.
The Art of Living Foundation Global Forum of Faith-based
Organisations for Population and Development, 2009
interpretation of development, calling for a shift towards more inclusive approaches that
focus on participatory human development involving civil society. The UN’s affiliation with
religious groups began to grow around the beginning of the new millennium, with broader
recognition of their potential for service provision, political engagement, community presence
and resource networks.
A World Bank study conducted in 2000, ‘Voices of the Poor’, concluded that people living in
poverty had more faith in religious organizations than in their governments or other secular
organizations. This underscored the importance of partnering with faith-based groups in
promoting UN objectives. Secretary-General Kofi Annan viewed this with utmost importance,
and under him the United Nations made particular efforts to harness the potential of religious
organizations to support the shared goal of human development.
In August 2000, Annan organized the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit of
Religious and Spiritual Leaders. This gathering brought together 2,000 religious and spiritual For UN Day in 2012,
students across India were
leaders representing diverse faiths, who pledged their commitment to strong measures to
invited to create artwork
uphold world peace and achieve common good for all people. Dr. B.K. Modi, founder of the representing their vision
Global Citizen Forum, was made the Summit’s coordinator for India. of 'The Future We Want'.
UNIC
287
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, established in 2005, was formed

to improve global cooperation on cross-cultural issues. At its sixth Global
Forum (Bali, 2014), the Manav Seva Sansthan, an Indian faith-based group
that works to protect the rights of migrants and prevent human trafficking,
was ranked third among the top five finalists for the prestigious Intercultural
Innovation Award.
In October 2008, over 160 religious leaders and representatives of faith-based

organizations and UN agencies gathered in Istanbul to establish the Interfaith
Network for Population and Development. The next year, with support from
UNFPA, the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Engaging Faith-
based Organizations for Sustainable Development was formed.
Globally, faith-based organizations have worked with governments and United

B.K. Modi (left), Nations agencies on diverse issues, including health (especially HIV/AIDS and maternal and
Founder and Chairman child health), gender equality, education, humanitarian relief and climate change. These groups
of the Global Citizen have made major contributions to fighting HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. A 2007 WHO
Forum, speaks at an study estimated that faith-based groups own up to 70 per cent of all health infrastructure in
event organized by
Africa. It also found that Christian hospitals and health centres provide nearly 40 per cent of
the United Nations
Alliance of Civilizations, HIV care and treatment services in Lesotho and almost a third in Zambia, the two most AIDS-
the Universal Peace affected countries in Africa.
Federation and Global
Citizen Forum in
Speaking to a conference for members of Protestant churches in Germany in 2013 about
New York on
31 October 2014. climate change and sustainable development, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said, “Faith-
based organizations and gatherings … have an important role to play in reminding us to focus
on what really matters to us as human beings in search of well-being… Never before have
the bonds between us as citizens of one planet mattered so much, and we face transnational
challenges, which cannot be resolved by each country acting alone.”
Launch in New Delhi in

2014 of a public outreach
project by the Brahma
Kumaris Institution, an
ECOSOC-accredited
NGO, with UNIC
Director Kiran Mehra-
Kerpelman (centre in
green) and political leader
L.K. Advani (second from
UNIC
right), among others.
288
As a secular organization,
the UN has no common
religion. But, like all the
major faiths, we too
work on behalf of the
disadvantaged and
the vulnerable.
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
UN cooperation with faith-based and spiritual organizations has flourished in India, a land Secretary-General
of abundant spirituality and religion. This has been particularly in the form of campaigns Ban Ki-moon delivers
the keynote address
promoting UN ideals. Since 2006 the Art of Living Foundation has assisted campaigns fighting at 'Many Heavens,
gender-based sex selection in India in collaboration with UNFPA, through advocacy with the One Earth: Faith
medical community. The Foundation has also promoted campaigns to end poverty. UNFPA Commitments to Protect
worked with the Foundation’s World Alliance for Youth Empowerment to reach out to medical the Living Planet', a
collaboration between
students to fight gender-based sex selection and include modules on it in the Foundation’s
the Alliance of Religions
youth empowerment seminars in Maharashtra. and Conservation and
UNDP, in 2009. It
The Brahma Kumaris, a Hindu spiritual organization, has had a long-standing association took place at Windsor
with various United Nations agencies. UNIC New Delhi works with it regularly on events Castle, one of the official
residences of
promoting peace, solidarity and non-violence. Since 2013 UNIC has also collaborated with the Queen Elizabeth II.
Shri Ram Chandra Mission, a spiritual organization, to organize a nationwide essay competition
involving hundreds of thousands of students on the theme ‘The Future We Want’.
Organizations that publicly comply with the core values of the United Nations, including
democracy, human rights and the rule of law, are seen as credible partners that can play a
significant role in shaping global public policy and enhancing peace and stability. Guidelines on
collaboration help to ensure that United Nations entities partner only with organizations that
align with core UN values. UNFPA, UNAIDS and UNDP have all prepared such guidelines
in recent years. The United Nations Staff Association has conducted training on working with
religious organizations.
In a time when religion is often used as a divisive tool, it is important to promote harmony
through and among religions. UN collaboration with faith-based groups is an important tool
in working to achieve peace and global development goals while realizing the human rights of
all peoples everywhere.
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36
THE U N ITED NATIO NS AND
THE DI P LOM ATIC COM M U NITY IN INDIA
Diverse
Dialogues
Diplomacy has its roots in the earliest forms of intercultural communications. Today, the
United Nations is the single largest forum for multilateral diplomacy, primarily through its six
main organs, in which Member State represenstatives participate in the political activities of the
Organization. However, the agencies of the United Nations also engage with the diplomatic
community to promote their objectives.
Together UNIC and the

Embassy of Israel light a
menorah to commemorate
International Holocaust
Day in New Delhi in
UNIC
January 2015.
UNIC
Part of the engagement between UN agencies and diplomatic missions is aimed at fostering Young Rwandans pose
in front of artwork
awareness of historical developments, to share the lessons of the past with younger generations.
created to commemorate
For instance, UNIC New Delhi collaborates with the Embassy of Israel to organize events to the International Day of
honour the victims of the Holocaust. UNIC also partners with the Embassy of Rwanda to Reflection on the Genocide
commemorate the anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. These commemorations, which seek in Rwanda, in
to express collective solidarity, are attended by a number of diplomats from African and other New Delhi in 2015.
missions in New Delhi. Another staunch partner for diplomatic and cross-cultural events is the
Alliance Française de Delhi. A number of commemorative events involving even high school
and university students are held on their premises.
As local issues are reassessed and redefined through the lens of global cooperation, UN
agencies find their connection with the diplomatic community all the more pertinent. For a
project largely funded by Germany’s International Climate Initiative, UNEP works closely
with the Embassy of Germany to encourage low-emission transport in India. As part of this
initiative, comprehensive low-carbon mobility plans have been prepared for three Indian cities:
Visakhapatnam, Rajkot and Udaipur. Through its Technical Assistance Programme, the United
Nations can link nations that possess particular expertise with those that require it.
Collaborative efforts extend to areas such as public health as well. The Embassy of Japan,
for example, signed an agreement with UNICEF pledging 120 million yen to support the
eradication of polio in India. UN agencies also work with diplomatic missions and civil society
or governmental organizations to foster dialogue and exchange of ideas. The Pune Municipal
Corporation, Embassy of France, Indian Heritage Cities Network and UNESCO held a
291
Students carrying
images of Mahatma
Gandhi and Nelson
Mandela participate
in a walkathon at the
Gandhi-King Plaza
to mark Mandela
Day in New Delhi on
UNIC
18 July 2015.
seminar on the ‘Economics of Heritage’ in December 2012. The focus was on understanding
how heritage can become a motor for urban economic development.
International organizations also work with diplomatic missions to create tangible outcomes
at the grass-roots level. ILO, for instance, fostered discussions with authorities in Andhra
Pradesh’s Renga Reddy district in 2013 to facilitate a Canadian-funded project that aimed
to reduce vulnerability to bondage by promoting opportunities for decent work. UN-Women
collaborated with the Government of Norway and India’s Ministries for Panchayati Raj and
Rural Development in 2009 on a programme to politically empower women to partake in Gram
Sabhas, gatherings of village adults that have the power to elect the members of the Panchayat
as their representatives and decision-makers. The programme focuses on Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. It demonstrates that UN agencies can
foster diplomacy not only between countries, but also between countries and local government
and civil society, in a mutually beneficial way.
The efforts of United Nations agencies have demonstrated how diplomatic engagements
can involve NGOs, citizens and the private sector as direct players in international dialogue.
As the global community seeks common ground in addressing today’s challenges and
aspirations, diplomatic efforts of UN entities are an important tool in creating a more
peaceful and united world.
292
Outreach
Spreading its Wings
293
29 Years as a UN Official
Memoir
Looking
Back
by Shashi Tharoor
Under-Secretary-General
UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz
for Communications
and Public Information
Shashi Tharoor speaks
at a meeting at United
Nations Headquarters on
26 April 2004.
T
here here are two stories I like to tell about my I was startled to hear my senior colleagues celebrating the
time at the UN. The first relates to numbers. fact that, following the headline-making drama of the
When I joined the Office of the United Nations 1971 Bangladesh refugee crisis, UNHCR had lapsed into
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 1 May its old familiar obscurity. “We are not a household name,”
1978, we were a small organization of a few hundred several said emphatically, “and we don’t wish to be. We are
people headquartered in Geneva, all of whom seemed more effective working quietly with governments behind
to know each other on first-name terms, with relatively the scenes.”
tranquil field offices that prided themselves on not being
‘operational’, but ‘representative’. I joined on the first day It didn’t last. Within months of my joining, UNHCR
of a ‘Conference of Representatives’ convened by the new found itself coping with a veritable explosion of earth-
High Commissioner, Poul Hartling, to meet his top staff. shaking refugee crises. The Vietnamese boat people fled
294
Memoir
UNHCR/L. Solmssen
Tharoor, Head of the UNHCR Office in Singapore (1981-1984), speaks with a colleague at Hawkins Road Refugee Camp
on 1 January 1983.
Communist rule in small boats and flooded neighbouring A decade later, after a richly satisfying career at UNHCR
countries; Afghans sought refuge in Pakistan and Iran in (of which more later), I was invited to join the small
the millions after the Soviet invasion of their homeland; peacekeeping staff in the UN Secretary-General’s office
starvation and oppression convulsed populations in the in New York in late 1989, towards the end of the cold
Horn of Africa, sending millions of Ethiopian and Somali war. There were precisely six civilian professional officers
refugees across fragile borders; and Nicaraguans started on the staff and three military advisers; that was the total
escaping a brutal civil war in their country against the size of the Office of Special Political Affairs, which ran
dictatorship of Somoza. Before long, a household word was UN Peacekeeping. In the field there were five relatively
precisely what UNHCR became: One week I calculated stable operations that had not changed significantly
that we were mentioned in five of the top six news stories in years.
of the flagship news bulletin of the BBC World Service. I
had joined an organization of some 400 staff worldwide, But soon after I joined, the same thing happened as at
with a total budget of some $200 million; within a year UNHCR. The end of the cold war meant that a large
and a half, UNHCR’s staff had tripled and its budget had number of operations became both possible and necessary
quadrupled to cope with these new challenges. that could not have occurred during the tense days of the
295
superpower standoff, when the UN kept the peace only this incredible expansion. The moral of the story, I joked
where all major powers agreed it should. Namibia was to my UN colleagues: if you are a small organization that
brought to independence; the civil war in Angola came to wants to expand, increase your budgets and staff, and make
an end, and so did the one in Mozambique; war brought headlines, hire me!
Pol Pot’s oppression in Cambodia to a close; warlords
dragged Somalia into crisis; Saddam Hussein’s invasion of The second story I like to tell is about what my own career
Kuwait led to ‘Desert Storm’ and the imposition of peace illustrates about the United Nations – and I’m not talking
by the international community – and the biggest of them about numbers alone. Since the best crystal ball is often
all, the chaotic and tragic civil war in Yugoslavia dragged the rear-view mirror, my personal reminiscence tells us a
in the UN. lot about the question of change at the United Nations.
For the UN has not just changed enormously since its
During my seven years in Peacekeeping, from 1989 establishment, it has been transformed in the three-decade
to 1996, the small office became the Department of career span of this one former UN official.
Peacekeeping Operations; we went from 6 civilians and
3 military to over 400 Headquarters personnel, from 5 If I had even suggested to my seniors when I joined the
operations to 18, and from 5,000 troops in the field to over Organization in 1978 that the UN would one day observe
80,000. I had the rare privilege of being closely involved, and even run elections in sovereign States, conduct
as Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General, in intrusive inspections for weapons of mass destruction,
UN Photo/M. Grant
Secretary-General Kofi Annan (right) speaks with Tharoor, then his Executive Assistant, while Fred Eckhard,
Spokesman for the Secretary-General, looks on, in Kuala Lumpur in December 1997.
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Memoir
Tharoor (left), Under-

Communications and
Public Information,
speaks at the opening of
the 60th Anniversary of
the United Nations in

2005. Behind him are Jan
Eliasson (left), President
of the General Assembly,
and Secretary-General
Kofi Annan (centre).
impose comprehensive sanctions on the entire import- These stories are about organizational expansion, but
export trade of a Member State, create a Counter- my most precious memories of my 29 years at the
Terrorism Committee to monitor national actions against United Nations relate to the fact that it has given me the
terrorists, or set up international criminal tribunals and opportunity to help my fellow human beings in the most
coerce Governments into handing over their citizens basic way. For example, when I was heading the UNHCR
(even sometimes their former presidents) to be tried by office in Singapore, early in my career with the UN, it
foreigners under international law, I am sure they would was immensely rewarding that I could put my head to the
have told me that I simply did not understand what the pillow at night knowing that things I had done during the
United Nations was all about. (And indeed, since that was day had made a real difference to other people’s lives.
in the late 1970s, they might well have asked me – “Young
man, what have you been smoking?”) I could recount a number of stories from those days,
but one episode stands out in my memory because it
And yet the UN has done every one of those things during crystallized my inner satisfaction. A Vietnamese family
the last two decades, and more. The United Nations, tried to escape their troubled country on a vessel powered
in short, has been a highly adaptable institution that by a dodgy tractor engine. It gave way in the middle of the
has evolved in response to changing times. Expansion, South China Sea. They ran out of food. They ran out of
mutation, growth and evolution – these have been the drinking water. They began subsisting on rainwater and
hallmarks of an institution that has become indispensable hope. But that was not enough to feed the couple’s two
to a world of ‘problems without passports’, which cross small children, an infant and a baby, at sea. So the parents
all frontiers uninvited and which cannot be solved by any slit their fingers for the children to suck their blood in
one country or any one group of countries, however rich order to obtain some nourishment to survive.
and powerful they may be. My career is a testimony to
the extraordinary need for, and benefits of, international When the family was rescued by an American ship, they
cooperation to address global crises. were too weak even to stand; they had to be lifted bodily
297
from their boat and taken on board the larger vessel. They be brought in to the port; only the UN could arrange
were brought to Singapore port, where I was engaged in their disembarkation; only the UN was allowed to be
a running tug-of-war with the Singapore authorities over responsible for the camp; only the UN could work out the
the refugees’ right to disembark on humanitarian grounds guarantees of resettlement in foreign countries without
(the Government insisted on verifiable guarantees of which the refugees could not disembark; only the UN, in
resettlement before the refugees could be allowed off the the end, could persuade immigration officials of a dozen
ships). My staff and I had to rush this family to intensive foreign countries to admit refugees and resolve problem
care in a Singapore hospital, which meant begging and cases. The UN, I realized through my own work, isn’t just
pleading with the authorities to bend all sorts of rules a way of bureaucratizing our consciences; it makes a real
to allow this to happen instantly difference to real human beings,
because their lives were in danger. a difference that only the UN
If I had even suggested
We succeeded, and rushed them can make. And that’s why I’m
to my seniors when I joined the
to intensive care, not knowing if proud to have served it.
Organization in 1978 that the UN
they would survive. To see that
would one day observe and even
same family, three or four months This doesn’t mean, of course,
later, well-dressed, well-fed and
run elections in sovereign States, that every one of my 29 years
ready to embark on their new
conduct intrusive inspections for of service was filled with such
lives in the United States, offered
weapons of mass destruction, impose satisfaction. I learned and
the kind of satisfaction that few
comprehensive sanctions on the entire grew immensely by leading
jobs do.
import-export trade of a Member the team in the Department
State, create a Counter-Terrorism of Peacekeeping Operations
As to lessons from that great
Committee to monitor national handling the former Yugoslavia,
tragedy (and the impressive actions against terrorists, or set up and that was undoubtedly
international response), I learned international criminal tribunals and the most intense experience
for myself how useful the United coerce governments into handing of my years at Headquarters.
Nations could be, as a young man over their citizens (even sometimes There were years of 17-hour
running the UNHCR office (and their former presidents) to be tried by days and seven-day weeks, and
the refugee camp that went with foreigners under international law, throughout it the frustration of
it) in Singapore at the peak of the I am sure they would have told knowing that for all your efforts,
Vietnamese ‘boat people’ crisis. me that I simply did not understand the blood was continuing to
It was obvious that some of the what the United Nations flow in the Balkans. And yet
things I did could be done just as was all about. even there one could point to
well by NGOs, church groups, the intangible satisfaction of
compassionate individuals – all of being directly involved in one of
whom I indeed enlisted in the cause as partners, donors the great events of our time, and so leaving one’s smudgy
and volunteers at the camp. But the UN could also do thumbprints on the footnotes of the pages of world history.
things that these good people could not – because, as
an intergovernmental body, the UN has clout with its (Francis Fukuyama’s idea of The End of History – that the
Member States. central debate in human history had been resolved with
the triumph of the West in the cold war, and that liberal
Only the UN could negotiate with the Government democratic capitalism had essentially no challengers as
the terms under which refugees rescued at sea could the organizing principle of all human politics – seemed
298
Memoir
UN Photo
Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor makes a

presentation at UN Headquarters on 26 April 2004.
299
almost comically overstated in my own UN experience. element came in because it was a job that allowed me to
In the years immediately after its publication, conflicts exercise my own creativity. I could initiate new ideas to
arose in so many States – the former Yugoslavia, Georgia, expand the UN’s communications frontiers a little, such
Moldova, Rwanda, Somalia, the list goes on – over as my idea in 2004 to develop and announce a ‘top 10 list’
fundamental issues of history, ethnicity and identity of stories the world needed to hear more about, but which
that had nothing to do with Fukuyama’s thesis. It was the media were neglecting. That was an innovation that
as if history was reminding the world that reports of its has brought us good results in terms of global attention
demise had been exaggerated!) for forgotten issues.
When I later headed the UN’s public information efforts, I was also privileged to launch a series of seminars on
I enjoyed a different kind of challenge. It was my job to ‘Unlearning Intolerance’, where religious figures and
help shape the UN’s message to the world and to deliver scholars of diverse persuasions addressed questions
it every day. We did this through including Islamophobia and anti-
press relations, live radio broadcasts, Of course the UN never Semitism. The discussion was
TV programmes, publications, had just one message – each day free, critical, reasoned, receptive
various advocacy campaigns and an we were juggling breaking news and uninhibited. It is in restoring
Internet website that received over stories as well as long-term issue those elements to otherwise
2 billion hits a year in my time. In campaigns, and trying to respond impassioned discourse that the
addition, my Department handled to media interest in everything true strength and uniqueness
relations with NGOs and outreach from peacekeeping operations to of the United Nations lies.
to civil society and educational personnel problems. Where else but the United
institutions, and we ran the library at Nations could all countries
Headquarters, as well as guided tours of the building. So of the world have joined in a resolution to remember
there was a wide variety of tasks for my colleagues in New the Holocaust and resolve to work together to dispel
York and at 77 UN Information Centres around the world hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice and to refrain from
(which I had to cut to 63 as part of a budget-trimming religious incitement?
exercise, a reversal of my old experience of expansion).
And then there was the management challenge that
Of course the UN never had just one message – each day dominated my last seven years at the UN. Heading the
we were juggling breaking news stories as well as long- Department of Public Information also gave me the rich
term issue campaigns, and trying to respond to media satisfaction of stimulating the creative energies of the
interest in everything from peacekeeping operations to talented men and women from around the world who had
personnel problems. This kept us intensely involved with brought their talents to the Organization. As a manager
our colleagues in the various substantive departments of of more than 750 colleagues in 63 countries, it was my
the UN, and it gave me, as the Under-Secretary-General, job to lead them, guide them, provoke them and of course
a fascinating overview of the range of challenges the UN to learn from them too. What individuals contribute
dealt with every day. in institutions such as the United Nations is their
intelligence, their drive, their integrity, their willingness
My own role tended to combine a number of to put in all the long hours it takes. When you work for
different elements. Many UN agencies had their own an institution such as the United Nations, the institution
communications establishments, so there my role was one itself is at the centre of some of the great human events
of coordination on system-wide issues. But the personal of our time. And so to be able to work with the United
300
Memoir
proclaiming that “the only negotiable route to global peace

and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations”.
I believe profoundly that, at its best and its worst, the

UN is a mirror of the world – it reflects our hopes and
aspirations but also our divisions and disagreements.
The challenge for the UN is to mirror the pluralism and

diversity of its membership, while at the same time acting
effectively to address the great challenges the world faces.
Above all it is the small countries, the poorest people,
the weakest States, that need the UN most, and we must
UNic
be able to fulfil their expectations. But we should also

As a Member of Parliament, Tharoor interacts with
recognize our limitations. To work for the UN you have
young people at the UNIC Young Changemakers
Conclave in New Delhi in 2011. to be both an idealist and a realist: an idealist, because
without ideals you may as well go and work somewhere
else, but also a realist, because the UN pursues its ideals
Nations means making your contribution to forces far within the limits of the politically possible.
larger than any individual is normally privileged to do.
As Dag Hammarskjöld, our great second Secretary-
Yet I cannot conclude my recollections of the UN without General, put it, the UN was not created to take humanity
a special word for one individual – Kofi Annan – the to heaven but to save it from hell. That is sometimes the
man I worked with most closely for the longest time best we could do. As for myself, my motivations in my
(the entire second half of my career), and for whom I UN service were no different from my motivations in life
have the highest respect. When the UN and he won the in general, including today in Indian politics: To do my
Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, there was no doubt in my best at whatever I undertake. To strive to leave the world a
mind that the Prize recognized the work of the thousands better place for my having been in it. To defend democracy
of unsung United Nations staff striving anonymously and diversity. And to be motivated always by a faith in
behind the headlines – bearing the brunt of the outflow of pluralism, and in the infinite possibilities of the human
Afghan refugees, waging the long and thankless battle to spirit. The UN, in its ideals and at its best in practice,
overcome poverty in Africa, fighting the scourge of HIV/ incarnates those values that make the world worth living
AIDS and other killer diseases, patrolling the front lines in for the vast majority of humanity. I remain immensely
in 16 peacekeeping operations around the world. But it proud of having served it.
was also a tribute to the way that the United Nations,
under this remarkable Secretary-General, had become the — Shashi Tharoor is a Member of the Indian Parliament
one indispensable global organization. It was something and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
the Nobel Committee itself recognized in its citation, for Communications and Public Information.
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37
M EDIA A N D
Disseminating
Information
The Internet revolution heralded a convergence of communication technologies and the advent
of globalization, leading to the dissolution of physical boundaries. Today, in addition to print,
radio and television media, the United Nations also engages with people around the world
through various digital and social media channels. The UN Department of Public Information,
formed in 1946, is responsible for communicating the work of the United Nations and its
various bodies, including promoting the vision of the Secretary-General, through a complex
web of information dissemination strategies. The United Nations Information Centres form
the network of country offices under DPI and spread the global message of the United Nations
among local audiences. These include governments, elected officials, media personnel, civil
society and academic and educational institutions, as well as individual citizens. Additionally,
each UN agency, including the 27 operating in India, engages with the media regarding its own
agenda and programme.
The Press Bar at the

United Nations General
Assembly Building on
the former World’s Fair
grounds in New York in
November 1947. The
UN Correspondents
Association was formed
in 1948 to bring together
correspondents, diplomats
and DPI through
press conferences, social
UN Photo
functions and an annual

awards event.
‘Jungle in Retreat’
series was a UN
Radio production on
international cooperation,
based on the reports of a
UN team in South-East
Asia. American star Gene
Kelly is seen with the UN
Radio staff, including
Indian contributors, in
UN Photo
rehearsals in London on
1 May 1952.
The United Nations shares a close relationship with the media, which unfolds dynamically in
a democracy such as India. The Indian press regularly covers activities of the Government of
India at the United Nations, including addresses made by Indian Heads of State in the General
Assembly and Indian representatives at the various UN forums. The Indian media eagerly
covers issues that feed into national debates. One example is the thirteenth United Nations
Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Doha, April 2015), which covered
subjects including black money, wildlife crime and Internet freedom.
The UN recognizes that, along with new media, traditional media institutions too can play
a crucial role in furthering the peace and development agenda. To this end, the UN seeks to
build capacity among journalists and provides opportunities for coverage around UN themes.
For example, in January 2015 Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited a solar power plant in
Gujarat, where he interacted exclusively with a group of journalists from the Federation of
Environmental Journalists of India. Many of those journalists had previously attended a two-
day workshop in September 2014 on understanding and reporting climate change, coinciding
with the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit in New York. All UN agencies are
committed to media capacity building in their own fields of work. The UN Information Centre
is often the focal point for these workshops and trainings, working with the UN Department
of Public Information and other UN agencies and organizations.
In the early 1990s, the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia used UN

Radio to broadcast information about upcoming elections. This helped to
inspire confidence among the Cambodian people and build support for
UN peacekeeping efforts.
303
UNDP/Anita KHEMKA
An ‘IT for Change’ The UN also protects, preserves and promotes press freedom, campaigning actively for a free
crew records an interview and independent media, underlined by the observance of World Press Freedom Day, marked
with women in
Andhra Pradesh in 2008.
annually on 3 May.
The United Nations has always embraced diverse communication media, from print to radio to
film, to reach larger and wider audiences. This is especially important in the developing world,
where low literacy rates and limited infrastructure are a communicator’s ultimate challenge.
United Nations Radio presently produces daily news content not only in the six official UN
languages, but also in Kiswahili and Portuguese. It also has weekly shows in Hindi, Urdu and
Bangla, for a total of 11 languages. Partnerships are an effective tool for expanding audiences.
In 2004, for example, UNDP and UNESCO supported India’s Information and Broadcasting
Ministry in organizing stakeholder consultations that led to a revised community radio policy.
This was a milestone in realizing the right of citizens to information and free expression.
UNICEF employs radio campaigns, including community radio using local FM channels, to
reach out to new constituencies, particularly around Immunization Week. UNIC also partners
with All India Radio to broadcast UN programmes.
Film is another extremely effective communication medium, and the United Nations was
instrumental in building India’s film capacity, in partnership with the Government. In 1971,
UNDP supported the introduction of television technology in India. It aided a revamp of the
Film Institute of India, creating the Film and Television Institute of India, with a focus on
television training. In 1973, the Government’s Satellite Instructional Television Experiment
began, also with UNDP support. This successful nationwide experiment created capacities for
television broadcasting using satellite facilities.
304
Further, the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, enabled

by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, has helped
UN agencies communicate their missions through film
productions. UNDP worked with the Trust to commission
a series of 16 films on women in leadership roles as a tool for
encouraging positive representation of women. UNESCO
also facilitates filmmakers’ participation in the Trust’s yearly
international film festival.
UNIC/S. Manaktala
UNIC has also partnered with India’s national broadcaster
Doordarshan in various capacities. Doordarshan has provided
support for digitizing the UNIC archive of audiovisual
content and televising events such as the ‘We Care Film Fest’, which has screened films about In 2014, the 'We Care'
disability and inclusive development for tens of thousands of people in India and abroad. Film Fest was included
in the UNESCO
International Conference,
At Headquarters, the United Nations maintains extensive film and video archives. Its
'From Exclusion to
footage ranges from League of Nations meetings to the records of various development and Empowerment: The Role
Peacekeeping missions around the world. This is not yet entirely digitized and is accessible of ICTs for Persons with
through DPI in New York. Disability', at Vigyan
Bhavan in New Delhi.
As the Internet has become a major communications tool over the last two decades, the
UN’s digital presence has grown across major online portals and platforms. Both locally and
globally, every UN agency has established a robust presence on web portals, with digital media
publications and on almost every major social media outlet including Facebook, Twitter,
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon is
interviewed by Suhasini
Haidar, Diplomatic and
Strategic Affairs Editor
of The Hindu, in New
Delhi in January 2015.
305
UN Photo/John Isaac.
United Nations photographer John Isaac captures scenes in India.

(Above) An elderly couple and their grandchildren in the Banjara tribal community near Hyderabad in 1981.
(Facing page) A fishing boat from Chennai in the Bay of Bengal in 1981
Award-winning Indian-born photographer John Isaac began his UN career

as a messenger, and then a darkroom technician. A submission to a photo
contest won him an award and then an apprenticeship in the UN Photo Unit.
After training under the renowned photographer Ansel Adams, he became a
photojournalist, covering war and conflict around the world for the next two
decades. He left the UN after serving as the Chief of the Unit in the 1990s.
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon participates
via live video link in
the Delhi Sustainable
Development Summit
in February 2015. New
technologies help the
UN bridge distances in
delivering its messages.
Google+ and LinkedIn. Digital platforms are used increasingly to catalyse global discourse
through webcasts, e-conferencing and social media campaigns.
In January 2015, the United Nations observed its first Social Media Day, aimed at opening
the doors of digital diplomacy. It brought together ambassadors, digital practitioners and civil
society to deliberate the use of social media for activism. Global participation was invited
through the #SocialUN tag and was livestreamed via United Nations Web TV, the live and
on-demand 24-hour channel that airs selected United Nations meetings and events. Another
recent campaign, by United Nations Free and Equal, involved a Bollywood-style video with
actor Celina Jaitley advocating the acceptance of alternate sexualities. It went viral and quickly
became the UN’s most watched online video. Online outreach supports wide dissemination
of the UN values of peace, freedom, justice and equality, helping individuals broaden their
perspectives through conversations and interaction.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed his one millionth

follower on LinkedIn in June 2015. The Secretary-General
uses his position as a LinkedIn ‘Influencer’ to draw attention to
issues such as climate change, disaster risk, gender equality
and peacekeeping.
308
The façade of the UN

Secretariat building
has been used as a
canvas to commemorate
major occasions. On
22 November 2013, it
served for the first time
as the backdrop for an
interactive Twitter ‘wall’.
Sharing ‘hashtagged’
words sponsored through
the campaign on Twitter
raised funds for aid for the
world’s most underfunded
crises. A portion of the
funds was dedicated to
typhoon response in the

Philippines. The music
video ‘One Voice’ was
launched by international
music star David Guetta
in support of ‘The World
Needs More’ campaign.
Digital campaigns are also being used to democratize UN processes in a way never before
possible. The post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals were formulated in a far more
democratic and participatory manner than their predecessors, the Millennium Development
Goals. Individuals from across the world were encouraged to vote for their preferences at
www.myworld2015.org. Emphasizing the use of digital media in this process, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon noted that he envisions this “to be the most inclusive global development process
the world has ever known”.
As the role of the United Nations evolves with time, its media archives will guard its legacy,
even as its engagement with traditional and emerging media will both reflect and mould its
relevance in years to come. For an organization such as the United Nations, which seeks to
represent “We the Peoples” of the world, sharing ideas among a truly global community is an
invaluable goal.
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38
HIN DI AT
THE un i t ed nat ions
Language
of Harmony
Languages represent culture and intrinsically determine
how we view and interact with the world. Using language
to communicate is essential to the human experience,
and communicating across cultures often poses a
challenge. For the United Nations, providing information
in the most widely spoken languages in the world is essential to its legitimacy as an
international organization.
When the UN was founded in 1945, the Charter did not expressly set out official languages,
but it was written in five languages – Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish –
and provided that all texts were equal in authenticity. When the rules of procedure were
adopted during the first session of the General Assembly in 1946, English and French were
declared as the official working languages. Spanish was added in 1948, Russian in 1968
and Arabic and Chinese in 1973. In practice, however, English and French remain the two
working languages at Headquarters in New York. The cost of translation limits the number
of publications issued in the other four languages.
The Constitution of India declares Hindi as the official language of the Union Government and
retains English as an associate official language. However, it was recognized even in the debates
of the Constituent Assembly that Hindi was not spoken universally in India – the Eighth
Schedule of the Constitution lists 22 official languages, and innumerable dialects abound. Also,
state governments have the freedom to determine their own official languages, so for example,
Tamil Nadu uses Tamil and Punjab uses Punjabi.
Despite this diversity, India has been a strong advocate for the adoption of Hindi as an
official UN language. The first official proposal to make Hindi an official language came
in 1975 in a resolution at the first Vishva Hindi Sammelan or World Hindi Conference in
Nagpur. Speaking at the Conference, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi noted, “Hindi is one of
the great languages of the world, [though] all the languages of India have equal claim to the
A UN interpreter works
in a booth overlooking
a meeting room at UN
Highly skilled interpreters
allow delegates to present
their views in one of the
UN Photo
six official languages or in

their own tongue.
cultural heritage of the country. All these languages are national languages and amongst these
Hindi is the official language of India because it has the largest family.”
It was also decided to hold the World Hindi Conference regularly, to promote the language
and its literature through cultural presentations, academic panels and papers, as well as awards
for writers and poets. Subsequent Conferences, each held in a different country, have also
called upon non-resident Indians (Indian citizens residing in another country) and overseas
Indians (citizens of other countries holding a lifetime visa to live and work in India) to assist
in promoting and propagating Hindi abroad, as a language not only of literature, but also
of modern technology, science, trade and commerce. The eighth World Hindi Conference
in 2007 was a milestone, as it took place in New York and held its inaugural session at
UN Headquarters.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the meeting in snatches of Hindi himself,

emphasizing his own personal connection with India and Hindi: His first diplomatic assignment
was in India, his son was born in New Delhi and his daughter wed an Indian citizen. He
called Hindi “a language of harmony and understanding [that] has been building bridges
between Indians of different ethnic backgrounds and linguistic traditions since well before
independence. Today, it unites not only a vast and varied Indian diaspora, but also Bollywood
fans from Ukraine to Uganda, and Egypt to England.” In 2008, a World Hindi Secretariat was
set up in Mauritius, with financial and administrative support from the Governments of India
and Mauritius. It supported the most recent World Hindi Conference, held in Bhopal in 2015.
311
Secretary-General
Meenakshi payal
Ban Ki-moon addresses
the World Hindi
Conference in
New York in 2007.
Proponents argue that Hindi should be an official UN language because it is the language
of the world’s largest democracy. However, it is clear that this proposal faces significant
financial and procedural obstacles. Official languages incur costs for documentation,
translation, interpretation, printing, document duplication and infrastructure in the four UN
headquarters locations (New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi). All Member States have
to proportionately bear a share of this payment, but they have generally been reluctant to
support proposals that come with an additional financial burden. Procedurally, a majority of
the General Assembly’s 193 members would have to vote for such a change. Passage of this
resolution would require persuasive lobbying by India. Other major languages that have been
proposed for inclusion as official languages include Bengali, Portuguese and Turkish, but no
concrete proposals have been tabled.
Despite the obstacles to formal recognition of Hindi, Indian leaders have delivered statements
at the UN in Hindi on several occasions. The Permanent Mission of India in New York
has arranged for the simultaneous interpretation of these speeches into English. In 1977,
(Facing page above) External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first person to address the General
The Sustainable
Assembly in Hindi. At the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, he became the first Prime
Development Goals
translated and Minister to do so. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the General Assembly in Hindi
published in Hindi in 2014. The Government of India’s sustained efforts have also ensured that the United
Nations offers its programmes on the UN Radio website in Hindi. Today, UNIC New Delhi
(Facing page below) produces parts of its newsletter in Hindi (along with English), and it has a Hindi version of
Hindi textbooks are used
its website. The effort to make Hindi an official UN language has sustained itself over the
to teach Political Science
students about the UN. years. As newer governments strengthen the call for the use of Hindi in various spheres, this
15 April 2015. campaign is likely to continue.
312
UNIC
UNIC/S. Manaktala
313
39
M ODEL U NITED NATIONS
C O N F ERENCES IN INDIA
Creating
Global Citizens
The practice of simulating international organizations can be traced back to the 1920s when
students held a series of model League of Nations conferences. Model United Nations
conferences are said to have begun even before the formal birth of the organization itself. A
Model UN conference is an enactment of the working of the United Nations by young people.
Students and young professionals, usually from the ages of 12 to 30 years, take on the roles
of Member State representatives, debating complex global issues. They conduct research to
determine their country’s positions on international issues, debate the issues and come up with
solutions, all while playing the part of a diplomat. It offers an excellent forum to teach young
people about global issues and give them an opportunity to explore the powers and limitations
of international negotiation.
SAI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
A simulation of the
General Assembly at a
Model UN Conference in
Bhubaneswar in
July 2015
DPS GURGAON
In India one of the earliest of these events was the Cathedral Model United Nations, hosted Delegates represent
by the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. Starting small in 1996, it continues to different countries
at a Model UN
this day. The next major conferences to be organized were the Indian Model United Nations Conference in Gurugram
Conference, first hosted by the Ryan International Group of Schools in 2001, and the British in October 2015.
School Model United Nations Conference. In 2003, Delhi Public School RK Puram received
the Model United Nations Global Leadership Opportunities (MUNGLO) Award for
2003-2004, instituted by the United Nations Association of the United States of America.
DPSMUN, as it was known, brought international exposure by inviting dedicated international
trainers and offering students the fully funded opportunity to participate in the UNA-USA
Model UN Conference in New York. From these few core conferences, the activity has today
reached many corners of this vast country.
The quality of debate at Model UN conferences in India is generally quite high, with incisive
questioning and sound application of foreign policy principles. It has been observed that the
moderators of committees tend to take a very active role in nudging the committee in the
direction they desire. Committee heads are known to carve out time to speak to the delegates,
often explaining to them facets of the agenda that may have been unclear. In effect, the balance
of power is skewed more towards the committee heads than at the United Nations itself.
315
William Yotive, formerly
Courtesy: W. Yotive
of DPI's Education
Outreach Section,
addresses Indian teachers
about the UN4MUN
approach to Model UNs.
Model UNs also embody the quintessential diversity of India, with the result that conferences
differ regionally as well as across educational institutions. Rules of procedure often vary, with
many conferences adopting their own approaches. Secondary school students tend to participate
in a more disciplined and meticulous way than college students, while college Model UNs
usually explore their agendas more deeply.
Model UN conferences have spread rapidly in India, from big cities such as Delhi and Mumbai
to smaller towns, including Jhansi, Lucknow, Vellore and Pilani, and even to remote corners of
the North-East and Kashmir. Conferences have begun to span age groups from middle school
to the post-graduate level, and are starting to become more inclusive in terms of age, sex and
geographic location.
Also notable is the shift from a conventional structure mirroring the UN, with committees
such as Security Council and General Assembly, to simulations of agencies such as the World
Bank, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and United Nations
Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Conferences are also increasingly exploring
historical events by simulating the Bretton Woods Conference and the League of Nations,
among many others.
For many years, these simulations were organized informally by individuals, communities,
organizations, schools and colleges worldwide. It was only in August 2012 that the United
Nations Department of Public Information launched the UN4MUN programme, recognizing
the opportunity to improve the accuracy of simulations. UN4MUN provides training
and guidance to student leaders who organize Model UN programmes. Workshops teach
316
Gavels at a Model
Brainwiz
UN meeting in
New Delhi in 2013.
participants about the practices and procedures of the United Nations and how they differ from
those used by most Model UN conferences. United Nations officials make presentations on UN
practices and procedures. This training initiative has been embraced by the World Federation
of United Nations Associations, which has organized conferences and youth camps in countries
like India, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
In India, UNIC partners with numerous Model UN conferences countrywide and encourages
a more accurate replication of the UN. UNIC has published a guide for Model United
Nations organizers and another for conference attendees, based on the resources provided by
Headquarters. These help both first-time and experienced conference organizers and attendees
to improve the quality of their work. UNIC also requires conference organizers to submit an
audit document, containing detailed information about their conference, including resolutions,
newsletters and photographs, as a form of monitoring and evaluation.
A Model United Nations delegate needs only the ambition to learn something new and work
with others with the goal of making a difference in the world. Model UN participants have
gone on to become great leaders in all fields, including politics, law, business, education and
even medicine. They benefit from learning first-hand what it involves to cooperate with people
who have different views, and under trying circumstances. This makes the participants better
communicators and negotiators, while engaging them in international issues and questions
of ethics and justice. Practising public speaking skills, researching, absorbing and organizing
information to make powerful arguments for the resolution of global problems all have
tremendous impact on students. Model UN also helps to promote the UN’s principles and
values through participatory learning.
317
Model UN Conferences in India
318
A Model UN delegate is a student who assumes the role of an ambassador to the UN at an event. A delegate
does not have to have experience in international relations – anyone can participate, so long as they have the
ambition to learn something new and to work with others to try to make a difference in the world.
319
40
U N ITED N ATIO NS
LI B RARIES IN INDIA
Sharing
Knowledge
For centuries, the entire body of human knowledge was accessible only in libraries, and only to
the elite. Libraries served as repositories of knowledge and information, becoming sites of power
and privilege for civilizations of the past. The written word has shaped the history of mankind,
from the great library at Alexandria, to the Mughal Emperor Humayun’s famed and perhaps
tragic love of reading, to the dramatic changes brought about by the modern printing press
and now the vast information-sharing capacity of the Internet. Through documentation of its
far-reaching activities and research and analysis, the United Nations has created an enormous
body of work. For decades it too was available only through UN libraries. As information has
been increasingly digitized, the United Nations has kept pace by making immense amounts of
archival information available online.
The largest of the UN libraries is the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, founded in 1946 and renamed
in 1961 as a memorial to the second Secretary-General. Located in UN Headquarters in New
York, it is the main repository of all the records, documents and publications of the United
Nations. The library also collects journals, periodicals, books and other material related to UN
programmes or activities. Its Oral History Project collects the accounts of key individuals,
providing personal perspective that adds nuance to the textbook versions of historical events.
Dag Hammarskjöld Library shares its resources with specialized agencies and provides
training in how to use the library for staff and delegates. It has multilingual reference tools
and offers free access to several online databases, including the Official Document System, the
best known full-text database for finding UN documents. In 2016, the UN iLibrary platform
was launched to provide access to the knowledge products created by the UN Secretariat and
its funds and programmes.
To widen access to information about the United Nations, the library runs a powerful
information system that links 362 depository libraries in over 136 countries, including 16
libraries in India. These are usually attached to national or parliamentary libraries but can also
be accessed separately. In India, the system is accessible in libraries in most metropolitan areas,
but also at universities in small towns, such as Manipal, Varanasi and Puducherry. The material The Dag Hammarskjöld
is available free of charge to encourage broad access. Library at UN
Headquarters, seen in
May 1987, was named to
The largest UN library in India is at UNIC in New Delhi. It serves as an important resource honour the late
centre for government institutions, NGOs and educational and research institutions, as well Secretary-General.
as for journalists, students and the public at large. The library holds a collection of official
United Nations documents and basic texts going as far back as the League of Nations, all of
which can be accessed through a database. In addition to basic information about the principles,
321
purposes, structure and functions of the United Nations, it contains the official records of the
six main UN organs and the flagship publications of the United Nations and its agencies. This
includes resolutions; records of committees and other bodies established by the main organs;
supplements to the official records; annual reports by organs and bodies; and meeting records
of special conferences.
Documents such as United Nations Yearbooks, reports of the Secretaries-General, the

Disarmament Yearbook and the United Nations Treaty Series are available in the UNIC library.
So too are the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The
library also contains audio/video materials on subjects dealt with by the United Nations –
peacekeeping, human rights, development, environment, population, refugees, housing,
UNIC National women, children, crime, transport, drug control, disabilities, elder issues, nuclear energy, poverty
Information Officer, alleviation, outer space, health, trade, investment and the Law of the Sea.
Rajiv Chandran (back to
camera), interacting with
As technology progressed and library budgets were cut, UN agencies in India were forced to
students from Teach for
India. New Delhi, close their libraries. To compensate, in January 2008 the UNIC library expanded its scope by
15 April 2015. incorporating the major publications of the United Nations agencies. In the spirit of ‘One
UNIC/S. MANAKTALA
322
UNIC Director Kiran

Mehra-Kerpelman
inspects the depository
library in Puducherry,
set up in the 1980s, in
UNIC
February 2014.
United Nations’, it now functions as an inter-agency library providing information, reference

services and access to partner agencies’ publications.
The library also conducts events and seminars to disseminate information in a participatory and
engaging way. In a 2012 seminar organized by UNIC with Jawaharlal Nehru University, over
150 communication professionals, academicians and development experts discussed the role of
libraries in sharing knowledge on sustainable development. Similarly, in April 2014, the library
collaborated with UNESCO to host a seminar marking World Book and Copyright Day.
Library and information science professionals, legal experts, publishers and writers discussed
issues concerning copyright and connectivity, with the aim of preserving and promoting the
value of books. Another flagship effort is the establishment of 20 reading rooms in the North-
East States, in collaboration with partners such as the Government of Assam and Don Bosco
School in Guwahati. This aligns with efforts across the United Nations system to democratize
knowledge by making it accessible to all.
Though the Internet has revolutionized modern communications, it is accessible to only 43

per cent of the world’s population, and just an estimated 18 per cent of India’s people. While
the future may lie in the digitization of information, libraries play a crucial role as centres
for community learning and inclusive access to information. The United Nations remains
committed to facilitating the availability and accessibility of knowledge to individuals and
communities at large through libraries.
323
41
U N ITED N ATIO NS IN
I N DIA N C OU RSE BOOKS
Important
Lessons
Globally as well as in India, education is recognized as a universal right. Its denial deters human
development and curtails economic progress. Education bridges national and transnational
boundaries by bringing together people, ideas, policies and practices fostering peace, democracy
and inclusive economic growth. India enacted the Right to Education Act in 2009, in line with
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the
right to education”. The Education for All movement, launched in 2000 by UNESCO, identified
six measurable education goals to be achieved to meet the learning needs of all children, youth
and adults. India was one of the 164 governments that pledged to achieve Education for All by
2015. (See chart on next page.)
India’s cultural diversity and wide socioeconomic disparities result in a complex education
system, as it aims to accommodate varied ideologies and provide a global vision for its students.
Given India’s commitment to the UN and the long history of shared principles, it is only
natural that every Indian student who passes through the formal education system learns about
the principles and values that define the UN. They also learn about its structure and functions
and India’s long-standing relationship with it.
The National Curriculum Framework, which provides guidelines for devising syllabi and
teaching practices, is implemented by the National Council of Educational Research and
The power of education to transform lives is universal. When

you ask parents what they want for their children – even in
war zones and disaster areas – they seek the same thing
first: education. Parents want their children in school.
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General,
introducing his Global Education First Initiative, September 2012
Training (NCERT). The Framework is periodically

updated (1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005) and replaced Goals of the Education for All Movement
after thorough consultations with education and policy
Goal 1 Expand early childhood care and education
experts. Based on these revisions the NCERT produces
new textbooks that are adopted by national and state Goal 2 Provide free and compulsory primary
education for all
boards of education for schools across the country.
Goal 3 Promote learning and life skills for young people
Ever since NCERT was established in the 1960s its and adults
textbooks have covered international organizations. At Goal 4 Increase adult literacy
that time the structure, functions, organs and agencies Goal 5 Achieve gender parity
of the United Nations were introduced to students in
Goal 6 Improve the quality of education
secondary school. During the 1990s and the first decade
UNESCO
of the 2000s, students were taught about the UN as early as class V. The evolving curriculum
advanced from merely covering international bodies such as the United Nations, World Trade
Organization and International Monetary Fund in textbooks to addressing them in a more
integrated approach, incorporating UN themes throughout the curriculum.
These themes – particularly human rights, peace, democracy and sustainable development – are
now important areas of study. Textbooks also carry references to the United Nations through
illustrations, maps and quotes as well as cartoons. Over the decades NCERT curriculum
guidance has reflected UNESCO principles and guidelines, particularly in mathematics and
the physical sciences, and this influence is continuing to grow.
A chapter on the United

Nations in a National
Council of Educational
UNIC/S. Manaktala
Research and Training

textbook first published
in 1968. This copy,
reprinted in 1980,
retailed for `2.65.
325
The most recent edition of NCERT textbooks was published in 2006, and UN officials played
an important consultative role in the development of the social science textbooks. A chapter
on international development in the class X economics textbook introduces the concept of
human development, with a special reference to the UN’s Human Development Index. The
political class textbook of class XII includes a chapter titled ‘International Organizations’,
which systematically explains the United Nations and its specialized agencies as well as United
Nations reforms.
Students who study humanities and the arts delve more deeply into international organizations
and India’s relationship with them in the last two years of high school. Political science
textbooks focus on India’s relations with other nations and the United Nations. These texts
also cover thematic areas such as the global goals and human rights. The current emphasis on
both formal and informal instruction, including learning beyond the classroom, encourages
experiential learning. An excellent example of this is participation in Model United Nations, as
described in chapter 39.
Further specialized information is available at the university and postgraduate levels for students
who choose to study political science and history. Modern history covers the founding of the UN
and its evolution, while the political science curriculum includes an entire module on the United
Nations. Advanced postgraduate courses are now available on subjects such as international
relations, security studies, human rights studies and conflict analysis. For example, the University
of Delhi offers a postgraduate diploma in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
Indian educational institutions also offer a number of doctoral programmes and fellowships
that aim to stimulate research into global governance. However, the quality of academic training
UNIC/S. Manaktala
An illustration of the
organs of the UN from an
NCERT textbook used to
teach civics to class VIII,
published in 1989.
326
Students wrote their

visions for peace through
the UN, after a film
screening at Alliance
Française to mark
International Holocaust
UNIC/A. KAPUR
Remembrance Day in
New Delhi on
27 January 2015.
and research still needs improvement. Much of the scholarship on the workings of the United
Nations still emerges primarily from Europe and North America.
A number of certificate and specialized diploma courses have been introduced by the Institute
of United Nations Studies, started by the Indian Federation of United Nations Association in
1969, and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development,
founded in 2012. They cater to students and professionals interested in specific facets of the UN.
India has an enormous cohort of young people. They need to leave school having received a
quality education that has given them practical skills – and also instilled the UN values of justice,
equality, diversity, freedom, peace and human rights for all. This is an important framework
within which students can learn to live productive and satisfying lives.
We have to keep the pressure on – because investing in

education is the single best way to beat poverty, to drive
growth, and to promote more inclusive and peaceful societies.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General and Executive Secretary
of the Global Education First Initiative High-Level Steering Team on 28 April 2015.
327
42
U N ITED N ATIO NS AND
YOU TH I N INDIA
Transforming
the Future
Young people are a key demographic group for any organization working towards a long-term
vision of a peaceful world. They question norms, drive change and enable development with
energy and a fresh perspective. But this energy must be channeled in the right direction. This
is especially important in a country like India, one of the ‘youngest’ countries in the world, with
more than half the population under age 25.
Young people who enter adulthood prepared for work and engagement with society could
provide a ‘demographic dividend’ of productivity for the nation and fulfilment for themselves.
If they do not, these young people could become a large population of under-educated,
unemployable and frustrated youth, causing social instability. For an institution such as
the United Nations, engaging young people through participation in decision-making is a
challenging but crucial goal.
Young men and women are not passive beneficiaries,

but equal and effective partners. Their aspirations extend
far beyond jobs; youth also want a seat at the table – a
real voice in shaping the policies that shape their lives.
We need to listen to and engage with young people.
We need to establish more and stronger mechanisms
for youth participation. The time has come to integrate
youth voices more meaningfully into decision-making
processes at all levels.
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General,
on International Youth Day, 12 August 2012
The UN celebration of the first International Year of Youth

in 1985 had three themes: participation, development and Every other year UNESCO holds a Youth
peace. It aimed to encourage youth participation as a means Forum to provide young people with the
of achieving the goals of the United Nations Charter. The opportunity to present their concerns and
General Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action ideas to Member States and help shape
for Youth in 1995 with the goal of seeking solutions to the UNESCO's direction. In 2011 Akanksha
Gulia, a young Indian social entrepreneur,
problems confronting youth. In 1998 the third World Youth
was a speaker at the seventh Youth
Forum took place in Braga, Portugal along with the first Forum, in Paris.
World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth in
Lisbon. These events emphasized the priorities of the World
Programme of Action for Youth.
Efforts to institutionalize youth participation achieved an important milestone in 2000, with

the Declaration of 12 August as International Youth Day. It uses events such as workshops and
cultural events to ignite a spirit of global citizenship and social responsibility. The Day seeks
to connect young people with the resources they need to implement their ideas and bring their
issues (cultural, social, economic or legal) to the attention of their representatives. In India,
the United Nations Task Team on Youth celebrates International Youth Day by engaging
ministries, experts and policymakers to discuss issues related to youth well-being, including
education, health, sanitation and migration. International Youth Day themes have included
mental health (2014), youth migration (2013) and partnering with youth (2012).
Actress and youth activist Monique Coleman, a ‘Youth Champion’ for the International Year
of Youth in 2010, worked throughout the year to bring attention to youth issues. She travelled
across the globe, working with local governmental agencies and UN entities to conduct events
that brought together groups of people to address youth issues. In March and April 2011 she
UN Youth Champion
Monique Coleman
is interviewed by a
volunteer from NGO
Apne Aap Women
Worldwide in New Delhi,
during her visit to India
in March-April 2011.
329
Young volunteers clean

the banks of the Yamuna
River to commemorate
International Volunteer
Day in New Delhi on
UNDP
14 December 2014.
UNIC Director Shalini

Dewan (second from
right, front row) celebrates
International Peace Day
with young people from
the Confederation of
UNESCO Clubs and
Associations of India in
UNIC
New Delhi in 2006.
In January 2014, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,

in partnership with UNFPA, rolled out the National Adolescent
Health Programme (Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram). Its
goal is to enable adolescents to make informed and responsible
decisions related to their health and well-being. UNFPA helped the
Government develop a comprehensive strategy for the programme.
330
Performers at the
Light the Way concert
organized in New Delhi
in September 2015 by
the UN country team
in India to promote the
Sustainable Development
UNIC
Goals among youth.
visited schools and organizations in India to raise awareness of the challenges faced by young Transgender rights
people and highlight the positive contributions they make to their communities. During her activist Lakshmi Tripathi
address to students at Amity University in Uttar Pradesh, she emphasized development of the addresses the UN Young
Changemakers Conclave
rural sector. She urged people living in privileged urban areas to come out from their comfort in Mumbai on
zones and work for progress in rural areas. 14 April 2012. This
annual forum, organized
In recent years, the United Nations has sought a more systematic and streamlined approach to in collaboration with
UNIC New Delhi, brings
engaging with young people through special units or youth advisory boards, such as UNESCO’s
together students and
Youth Coordination Unit, which hosts a Youth Forum every two years. In October 2011 national leaders from
India sent Akanksha Gulia, a young social entrepreneur, to speak at the seventh UNESCO diverse fields.
Youth Forum in Paris. The Confederation of UNESCO Clubs and
Associations of India also conducts activities for young people to
engage with the United Nations. UNFPA supported the unManifesto
campaign in India to encourage youth from diverse backgrounds to
express their opinions to political leaders in the run-up to the 2014
general elections.
Similarly, the UN-Habitat Urban Youth Fund was launched to

promote the poverty reduction aims of the Millennium Development
Goals and the Habitat Agenda for more sustainable and equitable
towns and cities. The Fund provides youth organizations with
grants of up to $25,000 and capacity-building guidance to support
UNYCC/Dileep Thakkar
youth-led development initiatives in sectors ranging from

technology to agriculture to poverty eradication. The India Youth
Fund works to advance youth empowerment by providing small
grants and project guidance to youth-led development initiatives
targeting urban youth.
331
The UN Youth Delegate Programme allows young people to represent their

countries at General Assembly and ECOSOC committees, giving them a
chance to participate in the political processes that determine their future.
India has a powerful opportunity to give its youth a voice and political
empowerment by instituting the programme for its own delegation.
Young people account for nearly half of the refugee population worldwide. They
face major obstacles in accessing education and livelihoods, which is crucial if
they are to build better futures. In New Delhi, refugee youth have organized
themselves into 12 clubs with the help of BOSCO, a partner NGO of UNHCR.
These clubs seek to exploit the agency and capacity of refugee youth. They offer
peer and community support groups and run awareness campaigns on issues
such as education, health, nutrition and sexual and gender-based violence.
United Nations Volunteers, administered by UNDP, runs a programme in
India that encourages youth aged 18 to 29 to become active participants in the
United Nations system and support its mission. (See chapter 59)
UNIC New Delhi emphasizes connection with young people, and a significant
share of its work involves partnering with schools to promote UN values and
themes. Part of the UN seventieth anniversary year campaign, yoUNg@70,
involved collaboration with the National Progressive Schools Council.
Numerous events and competitions were held to raise awareness about the
UNIC
United Nations.
The Secretary-General’s Working with and for young people has been a top priority for Secretary-General Ban Ki-
Youth Envoy, Ahmad moon. He established the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development in
Alhendawi, in New Delhi
2010 to develop a System-Wide Action Plan on Youth. He then appointed the first-ever Envoy
in 2015.
on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, in 2013. His role is to bring UN agencies together to explore
opportunities to collaborate in working with and for young people.
Young people need a seat at the table to understand and contribute to their countries’ foreign
policy. Numerous countries have appointed youth delegates as part of their official delegations
to the UN General Assembly and various ECOSOC commissions. A youth delegate can help
improve domestic visibility of a country’s actions at the UN, while demonstrating greater
inclusivity and diversity to the international community. Currently, India’s delegation to
the General Assembly has no youth representation. Appointing youth would be a powerful
learning experience for them while showcasing the Government’s commitment to boosting
young people’s engagement. Youth have become and must remain stakeholders in UN efforts to
promote peace, human rights and sustainable development.
332
III
United Nations
Agency Profiles
333
The United Nations
… represents the best hope of mankind for
restricting areas of conflict and finally to bring in
the reign of peace throughout the world as also in
developing mutual cooperation and
goodwill among nations.
Dr. Z akir Husain

Vic e -P re s id e n t o f I n d ia
New Delhi
28 January 1967
United Nations
Development Network in India
335
Banners of multiple United Nations organizations at the
UN House in New Delhi in November 2015.
Uni ted Nat ions Agency Profiles
Reflecting a thriving 70-year partnership with India, the United Nations agencies, offices,
programmes and funds working in the country comprise one of the largest UN field
networks anywhere in the world. The diversity of their mandates contributes to India’s
development in a variety of ways. Over the coming years, their programmes of action will
be dedicated to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the Government of
India's national development plans, in close collaboration with the Government, elected
officials, civil society organizations, the corporate sector and other networks. This work
is brought together by the UN Resident Coordinator, the designated representative of
the Secretary-General in India. The UN system in India in turn keeps the United Nations
informed about the changing dynamics of India, one of the most vibrant societies and
rapidly maturing economies in the world.
UNIC
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43
THE UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR SYSTEM
Delivering Results Together

In 1988 the General Assembly established the UN the 2008-2012 UNDAF in India, jointly commissioned
Resident Coordinator system to bring together the UN by the Planning Commission and the UNCT, described
agencies within a country to improve the efficiency and joint advocacy as “an important, effective, and successful
effectiveness of their operational activities. In addition to way for the UN to reach out to elected representatives on
playing this coordination role, the Resident Coordinator is a range of issues”.
the designated representative of the Secretary-General in
the country and serves as the primary interlocutor with the The Resident Coordinator also supports UN agencies
Government of India. in joint outreach initiatives focused on the Secretary-
General’s major campaigns that link with India’s challenges.
The Resident Coordinator works with the UN Country This includes organizing public lectures by eminent
Team (UNCT) to deliver tangible results in partnership thinkers and developing a common visual identity for joint
with the Government, supporting its development agenda. communication products. The Resident Coordinator also
The Resident Coordinator also strategically positions the plays an important role in supporting the Government,
UN in the country and upholds the UN’s responsibilities civil society and other partners in formulating local targets
in preventing and responding to violations of human rights and monitoring progress on globally agreed goals and
and humanitarian law, drawing on the support and guidance implementing international conventions.
of the entire UN family. The Resident Coordinator also
leads the Security Management Team, which coordinates In the transition to the Sustainable Development Goals,
the security and the safety of all UN staff and dependents. the UN agencies in India responded to the Secretary-
He or she serves as the Humanitarian Coordinator, with General’s call for inclusive, broad-based consultations
responsibility for coordinating humanitarian response by facilitating the India National Consultation on the
by the UNCT members and other partners in countries Post-2015 Development Agenda. Estimates suggest that
requiring humanitarian assistance. thousands of organizations participated in the process,
collectively representing 400 million people across the
In addition the Resident Coordinator supports the country. The UN in India enabled the participation
UNCT in joint communication and advocacy. To of civil society, the media and other organizations to
enable the UN system to advocate as one, the Resident engage in the key global negotiations and regional
Coordinator has involved UN agencies in helping meetings leading up to the adoption of Agenda 2030 in
develop elected representatives’ capacity to identify and September 2015.
address implementation bottlenecks; helping the media
report accurately on key development challenges; and As the international development and cooperation
developing common messages and products for evidence- environment has evolved, the role of the Resident
based advocacy. An independent midterm evaluation of Coordinator has been strengthened through General
Dilip Singh/UN in India

Newly appointed UN Resident Coordinator Yuri Afanasiev (left) presents his credentials to the Minister of State for External Affairs,
General V.K. Singh (Retd.), in New Delhi on 31 July 2015.
Assembly resolutions, triennial and quadrennial Resident Coordinator system “more participatory in its
comprehensive policy reviews, and the reform agenda of functioning at the field level”.
the United Nations.
In 2000, India – with one of the largest UN presences
The UN agencies in India have a long history of in the world – was selected as a pilot country for
working together. In the early 1990s, they formed inter- preparation of the UN Development Assistance
agency working groups on thematic areas to strengthen Framework (UNDAF). As its name suggests, the
knowledge sharing and collective action. By the end of UNDAF is a framework for synergizing the work
that decade, in resolution 53/192 of December 1998, of the UN agencies present in a country, to improve
the General Assembly was calling for greater synergy effectiveness and efficiency in contributing to the
among UN agencies to increase the effectiveness and Government’s development priorities. The UNDAF
efficiency of operations. India played an important prepared for 2000-2002 was consistent with the
leadership role in the adoption of that resolution. This Government’s Five-Year Plan. It highlighted promotion
followed the comprehensive triennial policy review, of gender equality and strengthening decentralization as
which requested the Secretary-General to make the areas for collaborative work.
339
together through the joint UN Tsunami Recovery

United Nations Resident Framework, which helped governments to ensure that
Coordinators in India their reconstruction would be resilient to disasters.
Technical assistance was provided for initiatives in
Hans C. von Sponeck (Germany) 1994-1997 education, health, livelihoods and psychosocial support
Brenda G. McSweeney (United States) 1998-2002 and to rehabilitate displaced vulnerable people. The UN
provided support for the government of Tamil Nadu to
Maxine Olson (United States) 2003-2008 formulate its shelter policy.
Patrice Coeur-Bizot (France) 2009-2012
In 2005, the UNCT started Solution Exchange, an
Lise Grande (United States) 2012-2015 innovative knowledge management initiative that
Yuri Afanasiev (Russia) 2015 - present brings practitioners together through e-communities of
practice. The goal of this award-winning enterprise is to
develop solutions to development challenges. It has been
One of the early successes of this collaborative approach instrumental in facilitating inputs from a range of partners
is ‘Janshala’ or ‘The People’s School’, an innovative including the central and state governments, elected
community-based primary education programme, focused representatives, planners, development professionals
on strengthening the accessibility and effectiveness of and civil society to the formulation and review of key
government schools. For the first time in India, five UN national plans and laws. These include the Twelfth Five
agencies collaborated to support the Government of India Year Plan, National AIDS Control Programme, laws
and state governments in achieving universal elementary supporting gender equity, national policy on domestic
education. As a decentralized, dynamic and flexible work, youth policies, microfinance development laws
programme building a sense of community ownership in and disaster management laws. They also included
government schools, Janshala reached nearly 3 million operational guidelines of flagship schemes, such as
children in 9 states between 1998 and 2004. the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act. Pioneered in India, Solution Exchange
This model’s success was acknowledged in the expanded to six countries in Asia and the Pacific and to
Government’s tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007), the Russian Federation.
as well as at a special session of the ECOSOC on
international development cooperation in 2002, where Between 2008 and 2012, the second UNDAF focused
Janshala became one of the first two thematic groups on promoting social, economic and political inclusion
ever invited to make a presentation to the ECOSOC. of the most disadvantaged people, especially women
The programme was taken forward in the form of Sarva and girls. It was aligned to the Government’s Eleventh
Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Movement), a Five-Year Plan. One achievement resulting from
massive flagship programme of the Union Government collaboration among UN agencies was strengthening
for the universalization of primary education, targeting of the Government’s data systems. An aspect of this
200 million children across the country. was support to the 2011 census, by providing technical
assistance to improve the quality of census data and its
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami affected almost 3 timely dissemination.
million people in India. In its aftermath, the UN
supported national and state governments in undertaking Another achievement was pilot testing of the
a joint needs assessment. Soon after, UN agencies came socioeconomic caste census, which addressed gender and
340
UN in India/P. Vishwanathan
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the UN Country Team in New Delhi on 13 January 2015.
social inclusion in data collection and enumeration. There The next framework for UN support to the Government
was also the Government of India-UN Joint Programme of India (starting in 2018) will be informed by key global
on Convergence, designed to achieve development developments and national priorities. These include
objectives at district level by developing capacities of the adoption of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable
district officials for results-based planning, monitoring Development Goals by Member States; the leadership of
and budgeting. In the North-East UNAIDS supported the Government of India in this process and the design of
states to strengthen programmes focusing on women India’s long-term development vision.
and children.
In the new and emerging order, the United Nations in
The current UNDAF (2013-2017) brings together India is poised to provide substantive and strategic support
over 20 UN organizations to support achievement to the Government’s priorities. Under the leadership
of national priorities related to inclusive growth, of the Resident Coordinator, the UNCT will provide
food and nutrition security, gender equality, technical support and help to scale up innovative solutions
access to quality basic services, decentralization and to end poverty and address India’s development challenges
sustainable development. speedily and sustainably.
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44
ASIAN AND PACIFIC CENTRE FOR TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY
Sharing Expertise
for science and technology policymakers under the
‘Technology Atlas Project’ funded by the Government
of Japan. This involved developing methodologies to
The Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology assess the status of technology and national technological
(APCTT) works to bolster national innovation and the capabilities and needs.
development and transfer of technology in countries
across the region. This institution of the United Nations In the 1990s, APCTT helped promote environmentally
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the sound technologies and disseminated technological
Pacific (UNESCAP) has a mandate covering 53 full information. In partnership with the Small Industries
Member States and nine associate members. Established Development Bank of India, it served as incubator for
in 1977 in Bengaluru, APCTT moved to New Delhi in the Technology Bureau for Small Enterprises, which
1993. With the support of its Member States, it works has since begun to operate independently as India SME
to strengthen capacity in three areas: science, technology Technology Services Limited. The Bank provides vital
and innovation; technology transfer; and technology support to Indian SMEs in a variety of ways: matching
intelligence (collection of technical information). technology suppliers with seekers, providing technology
information, syndicating finance for technology
As the host country of APCTT, India has been crucial transfer, promoting exports and encouraging business
to advancing the development and use of sustainable collaboration. Additionally, with funding from UNDP
technology in the Asia-Pacific region. India has been in India, the Centre implemented a project on science
a leading partner in its programmes to strengthen and technology entrepreneurship parks and technology
capacities in Member States, particularly among business incubators, which endeavoured to promote
policymakers, institutions and small and medium-size innovative, technology-driven entrepreneurship.
enterprises (SMEs), with the goal of fostering research
and innovation. The Government of India is a permanent In cooperation with the United Nations Industrial
member of APCTT’s Governing Council and guides the Development Organization and the International
Centre’s technical and administrative operations. India Centre for Science and High Technology in Trieste,
also supports many of its regional projects. APCTT developed a training programme on technology
management for enterprises. During the 1990s it formed
Throughout the 1980s, APCTT focused on a portal to connect more than 20,000 technology
strengthening science and technology policy and providers. In 1993, APCTT started publishing the
increasing access to technology information for its ‘Value Added Technology Information Services Update’,
Member States. It developed a decision support tool a series of periodicals covering biotechnology, food
processing, renewable energy, ozone layer protection and

waste management.
The extent and scope of the projects executed by

APCTT and the Government of India increased
dramatically beginning in 2000, with the initiation of
national innovation systems in India. These contribute
to the development and diffusion of new technologies
and entrepreneurship in Member States. APCTT has
trained more than 3,500 policymakers and decision-
makers on best practices of national innovation systems
and science, technology and innovation strategies. India’s
collaboration with APCTT also contributed to the
promotion of innovation at the grass roots, particularly
in a project resulting in the publication of a directory on
green grass roots innovation and traditional knowledge.
This compiled information on local innovations and
APCTT
solutions emerging from the community, thereby

building capacity for finding, documenting and sharing Pranab Mukherjee (then Minister for Commerce) and Rafeeuddin
Ahmed (then Executive Secretary of UNESCAP) inaugurate the
innovations among Member States. APCTT New Delhi office in 1993.
APCTT has established several institutional cooperation

mechanisms, networks and online resource portals to University and the World Vegetable Centre in Hyderabad.
promote cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Starting Collaborating with the Indian Ministry of New and
in 2010, the Centre began to promote technology-based Renewable Energy, APCTT established an institutional
sustainable development in the region. One major project, cooperation mechanism to promote renewable energy.
funded by the European Union, involved networking to
share knowledge on sustainable agricultural technologies Through South-South cooperation, APCTT helps to
and market links in South and South-East Asia. build capacity across the Asia- Pacific region, drawing on
India as a major source of expertise. This work supports the
Through this initiative APCTT enhanced the capacity dissemination of knowledge, expertise and best practices,
of small Indian agro-food industries in post-harvest and encourages technology cooperation. Working now
technologies and helped to strengthen market linkages with a broader sustainable development agenda, APCTT
and promote trade across the country. It also improved the will continue to contribute to sustainable development
knowledge and skills of agricultural scientists, extension driven by science, technology and innovation in India
workers, policymakers and other stakeholders on post- and across the region. This institution looks towards a
harvest management and market linkage for fruits and future as a hub of capacity-building, technology transfer,
vegetables. Through this project APCTT developed technological information exchange and collaboration
partnerships with key Indian institutions such as the in assisting Member States to achieve the Sustainable
Institute of Rural Management in Anand, Puducherry Development Goals.
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45
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Fighting Hunger
India was among the first signatories when the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
was created in 1945 to fight hunger in the food-scarce
aftermath of the Second World War. The 1943 Bengal
famine had claimed 3 million lives, so hunger was not
an abstract idea. When FAO began its India operations
in 1948, its priority was to transform India’s food and
farm sectors through technical inputs and support for
policy development.
India has come a long way since its days as a food-

deficit country: it now has buffer food grain stocks of
up to 60 million tonnes. In this journey from scarcity
to abundance, FAO and India have remained staunch
partners. Over the years, FAO’s contribution has gone
UN Photo/JL
well beyond increasing food production, covering issues

such as access to food, nutrition, livelihoods, rural
development and sustainable agriculture.
Trainees from the Home Economics Training Centre are greeted by
Addressing the impact of climate change on agriculture women leaders upon their arrival in a village in Odisha in
August 1962. The Government of India enlisted the assistance of
is an important topic of collaboration. One example is FAO and UNICEF for the Expanded Nutrition Programme.
an FAO project that has trained nearly 1,200 farmers in
seven drought-prone districts of Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana. These communities have not only become in 2011. It enables India to generate regular agriculture
aware of climate change but have also learned to analyse outlooks, aiding forecasting and planning. If India’s Green
climate factors and adapt their cropping patterns for or White Revolutions have inspired much of the world,
better productivity. Another initiative is the Agricultural FAO takes pride in its role in helping India script these
Markets Information System, which FAO helped launch success stories.
However, FAO’s story would be incomplete without

acknowledging India’s substantial contributions. Many The FAO-India partnership has
FAO Member States have benefited immensely from
been "a mututally beneficial
the people, programmes and technical trainings offered
by India, which continues to be an important knowledge relationship ensuring food
partner of FAO. The country has been the source of some security for 1.2 billion people,"
of the brightest minds working on food and agriculture. according to M.S. Swaminathan,
One such example is Binay Ranjan Sen, who became the Director of the M.S. Swaminathan
Director-General of FAO in September 1956. Under Research Foundation in Chennai.
his leadership FAO launched the Freedom from Hunger
At the age of 89, he remains a
Campaign and the first World Food Congress, held in
1963. Sen guided FAO for over 10 years.
source of inspiration for FAO.
Prem Nath, Special Adviser for Food Security to the FAO

Director-General, launched the Special Programme for network for collecting, conserving and using plant genetic
Food Security in Low-income Food Deficit Countries resources. A founder of the widely acclaimed Asia Pacific
in 1994. This initiative has helped several developing Association of Agricultural Research Institutions, he
countries achieve national food security. also organized the first global consultation on the role of
agricultural universities in development at FAO’s Rome
Another Indian who contributed greatly to FAO was Prof. headquarters. It laid out the road map for harnessing
R.B. Singh, who spent 15 years with the agency. Serving as research and extension for agricultural transformation.
Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative
for Asia and the Pacific from 2000 to 2002, he assisted Another person who made important contributions
several countries to enhance agricultural productivity. In at FAO is R.S. Paroda, a former Secretary of India’s
the early 1980s, as the regional plant genetic resources Department of Agricultural Research and Education and
coordinator, Singh established a model intercountry Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research. He served as FAO’s Regional Plant Production
and Protection Officer in Bangkok from 1993 to 1994.
Another Indian, Indira Chakravorty, developed an
innovative project on street foods, supported by FAO,
that became a successful model for safer production and
consumption of street foods. It was replicated in 16 cities
of India and in other countries. The Indian Parliament
also took note of this study; the Union Health Minister
referred to it as a major policy guideline for drawing up
street food safety laws.
Many other Indians have enriched FAO’s work. With

the Sustainable Development Goals on the horizon,
much of FAO’s focus in India will be on sustainable
FAO
The FAO provided key technological and policy inputs for the Green
agricultural practices.
and White Revolutions.
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346
(Facing page above)

Farmers winnowing
rice in southern India
in 1983.
(Facing page below)

A fruit vendor sells
mangoes in Chennai
in 1981.
(Left) A grandfather
in the Banjara tribal
community with
a young boy near
Hyderabad in 1981.
46
INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Investing in Rural People

The International Fund for have scaled up successful models, extending their benefits
Agricultural Development to millions of rural people. With minimal subsidies,
(IFAD) is an international most IFAD projects have helped poor people overcome
financial institution as well dependence on assistance. IFAD and the Government of
as a specialized United Nations agency. Its mandate is India have achieved significant results in these areas:
to reduce rural poverty through investments in rural F Commercialization of smallholder agriculture.
development. IFAD’s goal is to enable poor rural people IFAD invests in this sector to build the capacity of
to improve their food and nutrition security, increase their smallholder farmers to increase their incomes through
incomes and strengthen their resilience. IFAD also acts as new market opportunities. Projects have facilitated
an advocate for poor rural women and men and provides innovative partnerships between smallholder farmers
a strong global platform for discussing rural policy issues. and private-sector companies, including FieldFresh
Foods, Tesco and others.
In India, IFAD strives to ensure sustained access to F Grass-roots institution-building. IFAD projects
productive resources (land, forest and water) and services strengthen people’s ability to manage their own
(extension, microfinance and markets). It targets the development through participatory planning and
poorest and most vulnerable populations, especially tribal implementation. This ensures that projects are
communities, smallholder farmers, landless people, women demand-driven and consistent with the knowledge
and youth. Many IFAD-supported programmes in the and capacities of participants. Through this initiative,
country have been a starting point for larger development rural poor people have gained greater bargaining
initiatives as state governments and development partners power in accessing services, inputs and markets.
Examples include community-based natural resource
management in the North-East and community-
managed resource centres in Maharashtra.
F Women’s empowerment. Women in IFAD project
areas are attaining political, economic and social
empowerment. Women’s access to financial services
has been improved, for example, by linking women’s
IFAD/Radhika Chalasani
self-help groups with commercial banks. Other
Grain banks, established under the IFAD-assisted Andhra Pradesh

Participatory Tribal Development project, helped the tribal
community in Koddigunda gain independence from moneylenders.
For example, IFAD was among the first institutions to

IFAD has been working in India since 1979 provide access to financial services through women’s
and opened a country office in 2001. As
groups in Tamil Nadu, an initiative that started small
of March 2015, IFAD has supported 26
programmes and projects in the country and was then scaled up across the state. Similarly, the
at a total cost of $2.48 billion, with IFAD Maharashtra Rural Credit Programme institutionalized
contributions totaling $877.3 million. The the bank linkage concept, which eases access to credit
collaboration has directly benefited more
and guidance for self-help groups. It is now accepted as
than 4.3 million poor rural households. India
is IFAD's largest borrower and the largest the minimum standard for self-help group mobilization.
developing-country financial contributor. Acknowledging IFAD’s success in tribal development, the
Government of India requested its cooperation in conflict-
affected districts in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha
initiatives have helped reduce gender-based violence. and the North-East. Other examples of IFAD-supported
F Promoting access to rural finance: IFAD has innovations scaled up by the Government include:
pioneered linking self-help groups with commercial F North Eastern Region Community Resource
banks in India. It has also supported microfinance Management Project for Upland Areas, which
institutions through India’s Small Industries successfully implemented an integrated community-
Development Bank to enhance access to credit. based approach to reducing poverty among the tribal
F Tribal development in parts of Odisha and population. It is being replicated in follow-up projects
Jharkhand. IFAD projects in tribal areas designated by the Government and by the World Bank in the
under Schedules V and VI of the Indian Constitution North-East Rural Livelihoods Project.
have improved livelihoods in tribal communities, F Odisha Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods
promoted natural resource management and vocational Programme, which helped improve the livelihoods
skills, and supported access to land for landless people. of tribal people by protecting their property rights,
IFAD has adapted its approach to India’s changing developing watersheds and supporting microfinance
priorities. Targeting the poorest, its work has expanded initiatives. Following its success, especially in
from irrigation projects in the 1980s to comprehensive delivering in areas affected by political extremism, the
projects addressing rural poverty and access to rural finance Government has scaled up the programme.
in the 1990s. In the 2000s, projects adopted approaches that F Shaurya Dals, or Courage Brigades, which are small
had already shown success in reducing poverty, including groups of community members who aim to sensitize
women’s empowerment through self-help groups, access village populations about gender-based violence and
to microfinance, natural resource management and value directly intervene when needed. These groups have
chain development. Current project designs incorporate been piloted in six districts under the Tejaswini Rural
proven concepts while addressing emerging issues such as Women’s Empowerment Programme, which has
climate change adaptation, renewable energy, public-private been incorporated into the government of Madhya
partnerships, inclusive value chains and access to markets. Pradesh’s vision document, with plans for extension to
all districts in the state.
In recognition of India’s emerging status as a middle- IFAD continues to test innovations to find new solutions
income country, IFAD has sharpened its focus on ‘finance to rural development challenges. During the most recent
plus’ aspects, offering not only financial assistance but country strategic opportunities programme period
also knowledge-sharing to help build capacity. One of the (2010-2015), IFAD focused on improving access to
institution’s strengths is catalysing innovations that, when agricultural technologies, natural resources, financial
piloted successfully, are scaled up for greater impact. services, value chains and tribal development.
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47
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION
Social Justice for All

Si vis pacem, colejustitiam – If you desire
peace, cultivate justice. These words
are inscribed in the document that lies
beneath the foundation stone of the
International Labour Organization’s main
office in Geneva. The ILO was created in 1919 as part of
the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War,
based on the belief that universal and lasting peace can be
accomplished only if it is rooted in social justice.
ILO’s Constitution was drafted between January and

April 1919 by the Labour Commission set up by the Peace
Conference, which first met in Paris and then in Versailles.
ilo
The Commission, chaired by Samuel Gompers, head of

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru opens the ILO Preparatory
the American Federation of Labor in the United States, Asian Regional Conference in New Delhi in October 1947.
was composed of representatives from nine countries:
Belgium, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Japan,
Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. It The Declaration of Philadelphia, adopted in 1944,
resulted in a tripartite organization, the only one of its broadened the ILO’s aims and objectives. It branched out
kind, bringing together representatives of governments, in two directions, reflecting the centrality of human rights
employers and workers in its executive bodies. to social policy and the need for economic planning. This
Declaration was annexed to ILO’s Constitution in 1946.
The ILO Constitution contained ideas tested in the When the United Nations was established, ILO became
International Association for Labour Legislation, founded its first independent specialized agency.
in Basel in 1901. The driving forces for ILO’s creation
arose from security, humanitarian, political and economic ILO was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969. In her
considerations. There was keen appreciation of the presentation speech, Aase Lionaes, Chairman of the Nobel
importance of social justice in securing peace, against a Committee, observed, “There are few organizations that
background of exploitation of workers in the industrializing have succeeded to the extent that the ILO has, in translating
nations of that time.There was also increasing understanding into action the fundamental moral idea on which it is based.”
of the world’s economic interdependence and the need for
cooperation to establish comparable working conditions in India is a founding member of ILO and has been a
countries engaged in market competition. permanent member of its governing body since its
Several Indians distinguished themselves

at ILO. K. Kuriyan was the first Indian
official, appointed in 1924, and P.P. Pillai
served as the first Director of ILO's India
office from August 1928, retiring from ILO
in April 1954. Ragunatha Rao was ILO's
first Indian Assistant Director-General, from
1948 to 1964, and Surendra Kumar Jain
held various positions beginning in 1946,
retiring as Deputy Director-General in 1987.
and economic growth. It also organized inter-agency

employment missions and provided technical assistance. It
had strong political support in India, where it was seen as an
ILO
example of practical action to support development strategy.
At the 2009 International Labour Conference, the Indian

delegation played a significant role in the adoption of the
Global Jobs Pact, a set of policies to help governments ease
the impact of economic crises and accelerate employment.
India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Programme had also provided a replicable
model for job creation for several other countries.
Introduced in 2005, the Programme is a social security
measure that seeks to provide a minimum number of
days of employment to every individual. India is making
determined efforts to develop a social protection ‘floor’
and to ratify the core ILO conventions, particularly those
ILO
relating to the elimination of child labour.

(Top): Indian President V.V. Giri addresses the fifty-fourth session
of the ILO Conference in Geneva in 1970. (Above): Rajiv Gandhi In line with ILO’s mission to promote decent work for all,
speaks at the ILO Conference in Geneva in June 1985. To date he is
the only Indian prime minister to attend the Conference. the tripartite constituents formulated the Decent Work
Country Programme, introduced in India in 2013. It has
four priorities: promotion of fundamental principles and
establishment. The governing body consists of 56 rights at work; employment opportunities for women
representatives (28 from governments and 14 each and men; a social protection floor with minimum social
from workers’ and employers’ organizations) from 185 guarantees for access to health services and for income
Member States. The growth of the World Employment security for children, the working-age population and old
Programme in the 1970s moved ILO further towards a people; and strengthened labour administration machinery.
broad development agenda. The Programme sponsored ILO provides technical advisory services to help tripartite
research on poverty eradication, employment promotion constituents achieve the outcomes under these priorities.
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48
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION
Opening Doors
India’s association with the International massive trail of destruction. Over 13,000 people lost their
Organization for Migration (IOM) dates lives, and 6 million were left with little or no access to food
back to the 1990s, when Indian citizens were or shelter. IOM began an operation to rescue the affected
among the thousands of people displaced and aid them with food, counselling and health care as
by the Persian Gulf War. As part of the well as permanent housing. Under this initiative 2,408
evacuation from the region, IOM aided stranded nationals semi-permanent shelters and 860 permanent shelters
with rescue and repatriation services. It also assisted them were built, along with two community centres and a 12-
with housing, health care and education after their return. bed semi-permanent centre for disabled people. Water
By the end of 1990, as part of its regional humanitarian storage facilities were created in 24 villages in the region.
programme, IOM had facilitated the repatriation of Microcredit assistance was provided to 1,683 beneficiaries
29,545 Indian nationals from Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi to help them generate income. Vocational training in
Arabia and Turkey. India obtained observer status with various skills was provided to 538 migrant workers,
IOM for the first time during this period. strengthening the economic stability of their families.
IOM’s prompt and effective intervention was the start of The assistance in Gujarat planted the seed of IOM
a strategic and long-standing relationship with India. On operations in India as a humanitarian agency. As part of its
the morning of 26 January 2001, an earthquake measuring early operations IOM worked on economic rehabilitation
6.9 on the Richter scale hit Kutch, Gujarat, leaving a for survivors of trafficking in February 2001, helping
over 300 beneficiaries to develop small enterprises. In
2005, adopting the public-private partnership model,
IOM assisted more than 300 human trafficking survivors
across 10 states of India through economic rehabilitation.
This included aid in setting up business enterprises and
training in entrepreneurial and marketing skills. It led to
more focused technical cooperation with the Government
in developing other public-private partnerships to prevent
and combat human trafficking in India.
In 2007, recognizing India as a major labour-sending

and labour-receiving country and its importance as a
Working on reconstruction activities following the Gujarat

iom
earthquake of 2001.
unesco/m.hainry
An Indian migrant family in Bundi, Rajasthan, in 2009.
remittance-receiving country, IOM began working with potential migrants who received the IOM message of ‘safe
migrants on safe and legal migration, warning them of and legal migration benefits all’. One issue facing migrants
the risks associated with irregular migration. To assist is the gap between their skills and the requirements of the
the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs on migration international job market. In response, IOM worked with
management, IOM stepped up its initiatives in labour the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs on an initiative to
migration management. upgrade the skills of potential migrants from the North-
East States. It included a standardized curriculum and
India became a full member of IOM in 2008. Since international certification, helping to improve the global
then, IOM has supported the Government on migration employability of youth from this region.
management, with a strong focus on labour migration. It
pioneered the establishment of resource centres to provide The journey that began in India with the repatriation
one-stop service on all migration issues. The first such of displaced people in the 1990s has culminated in
centre in India was set up in 2008 in Kochi, Kerala. the realization of IOM’s basic principle that safe and
humane migration benefits migrants and society. ILO
In 2009, IOM organized grass-roots campaigns in Punjab is committed to ensuring the orderly and humane
to promote safe and legal migration and to help people avoid management of migration by collaborating with the
the risks of irregular migration. This campaign, conducted Government, international agencies, civil society and the
over a period of two years, benefited more than 10,000 migrants themselves.
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49
UNESCO’S MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION FOR
PEACE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Culture of Peace
Director-General Irina Bokova inaugurated the Institute
jointly with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.
The Institute’s global mandate is to transform education

policies and practices by developing innovative teaching
and learning methods. Its objective is to equip generations
of young people to create peaceful and sustainable
The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace societies. The rapid but uneven economic growth,
and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) is UNESCO’s globalization and rising inequalities of the twenty-first
first Category I institute in the Asia-Pacific region, century pose unique challenges. Innovative approaches
established with generous support from the Government to education are needed to help tomorrow’s adults
of India. (Category I entities are regarded as being contend with the interconnected global issues of poverty
an integral part of UNESCO.) In 2012, UNESCO and inequality, extremism and intolerance, migration,
financial crises, natural resource degradation and climate
change. This means that work is needed at all levels –
from government policies to classroom teaching methods
and informal learning – to empower young people to
adapt to their changing environments and lead socially
responsible lives.
UNESCO MGIEP’s work is geared towards embedding

skills for peace and sustainable development into
curricula, fostering youth programmes and networks to
change education systems, and developing innovative,
research-based pedagogies. Given the importance of
UNESCO MGIEP/CYNTHIA GUTTMAN
innovation to UNESCO MGIEP’s mandate, its activities
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, and Indian

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurate UNESCO's Mahatma
Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable
Development in New Delhi in 2012.
UNESCO MGIEP
make use of the latest information and communication

technologies. For example, videoconferencing is used to
support exchange of ideas among students worldwide.
Another initiative involves developing games and
simulations that incorporate the principles of peace and
sustainable development.
The Youth for Education, Sustainability and Peace

Network (YES Peace) is UNESCO MGIEP’s global
youth partnership for change. It brings together youth
groups and individuals from around the world to have a
policy dialogue through summer schools, online courses
and mentorship programmes, with the goal of building
education systems suited for their future. The Institute
also fosters initiatives led by young people through its
Changemakers Programme and Campus Ambassadors
Programme. UNESCO MGIEP is piloting a process
designed to incorporate youths as agents of change into
policymaking. In India, the Institute is conducting a
survey and focus group discussions that will feed into
the redesign of the new education policy. Ultimately, (Top): A graphic record of the Talking Across Generations town hall
discussion, which brought together young people and policymakers
this work aims to prepare these young global citizens
to debate education and peace in New Delhi on 16 February 2015.
to lead the way in building more peaceful and (Above): A participant at one of UNESCO MGIEP’s shows off her
sustainable societies. #IamAGlobalCitizen wristband.
355
The iconic India Gate in New Delhi is lit up in orange on 25 November 2015 for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence
against Women. The commemoration is part of the the UNiTE/16 Days of Activism campaign against gender-based violence.
356
UN Women/Deepak Malik
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50
UNITED NATIONS ENTITY FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND
THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
Accelerating Equality
between UN Member States, women’s groups and civil
society, the General Assembly created UN-Women
on 2 July 2012 through unanimous adoption of
Resolution 64/289. It incorporates several previous
entities: the Division for the Advancement of Women,
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and
established in 2010, the International Research and
the Empowerment of Women is a global champion
Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and
for women and girls. Following sustained advocacy
the United Nations Development Fund for Women,
by women’s rights activists and years of negotiations
both established in 1976; and the Office of the Special
Adviser on Gender Issues, established in 1997.
The five priority areas for UN-Women in India are:

F Ending violence against women and girls: This
grave violation of human rights carries multiple
physical, sexual and emotional consequences for
women and girls, including death. UN-Women
responds to violence against women and girls in
all its forms – from domestic violence and human
trafficking to violence in public places. In New Delhi
it has partnered with the municipal government and
civil society organizations to implement the Global
Safe Cities Programme, which works to prevent
and respond to sexual harassment in public places.
The first two phases were successfully implemented
between September 2009 and September 2013, and
UN Legal Counsel Constantin Stavropoulos (right) receives

the Instrument of Ratification of the Convention on the
Political Rights of Women from India’s Ambassador to the UN,
C.S. Jha (centre) in New York in November 1961. Looking on
is Sophie Grinberg-Vinaver, Chief of the UN Section on the
Status of Women.
UN-Women works with economists, planners,

government officials, bankers and the Indian Planning
Commission (NITI Aayog) to ensure that policies and
budgets reflect the needs of women across the country.
F Enhancing women’s economic empowerment:
UN-Women trains women to develop their own
enterprises and market their products. Through
its research it advocates for women’s rights to land
and property. UN-Women supports the Ministries
of Indian Overseas Affairs and Women and Child
Development to ensure that women migrating to the
Persian Gulf region have accurate information about
their labour rights.
F Engaging women as global peacebuilders and
mediators: The organization trains UN peacekeepers
and peacebuilders on the prevention of gender-based
violence. It has formed an expert group to strengthen
women’s leadership, which includes a global roster of
women peace mediators.
UN Photo
In 2014, actor Emma Watson became the first UN-

Two young mothers learn to write in a literacy class conducted by
Literacy House at a village near Lucknow in 1979.
Women Goodwill Ambassador. She serves as an advocate
for the ‘HeForShe’ campaign to promote gender equality.
Its goal is to engage men and boys as agents of change for
the programme has entered its third phase, which will the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights,
conclude in July 2017. by encouraging them to take action against inequalities
F Expanding women’s leadership and participation: faced by women and girls. Another gender equality and
Women are under-represented as voters and in women’s empowerment initiative, the ‘Beijing +20’ global
leadership positions throughout the private and public campaign, was launched in May 2014.
sectors. This occurs despite their proven abilities
as leaders and agents of change, and their right to UN-Women’s office in New Delhi serves Bhutan, Maldives
participate equally in democratic governance. UN- and Sri Lanka as well as India. In these countries, it works
Women advocates greater participation of women in to strengthens women’s rights through collaboration with
politics and decision-making. women, men, women’s networks, governments, local
F Making gender equality central to national authorities and civil society. With all of them, it helps
development planning and budgeting: National to create national strategies to advance gender equality
plans, policies, institutions and budgets are the tools in line with national and international priorities. UN-
through which governments translate commitments Women stands behind women’s equal participation in all
to women into real progress towards gender equality. aspects of life.
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51
JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS
Combating HIV
Global Programme on AIDS, under the World Health
Organization, proposed a task force to design a new body
to coordinate the UN’s activities on AIDS. India was one
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS of the 6 countries represented in the 12-member task
was officially launched in 1996 as an innovative venture force, which also included 3 civil society organizations,
bringing together the efforts and resources of numerous the World Bank, WHO and UNDP. The task force was
UN organizations in the global response to HIV and instrumental in shaping what later emerged as UNAIDS.
AIDS. Its cosponsors are ILO, UNDP, UNESCO,
UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UN-Women, Through an inter-country team in New Delhi during the
WFP, WHO and the World Bank. Its mission is to help initial years, UNAIDS brought together the governments
the world prevent new HIV infections, care for people in the region on a platform of mutual support and helped
living with HIV and mitigate the impact of the epidemic. them to formulate an effective response to AIDS. India
UNAIDS had been engaged in India from its early days. also played a significant regional role through the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. During the
As a UN Member State, India played a key role in shaping first meeting of the SAARC health ministers in New
the genesis and early work of UNAIDS. In 1992, the Delhi in 2003, the idea of a common regional strategy
to combat HIV was proposed. Through the Delhi
Declaration on Public Health Challenges, the eight
SAARC countries renewed their commitment to the
HIV response in line with the UNAIDS goal of ending
the epidemic by 2030.
In November 1998, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee gave a historic address to Parliament and the
media about the potential consequences of the HIV
epidemic for India. At the same time, he stressed the need
for compassion and acceptance of people living with HIV.
The next month, following a meeting with UNAIDS
Secretary-General Kofi Annan (second from right) and Nane

Annan (second from left) interact with people living with HIV/
AIDS and their caregivers, following a roundtable on HIV/AIDS in
New Delhi on 27 April 2005.
the impact of AIDS in Asia. The resulting Commission

on AIDS in Asia was chaired by Dr. Chakravarthi
Rangarajan, an eminent economist and former Governor
of the Reserve Bank of India. Under his leadership, the
international panel of eight commissioners undertook this
work over a period of 18 months, supported by UNAIDS
and two co-sponsoring agencies, UNICEF and UNDP.
The commission submitted its report to the UN

Secretary-General in March 2008, and Oxford University
Press published it for wider dissemination. Among its
recommendations, based on extensive consultations with
UNAIDS
governments and civil society, the report highlighted the

Implementing the lessons from the global AIDS response and the need for a strong increase in political will.
MDGs, UNAIDS’ Fast-Track Targets are important milestones in
ending the epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
In 2003, UNAIDS and WHO launched the ‘3 by 5’
initiative, advocating the provision of life-prolonging
Executive Director Peter Piot, the Prime Minister appealed antiretroviral therapy to 3 million people living with HIV
for strengthened political leadership in the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2005.
at all levels and across all party lines. India was prompt in realizing the need for this approach,
but the cost of treatment was prohibitive. Ahead of World
In 2001, Sonia Gandhi, opposition leader in the Lok AIDS Day in 2005, Minister of Health and Family
Sabha, represented India at the UN General Assembly Welfare Sushma Swaraj called a meeting with the Indian
Special Session on AIDS, demonstrating the country’s pharmaceutical companies to ask why they could not
consensus across party lines. Such interactions and bring down the price of medicines in India. As a result the
initiatives by the political leadership continued to companies agreed to reduce their prices, paving the way
snowball and, in 2002, the Forum of Parliamentarians for India’s phased roll-out of free antiretroviral therapy for
on AIDS was born. Supported by UNAIDS, it convened people living with HIV. Today, India has the second largest
parliamentarians who resolved to act constructively in number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy. Similarly,
tackling HIV-related issues. Through its multiparty the country is advancing steadily towards eliminating the
composition, the Forum continues to play a major role transmission of HIV from parents to children.
among the executive and legislative bodies of both parties
in addressing the country’s response to the epidemic. UNAIDS in India has worked in solidarity with the
people most affected by HIV, and in defence of human
Even as the global AIDS response was progressing dignity, human rights and gender equality. Its work also
and gaining momentum, many questions remained provides important lessons on the transformative nature
unanswered about the nature and drivers of the epidemic of the AIDS response in global development and social
in Asian countries, including India. Hence, in 2006, justice. These lessons will inform efforts as India and
Dr. Piot proposed formulation of an independent the rest of the world gear up to achieve the Sustainable
commission to comprehensively study the realities and Development Goals.
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52
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Building Resilience
In 1951, four years after India’s Independence, first step towards achieving India’s vision of a technology-
the Government began to work with two based future.
organizations – the UN Special Fund and
the Extended Programme of Technical As India worked to strengthen food security during the
Assistance – that would later be merged to 1980s and 1990s, UNDP contributed to the country’s
create the United Nations Development Green Revolution by supporting the use of rice hybrids
Programme. It marked the beginning of a and establishing plant quarantine centres to combat the
transformative partnership between UNDP and India, threat of pests and pathogens. The Wildlife Institute
one that has been witness to many historic milestones. In of India, the country’s premier institute on wildlife
2015, India was elected to UNDP’s Executive Board. management, was set up in Dehradun in 1982 through a
project funded by UNDP and executed by FAO. Today an
Over the last six decades, UNDP has supported some autonomous institute under the Government of India, the
of India’s most important development initiatives. They Wildlife Institute is internationally acclaimed. It offers
have covered virtually all areas of human development, postgraduate diplomas, masters’ courses and professional
from democratic governance and poverty eradication to training in wildlife management, conservation and science
renewable energy and environmental management. to trainees in India and more than 20 countries across
Asia and Africa. UNDP has also assisted in mapping
During the latter half of the 1950s and 1960s, UNDP activities in India. Its assistance to the Survey of India can
helped to establish institutions of major national
importance, including space centres and nuclear research
laboratories. This also included the Indian Institute of
Technology in Mumbai, set up in 1958 with support from
the Extended Programme of Technical Assistance. UNDP
helped to establish India’s national milk grid, laying the UNDP INDIA/P. Vishwanathan
groundwork for the country’s White Revolution and self-

sufficiency in milk production. During the 1970s, UNDP
supported the establishment of numerous institutions that
led to India’s emergence as a world leader in technological
development. In 1971, UNDP supported the advent of
large-scale television technology through the creation
of the Film and Television Institute of India. In 1976,
The Solar Heating System installed at the Ramakrishna Mission’s
the National Informatics Centre, set up with UNDP Students’ Home in Chennai under a UNDP partnership with the
assistance, introduced a mainframe computer, a historic Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India.
be traced back to the 1970s, and in 1986 UNDP helped and climate change, and of minorities to various forms of
in setting up modern cartographic centres equipped with discrimination. Millions of people have been equipped
state-of-the-art digital mapping technology. with the skills to manage disaster risk at the community
level, and disaster-resistant housing technologies have
During the 1990s, as global understanding of aided vulnerable communities in coastal states. In
development moved beyond a focus on national income partnership with other UN agencies, the Post-Tsunami
and growth, UNDP promoted the human development Recovery Centre was opened, and UNDP took the lead
concept in India. It gave support to strengthening in mobilizing funds to support state governments in
technical capacity on human development analysis; reconstruction efforts.
integrating human development in planning at national,
state and district levels; and helping in the preparation of As climate change impacts increase, UNDP has supported
human development reports. Today, India produces more the Ministry of Environment and Forests along with
human development reports than any other country, states in developing plans to address climate change
with coverage down to district level, providing a deeper across the country. Chlorofluorocarbons have been phased
understanding of the human condition in India. out in manufacturing sectors ahead of target dates. The
introduction of energy-efficiency technologies in small-
In 1995, a small project under UNDP’s South Asia and medium-scale enterprises has served as a powerful
Poverty Alleviation Programme in collaboration with demonstration of a business model that is both profitable
the Andhra Pradesh Society to Eliminate Rural Poverty and sustainable. UNDP supported one of India’s most
led the way on self-help groups. It set up such groups illustrious business groups, the Tata Group, in creating
among a small number of women, provided them with the Tata Index for Sustainable Human Development.
micro loans and support, and had them hold each other Using this matrix, Tata companies can bring the rigour of
to account. This model eventually reached more than 12 business processes to measuring the degree to which their
million families, and today there is wide acceptance of work contributes to sustainable human development.
self-help groups as a key tool to eliminate poverty and
empower women. In the first years of the 2000s, UNDP has continued to
advocate for the rights of minorities in India. It has also
The power of the collective as a strategy is evident in other been instrumental in gaining government commitment
areas as well. In 1992, UNDP with the Government of to become more HIV sensitive; supporting the first-ever
India launched one of the largest assistance programmes study of the socioeconomic effects of living with HIV;
in the world to boost training in design and manufacture and advocating the rights of the transgender community.
of leather goods such as mojari (slippers) for small clusters In partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, efforts have
of artisans. A large-scale effort to revive research and focused on boosting skills and livelihoods in hard-hit areas
development in India’s jute sector provided $23 million by encouraging internal tourism.
in assistance to artisans. In 1994, UNDP assisted the
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in setting In the past, UNDP was more directly involved in
up the Cultural Informatics Unit to virtually recreate supporting projects, whereas it now provides its
India’s heritage and preserve manuscripts and books by trademark capacity development assistance to support
digitizing them. strengthened implementation of government programmes
and schemes. As India has moved into middle-income
Over the last decade, UNDP has focused on building the status, UNDP’s role has evolved, and it will continue to
resilience of people faced with the risks of natural disasters do so in the years to come.
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53
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION
FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Nurturing Cooperation
In 1974 the Member States renamed the organization
the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific, to place equal emphasis on social progress and
reflect a greater focus on the Pacific subregion.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission

India’s multifaceted engagement with ESCAP has evolved
for Asia and the Pacific is the main economic and social
over time as the country has moved up the development
development centre of the UN in the region. Headquartered
path. India has hosted six sessions of ESCAP, especially
in Bangkok, ESCAP fosters cooperation among its 53
in the early and formative years, including the third
Member States and 9 associate members. It responds to
session (1948, in Udhagamandalam), the twelfth (1956,
the development needs and priorities of the region through
in Bengaluru) and the seventeenth (1961), twenty-second
its convening authority, economic and social analysis,
(1966), thirty-first (1975) and fiftieth (1994) in New
normative standard-setting and technical assistance.
Delhi. The fiftieth session adopted the Delhi Declaration
on Strengthening Regional Economic Cooperation in
As an ardent champion of regional cooperation, India
Asia and the Pacific towards the 21st Century and an
has enjoyed a special relationship with ESCAP since
action plan on infrastructure development.
the beginning. Even before its independence, India was
articulating a vision of regional cooperation, and in March
India has hosted a number of high-level ESCAP
1947 it hosted the first Asian Relations Conference in
conferences in addition to numerous workshops and policy
New Delhi. There, Jawaharlal Nehru stated: “The time has
dialogues. These have included the pioneering Asian
come for us, the peoples of Asia, to meet together, to hold
together, and to advance together …” These timeless words
stimulated the formation of the Economic Commission for
Asia and the Far East, as ESCAP was initially known, in
1947. India was one of the 4 developing countries among
the 10 countries at the first session in Shanghai.
The early activities and profile of the Economic

Commission for Asia and the Far East were shaped by the
UNESCAP
UNESCAP
vision of two Indians, its founding Executive Secretary,

P.S. Lokanathan, who served from 1947 to 1956, and his
successor, C.V. Narasimhan, who served from 1956 to 1958. (Left to right): Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan and P.S. Lokanathan.
India has hosted and supported the Asian and Pacific

Centre for Transfer of Technology, a regional ESCAP
training centre in New Delhi.
India’s engagement with ESCAP took an important turn

in December 2011 when a new South and South-West
Asia office of ESCAP was inaugurated in New Delhi.
UNESCAP
It will serve 10 countries in the subregion: Afghanistan,

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran,
The opening of the twelfth session of ECAFE (the precursor to
ESCAP) in Bengaluru on 2 February 1956. Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey. This
office links the ESCAP secretariat’s work in Bangkok
with the countries in the subregion, while also promoting
Population Conference, in 1963, and the 2nd Ministerial regional cooperation and connectivity in South Asia. As it
Conference on Space Applications for Sustainable moves up the development ladder, India has been sharing
Development in Asia and the Pacific, in 1999. its experience and capabilities with fellow developing
countries in the region and beyond, using ESCAP’s
India has been a founding member of nearly all the regional platform for this purpose along with the Indian Technical
institutions established under the auspices of ESCAP. & Economic Cooperation programme.
These include the Asian Development Bank, in 1966,
and the Asian Clearing Union and Asian Reinsurance In the area of remote-sensing and space applications for
Corporation, established in the 1970s. India is one of the disaster risk reduction, for instance, the Indian Space
five original signatories of the Bangkok Agreement, now Research Organization has been sharing real-time satellite
known as the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, which was data and extending capacity-building support with other
signed in 1975 through ESCAP. India has also been an active countries as a part of the regional cooperative mechanism
member of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community for drought monitoring coordinated by ESCAP. In 2014,
since its inception in 1969, and of the International Pepper India launched a joint programme with ESCAP to train
Community, set up in 1972 under ESCAP auspices. over 100 young information technology engineers and
entrepreneurs of Myanmar. In 2015, India contributed $1
India contributes to realization of the ESCAP vision of million to the ESCAP Tsunami Trust Fund to help build
an integrated intermodal logistics system in the region, capacity on disaster risk reduction.
having ratified the Intergovernmental Agreements on
the Asian Highway Network (2006) and the Trans- The twenty-first century is widely seen as the century of
Asian Railway (2007). The country also agreed to be a Asia and the Pacific. Whether this comes true, however,
party to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Dry Ports depends on the region’s ability to foster inclusive
of International Importance in March 2015. India is an and sustainable development for all. As a regional
active member of the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard organization, UNESCAP has a major role to play. As the
Early Warning System (RIMES) for tsunamis and other region transforms, India – as the third largest economy in
hazards, an intergovernmental organization established the region and the fastest growing, and given its youthful
in the wake of the 2004 tsunami with support from the population – is poised to play an increasingly important
ESCAP Trust Fund on tsunamis and other hazards. In role. This will encourage continued and deepening
2012, India hosted the first Ministerial Meeting of the engagement between India and ESCAP over the
RIMES, and it chairs the RIMES Council. Since 1977, coming decades.
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54
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
Spurring Innovation
The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization
was founded in 1945 to develop the
“intellectual and moral solidarity of
mankind” as a means of building lasting peace. In its
early years, UNESCO helped rebuild schools, libraries
and museums destroyed during the Second World War,
and served as an intellectual forum for exchanging
ideas and scientific knowledge. As newly independent
countries joined UNESCO between the 1950s and
UNESCO
1970s, it turned its attention to education for all girls

and boys and ending illiteracy. Today the core purpose
Ellen Wilkinson, Chairwoman of the Conference that established
of UNESCO’s education programme is to achieve UNESCO. London, November 1945.
Education for All, which, in its broadest sense, means at
all levels, throughout life.
reconcile both the conservation and sustainable use of
Over the years, several premier educational institutions natural resources by recognizing model sites as biosphere
in India received UNESCO’s technical help in the initial reserves. This was the first step towards conservation-
stages of their development. These include the National linked sustainable development. UNESCO’s work in
University of Educational Planning and Administration, science emphasizes the transfer and sharing of scientific
the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai), the Indian and technical knowledge and its application to sustainable
Institute of Mass Communication and the Delhi Public development. Over the years most of this work has fallen
Library. Recent examples of such cooperation are the into the broad categories of water and related ecosystems,
establishment of the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, science policy and capacity-building, environment and
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and earth sciences, and marine sciences.
Sustainable Development, and the UNESCO Category
II Centre for World Natural Heritage Management and UNESCO’s work in the social and human sciences aims to
Training for the Asia and Pacific Region. strengthen the links between research, policymaking and
stimulation of innovative thinking. Its activities are focused
When it comes to the environment, UNESCO has on ensuring protection of the most vulnerable population
sounded the alert over the planet’s shrinking biodiversity groups, as well as social inclusion and cultural diversity.
and planetary resources. Through its Man and the The Internal Migration in India Initiative, launched in
Biosphere programme, established in 1971, it sought to 2011, supports the social inclusion of migrants in India’s
economic, social, political and cultural life through

research, policy and advocacy.
As the only UN agency specifically mandated with

responsibility for promoting creativity and safeguarding
the world’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, UNESCO
has a unique role to play. The Nubian Temples campaign
of the 1960s and 1970s, to save Egypt’s most famous
monuments from the rising waters of the Aswan High
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/D. Gautam

Dam, transformed approaches to cultural heritage
protection. It also inspired the creation, in 1972, of the
World Heritage programme, which is dedicated to
safeguarding sites of outstanding universal value. India’s
27 recognized cultural heritage sites range from great
masterpieces of architecture, such as the Taj Mahal, to
remnants of prehistoric human civilizations, such as the A recent addition in India to the list of UNESCO world heritage
Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh. sites is Rani-Ki-Vav, in Patan (Gujarat). It is a masterly example
of a stepwell, a form of subterranean water resource and storage
By listing these and India’s seven natural heritage sites, system distinctive to the Indian subcontinent.
which showcase the country’s biodiversity, the World

Heritage Programme has made a crucial contribution
and communication capacities for development. This
to safeguarding humanity’s common heritage. In 2016,
includes supporting initiatives to develop community
Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim became
media and build the skills of mainstream and community
the first mixed (natural and cultural) site in India to be
media professionals. UNESCO has played a pioneering
inscribed on the UNESCO list.
role in the development of community radio in India,
having helped to formulate the Community Radio Policy
Communication is an important tool of UNESCO’s work,
of 2002 and the amended policy guidelines of 2006.
and one of its major priorities is fostering information
Another priority is promoting freedom of expression
and information, including by protecting the safety of
journalists and ensuring the right to information.
UNESCO also seeks to build inclusive knowledge societies

by strengthening access to information and knowledge
through the use of information and communication
technologies. It is a leading advocate of open access to
educational resources, free and open source software, and
digital libraries and archives.
UNESCO
The opening of UNESCO's first General Conference, in Paris on 20

November 1946.
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55
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND
Health and Rights

The United Nations Population UNFPA India supports the strategy endorsed at the 1994
Fund promotes the rights of International Conference on Population and Development,
every woman, man and child to which emphasized the relationship between population,
enjoy a life of health and equal development and individual well-being. The key to this
opportunity. It supports countries in using population approach is empowering women and expanding access to
data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty, and to education, health services and employment opportunities.
ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, Young people aged 10 to 19 constitute 22 per cent of
every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl India’s population, totaling 253 million people. UNFPA
and woman is treated with dignity and respect. recognizes adolescents and young people as the change-
UNFPA/Prashant RAVI
The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (National Adolescent Health Programme) brings the needs of adolescents like these to the centre
of health programming.
UNFPA
UNFPA
A meeting of accredited social health activists. The Barwani project in Madhya Pradesh places communities at the
centre of designing and implementing health programmes.
makers of tomorrow – and that requires investment in Mission, which works to improve infrastructure and public
them. Since 1974, UNFPA has been supporting the health services in 18 states.
Government of India on population issues through a series
of five-year country programmes. UNFPA’s seventh country programme, from 2008 to 2012,
continued previous support to the Ministry of Health and
During the first and second country programmes, Family Welfare in reproductive health services, HIV/
covering 1974 to 1985, the focus was on provision of AIDS prevention, adolescent reproductive and sexual
family planning services. The next two programmes, health needs, and gender equality issues. UNFPA also
covering 1986 to 1996, concentrated on strengthening partnered with other ministries, including Human
the health service delivery infrastructure for maternal Resource Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and
and child health and family planning; procurement Social Justice and Empowerment. Other partners were the
and production of contraceptives; and strengthening of National AIDS Control Organization and the Office of
management information systems, capacity development the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner.
and information, education and communication.
The current programme, extending from 2013 to 2017,
The fifth programme, from 1997 to 2002, was aligned with reflects India’s middle-income status by putting more
India’s ongoing reproductive and child health programme. emphasis on policy development and advocacy. UNFPA is
It emphasized increasing access to quality reproductive encouraging South-South collaboration, working with the
health services through a decentralized, community- private sector, promoting knowledge sharing and fostering
based approach. It also addressed gender mainstreaming, innovations. Its strategic focus is now on adolescents and
with a focus on reproductive rights. During the next other youth, and this involves special efforts to reach
country programme, covering 2003 to 2007, the focus out to marginalized people. UNFPA will also work on
was on adolescent reproductive and sexual health, gender- generating evidence on demographic dynamics, including
based violence and quality of care. Interventions were emerging issues such as the ageing of the population. In all
also oriented to arresting the alarming disparity in child of this work the Programme of Action of the International
sex ratios highlighted in the 2001 census. In 2005 the Conference on Population and Development and the
Government of India launched the National Rural Health Sustainable Development Goals lead the way.
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56
UN-HABITAT
Sustainable Cities
1978 to 1992, a record tenure at the helm of the agency
that stands to this day. He proposed the commemoration
of World Habitat Day, which has been observed the
In January 1975 the United Nations began to address first Monday of every October since 1986 to focus the
the rapid and often uncontrolled growth of cities with world’s attention on sustainable progress regarding cities
establishment of the United Nations Habitat and Human and other human settlements. The Government of India,
Settlements Foundation, the first UN body dedicated to state governments and other organizations celebrate
urbanization. The following year the first international UN the day.
conference to fully recognize the challenge of urbanization
took place in Vancouver. The United Nations Conference In 1996, the UN held a second conference on cities,
on Human Settlements, also known as Habitat I, resulted Habitat II, in Istanbul to assess two decades of progress
in the creation of UN-Habitat, the United Nations since Habitat I and set fresh goals for the new millennium.
Commission on Human Settlements. This ‘city summit’ was attended by 171 countries,
including India. Participants adopted the Habitat
Arcot Ramachandran, an Indian from Karnataka, was Agenda, which contained over 100 commitments and
nominated as the first Executive Director. He served from 600 recommendations. From 1997 to 2002, the agency
– guided by the Habitat Agenda and then the United
Nations Millennium Declaration in 2000 – underwent
a major revitalization. On 1 January 2002, UN-Habitat
was born as a full-fledged human settlements programme
managed by its own secretariat and headed by an Executive
Director and a UN Under-Secretary-General.
With a strengthened mandate, UN-Habitat was placed

squarely in the middle of the UN’s development agenda
for poverty reduction, leading to a more relevant and
focused set of programmes and priorities. Its seven
priorities are: urban legislation, land and governance;
urban planning and design; urban economy; urban
TERI New Delhi
Arcot Ramachandran, the First Executive Director of UN-Habitat,

in discussion with former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
basic services; housing and slum upgrading; risk

reduction and rehabilitation; and urban research and
capacity development.
Since the agency’s inception India has been a member

of its Governing Council. Kumari Selja, India’s Minister
of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, was elected
as President of the twenty-first Governing Council in
2007. UN-Habitat established an information office in
Chennai in 1991 in cooperation with the Government
APMCHUD Secretariat
of India.
A 2002 regional consultation organized by UN-Habitat

and hosted by the Government of India in New Delhi
led to establishment of the Water for Asian Cities A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, Anna Tibaijuka,
programme, to improve sanitation coverage in urban Executive Director of UN-Habitat, and Kumari Selja, Minister
areas. In 2005, UN-Habitat undertook several initiatives, of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, at the
inauguration of the first Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on
initially in four cities of Madhya Pradesh, in support
Housing and Urban Development, in New Delhi in
of a state government initiative on urban water supply December 2006.
and environmental improvement. Subsequently, Water
for Asian Cities programme activities were expanded
across five states in India. UN-Habitat facilitated the India’s role in UN-Habitat and its work have also drawn
formation of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference recognition. Several Indian organizations – including the
on Housing and Urban Development. India will host Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd.,
the sixth session of the Conference in New Delhi Sulabh International and the Society for the Promotion of
in 2016. Area Resource Centres in Mumbai – have won the UN-
Habitat Scroll of Honour award. Launched in 1989, it
recognizes those who have made significant contributions
to the development of housing. UN-Habitat has also
Smart cities support sustainable partnered with several Indian organizations that empower
development by providing economic women’s and youth groups to fight social exclusion.
benefits, such as concentrated job Currently there are 162 partners from India accredited to
opportunities; social benefits, such as UN-Habitat.
integration, mobility and public health;
and environmental benefits, such as Habitat III took place in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 to 20
lower energy use and biodiversity
October 2016. This conference will focus on reinvigorating
protection. UN-Habitat works to create
livable, safe and healthy cities that the global political commitment to the sustainable
are socially inclusive, environmentally development of towns, cities and other human settlements,
regenerative and economically vibrant, both rural and urban.
with a singular cultural identity.
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57
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND
Helping Children Thrive

families and community members in understanding
their roles as both rights-holders and duty-bearers
in ensuring their children survive and thrive, while
providing a platform for young community champions
to emerge and inspire.
The United Nations Children’s Fund began its work
in India in 1949 with three staff members. Since In 1949, when India’s first penicillin production
establishing an office in Delhi three years later, it has facility was established at Pimpri, UNICEF provided
grown to over 400 staff members who work to advance equipment and technical assistance. In 1954, it signed
the rights of Indian children, adolescents and women an agreement with the Government of India to fund
to survival, growth, development, participation and two milk processing plants, at Aarey in Maharashtra
protection. UNICEF supports initiatives that aim to and Anand in Gujarat. UNICEF supported other major
reduce inequities based on caste, ethnicity, gender, projects, including the drilling of rigs to accelerate the
poverty, region and religion; and to ensure that children Government’s efforts to provide safe drinking water to
can realize their rights to health, nutrition, education, the people of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh when
protection and water, sanitation and hygiene. It engages they experienced one of their worst droughts in 1966.
UNICEF India/P. Vishwanathan
(Left): A girl watches as a health worker vaccinates her against

smallpox, circa 1961. (Above): Children wash their hands at
a washbasin in Kamrup District, Assam, in 2014 as part of a
unicef
campaign under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the national flagship

education programme of the Government supported by UNICEF.
UniAtted
the age
Natofions
7, Savita became aProfiles
Agency child labourer in
Lalganj, Uttar Pradesh. Her arduous tasks were
breaking stones, digging trenches and fencing
forest boundaries. Four years later, thanks to a
2012 initiative supported by UNICEF and the IKEA
Foundation, she was able to enter school. She
excelled at her studies from the beginning, and
in 2015, by the age of 14 she began sharing her
knowledge with out-of-school children whenever
she could. She has decided she wants to take
up teaching as a career, and is completing her
education towards that end. UNICEF supports
thousands of girls in India like Savita to start or
return to school, setting the stage for a better future
for themselves and their own children.
UNICEF India/P. Vishwanathan
The Government and UNICEF signed an agreement to raise the quality of services provided to children.
in the early 1960s to reorganize and expand science When the ‘super cyclone’ of 1999 hit the Odisha coast,
teaching in Indian schools. Together they introduced a killing thousands, UNICEF aided the state government
nationwide, village-based applied nutrition programme by coordinating relief operations for about 1.7 million
in 1963 to reduce malnutrition among children. The children. UNICEF also supported efforts to revitalize
Dular project to combat malnutrition, infant mortality the education system after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
and poor maternal health was established in certain destroyed 12,000 schools.
districts of Bihar and Jharkhand by the Government
along with UNICEF in 2002. Promotion of joyful learning and child-friendly schools
is another UNICEF priority. It works towards gender
During the 1970s, UNICEF and the Government equality, most recently by mainstreaming gender issues
became partners in the world’s largest rural water into the communication strategy for the 2011 census.
supply programme. In the 1980s, UNICEF supported This helped 2.7 million enumerators and supervisors
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s national immunization collect quality disaggregated data as part of UN support
campaign and a national programme to rid the country for the census.
of guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis). Promoting
iodized salt to prevent iodine deficiency disorders has UNICEF’s work in India has increased access to
been a UNICEF priority since the 1990s. As a result of institutional and community-based maternal, neonatal
such efforts, millions of babies born in India each year and child health services. It has supported a nationwide
are protected from iodine deficiency. National enactment communication campaign by the Ministry of Women
of the 2003 act to promote breastfeeding and limit use of and Child Development on maternal and child nutrition
breastmilk substitutes strengthened the 1992 law, a major and the India Newborn Action Plan, which is working
step that was promoted and welcomed by UNICEF and to reduce neonatal mortality and stillbirth rates to single
its partners. digits by 2030. The first of its kind in the region, the Plan
supports activities in the poorest and most disadvantaged
UNICEF has also engaged in humanitarian assistance communities, while working alongside the Government at
in India, such as after the 2004 tsunami, when it worked the national level.
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58
UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
Sharing Prosperity
The role of the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization is to promote
and accelerate inclusive and sustainable
industrial development in developing
countries and economies in transition. When UNIDO was
established in 1966, the organization provided a unique
opportunity for many newly decolonized countries, which
had recently regained legitimate control over their domestic
resources, to obtain access to foreign technology and know-
how from a neutral source. UNIDO gave them access to
unrivalled technical competence and global experience at
UNIDO
a crucial time in their histories. By a General Assembly

resolution in December 1985, it became a specialized
agency of the UN system, with its own budget and partners. The early years of India-UNIDO cooperation
governance structure, and today it has 170 Member States. saw a strong concentration on heavy industries: steel
and alloys, petrochemicals, pesticides and fertilizers.
UNIDO has been active in India since its founding, and These marked India’s rapid industrial expansion while
in five decades of operation it has delivered $225 million also supporting the Green Revolution. In the 1970s, the
worth of technical services to a broad range of local focus gradually shifted to light industries and employment
creation in agriculture-based activities such as leather,
footwear, textiles and garments.
By the mid-1970s, concern was rising about environmental

aspects of industrialization. An early focus on waste
treatment expanded to address waste management more
broadly, including pollution containment and cleaner
production. Now the shift is complete, with a concentration
UN Photo/T.S. Satya
(Left): Technician at work in the hydraulic instruments testing

laboratory at the Institute for Design of Electrical Measuring
Instruments. Mumbai, 1974. (Above): A man works at a cane
and bamboo furniture factory in North-East India, as part of a
UNIDO-supported livelihoods project.
on the broader concept of ‘clean technologies’. Today,

the environmental dimension is a major component of
UNIDO’s technical cooperation programme in India.
Cooperation in engineering and machine tools,

biochemicals, polymers and composite materials,
semiconductors and microprocessors, solar cells, fiber
optics and computer-assisted design and manufacturing
demonstrate the growing sophistication of Indian
industry in the 1980s. In the wake of India’s economic
liberalization reforms in the early 1990s, UNIDO
UNIDO
introduced new services to help local authorities promote
foreign direct investment in the country and encourage As a result of UNIDO’s intervention in the handloom cluster of
private investment in infrastructure projects through the Chanderi, 623 weavers were organised in the form of Self Help
build-operate-transfer scheme and its variants. Groups. Of them, 150 weavers formed the first weavers’ forum,
Bunkar Vikas Sansthan, which did business worth Rs 9 million
(approximately US$ 200,000) between 2003 and 2005.
At the turn of the new millennium, UNIDO and
the Government of India launched a medium-term
cooperation strategy focused on investment promotion, the Centre for South-South Industrial Cooperation.
cleaner technology, improved competitiveness of small and This was the first in a global network of such facilities
medium-size enterprises, and accelerated manufacturing to be established by UNIDO. Though South-South
progress in disadvantaged parts of the country. Since cooperation has been around for decades, as personified
December 2006, with access to funds from the Global by the Indian Economic and Technical Cooperation
Environment Facility, UNIDO India’s portfolio has Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, this initiative
increased exponentially, particularly in the energy and was established in a new context: one of rapid strides in
environment sectors. international exchanges and massive cross-border flows of
trade and investment, in ways that increasingly challenge
The International Centre for Advancement of historical patterns. This has been seen, for example, in the
Manufacturing Technology, launched in India in October consolidation of the global steel industry.
1999, is one of several international technology centres of
UNIDO. It was created to assist developing and transition Though there are massive flows of private resources in
countries to improve the technological performance and industrial development through trade, investment and other
productivity of their manufacturing sectors, as well as the exchanges, UNIDO has strategically targeted its efforts
quality of their goods and their competitive position in on issues that have proven societal benefit but insufficient
global markets. economic appeal to attract private agents. In December
2013, UNIDO’s new mandate, to promote inclusive and
India has played an increasingly assertive role on the sustainable industrial development, was launched at the
international scene as a leading advocate of the developing fifteenth session of the General Conference in Lima. The
South – marked by high-profile interventions in global Lima Declaration adopted by the Conference confirmed
platforms such as the World Trade Organization and inclusive and sustainable industrial development as a
the World Economic Forum. Reflecting that leadership response to the social and environmental challenges of
role, in 2007 UNIDO and the Government launched maintaining economic growth in a sustainable manner.
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59
UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS
Reaching Out
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) youth organizations”. The UNDP Administrator was
programme, administered by UNDP, designated the Administrator of UNV, and operations
promotes volunteerism to support began in January 1971.
peace and development worldwide by
advocating for volunteerism, encouraging partners to UNV’s evolution has kept pace with changing
integrate volunteerism into development programming, development thinking and practice, through three distinct
and mobilizing volunteers to support the work of phases reflecting the evolving goals of its governing body.
UN entities. During the first phase, from 1971 to 1988, UNV’s primary
function was as a volunteer placement agency, responding
In the idealistic climate of the 1960s, the idea of deploying to requests for volunteers from governments and the
volunteer workers in the UN was first captured in a 1961 United Nations system. The next phase ran from 1988
ECOSOC report. The General Assembly established to 2001, when the UNDP Governing Council adopted
UN Volunteers in December 1970, acknowledging that two provisions with critical implications for UNV’s work.
“voluntary service in development assistance activities … The first related to the appropriate use of volunteers in
can make a substantial contribution to their success by the development, and the second authorized UNV to allocate
provision of an additional source of trained manpower”. resources for pilot and experimental projects. During this
UNV was to work “in collaboration with the United phase, UNV India began to emphasize capacity-building
Nations agencies concerned and in cooperation with of both volunteers and hosting organizations, rather than
organizations dealing with national and international ‘gap filling’ volunteer placements. In the early 1990s,
volunteer service and, where appropriate, with relevant international UNVs from Africa and Asia supported the
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and universities in
India to spread awareness on HIV/AIDS.
The third phase, 2001 to 2014, followed the global success

of the International Year of Volunteers in 2001. The
General Assembly adopted a pivotal resolution, 56/38,
with recommendations on support for volunteering.
UNV and the Government of India celebrated the
International Year of Volunteers by holding awareness-
UNV/RUHANI KAUR
raising activities in New Delhi, Odisha and Gujarat. Also
Volunteers clean up the banks of the river Yamuna in New Delhi

on International Volunteer Day in 2014.
In 1992, India was one of the

four countries that participated
in the programme for Artisan
Development in South Asia,
which paved the way for
engaging national UN Volunteers
for the first time in the country.
Since 1999, the deployment of
national UN Volunteers in India
has immensely helped UNDP in
UNV
A UN Volunteer works with a student at the Malsawm School for providing a rapid and effective
the differently abled in Manipur in 2014. UN Volunteers work response to emergencies
as speech therapists, physiotherapists, rehabilitation specialists and
school administrators at the school.
caused by natural disasters.
during this phase the UNV India Programme became one of the International Year of Volunteers in 2011, which
of the largest UNV programmes in the world, currently culminated in the launch of the first-ever State of the
standing at 250 volunteers. World’s Volunteerism Report. Most recently, the General
Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the integration
More than 250 UNV engineers, architects and of volunteering as a main objective for the next decade,
information managers supported the Government and and for UNV to develop a plan of action to that end.
communities in the aftermath of the Gujarat earthquake
in 2001 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. UNVs, Heralding a new beginning for UNV, in 2014 the
working with UN agencies, also supported decentralized organization developed a strategic framework for 2014–
planning, capacity-development of elected representatives 2017 to strengthen its engagement with UN Member
and initiatives for children with disabilities, among other States, the UN system and other stakeholders. This
areas. Also during this period UNV launched a global framework will support a focus on youth, peacebuilding,
online volunteering portal. Through it individuals can basic social services and community resilience to deal
volunteer services such as design, research, translation with climate change through disaster risk reduction.
and community organizing, solely through the Internet. Recognizing the vast potential of youth in India, UNV
Indian online volunteers are among the most active and UNDP entered into a strategic partnership with the
contributors to this network in the world. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in 2014. Its purpose
is to strengthen India’s youth volunteer infrastructure (one
UNV has also worked to develop strategies and of the largest in the world) to help engage more youth
programmes to harness the potential of volunteerism to in community development. Implementation of the UNV
improve the well-being of individuals, communities and strategic framework and the partnership with the Ministry
societies. This was recognized during the tenth anniversary marks the beginning of a new phase for UNV in India.
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60
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME
Building Food Security

Engagement by the World Food 100 development and emergency assistance projects. It
Programme in India dates back to has worked closely with the Government and continues to
1963, when the nation’s stable political tailor its approach to respond to evolving needs, challenges
environment and high food needs offered and opportunities.
a favourable context for WFP’s early
food security programmes. These projects were designed For its first 20 years in India, WFP used food aid to
in cooperation with the Indian Ministry of Food and improve food security and nutrition and promote
Agriculture to “promote economic and social development economic and social development. The organization
and to respond to emergency food needs”. Since then, worked at both national and state levels, complementing
WFP has delivered assistance in India through close to the Government’s five-year development plans. WFP
WFP/Aditya Arya
Schoolgirls eat rice, fortified with WFP's support, as part of the Mid-Day Meal programme in Gajapati, Odisha.
Back in 1966, the first project I was responsible for was the ‘Construction and
Renovation of Bunds and Tanks in Uttar Pradesh’. Its purpose was to provide
seasonal employment to poor farmers and to rehabilitate the ancient water supply
system which had originally been built during the Chandela Dynasty, some 1,000
years ago. Villages had a ready source of water again after a gap of hundreds of
years. Forty years later, I visited the region again and imagine my delight to see
those tanks still full of water, brightly clad women laughing and chatting as they
filled their shiny brass pots, and children splashing around at the edges.
Trevor Page, Project Officer, WFP India (1966 -1972)
contributed to the National Dairy Development Board’s on mother-and-child nutrition in 2004 and 2005. It also
Operation Flood for over 10 years, starting in 1969. One held a national consultation on social safety nets with the
of the largest undertaken by WFP in India, it increased national Government and the World Bank.
the availability of dairy products in major urban centres
by providing dried milk and butter oil. It also began India has been a donor to WFP almost since its
addressing the specific nutritional needs of India’s inception and has scaled up its donations in recent years.
vulnerable populations in the mid-1970s. Beginning in the A substantial proportion of the funds have gone to
1980s, WFP contributed to the construction of the Indira emergency assistance in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and
Gandhi Canal, which brings water to the desert areas of Yemen. In recent times, as the socioeconomic climate
North-West Rajasthan. At community level, WFP has in India has changed, WFP has evolved from providing
provided food assistance to encourage participation in direct food aid to providing technical assistance and
numerous operations supporting rural development. capacity-building services to the Government. Its focus
is on improving the functioning of the country’s food-
From the early years of the new millennium, WFP has also based social safety nets. In particular, WFP is using
worked on food security analysis and policy engagement state-of-the-art technologies to make the country’s
in India. Following establishment of a vulnerability targeted public distribution system more transparent
assessment and mapping unit in the country office in 1999, and accountable. WFP is also working to increase the
WFP supported policy engagement with both the central nutritional value of the Mid-Day Meal programme,
government and state governments. WFP’s expertise through which it provides iron-fortified rice through
enabled it to broach food security and nutrition issues with school meals to almost 100,000 children daily.
a range of partners within and outside the Government.
India is an exporter of food grains, yet many of its citizens
WFP India has also partnered with the M.S. Swaminathan don’t have sufficient access to them. Ending hunger is
Research Foundation and the Institute for Human part of SDG 2, and WFP is leading the effort to achieve
Development to produce a series of food insecurity atlases it in India. Guided by the National Food Security
of India, focusing on hunger in both rural and urban areas. Act, passed in 2013, WFP is working with the central
These reports have received widespread national attention. government and some states to support policy, planning
WFP has also been active in national and state-level policy and implementation of the campaign for a country free of
forums, participating in regional ministerial consultations hunger and malnutrition.
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WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
Taking Care
The World Health Organization, the UN’s specialized

health agency, began laying the foundations of its presence
in the South-East Asia region in the late 1940s and early
1950s. This was a period when several previously colonized
countries became independent and the health of the
citizens became a critical issue for the new governments.
The first WHO South-East Asia Regional Conference

was held in October 1948 in the office of India’s Minister of
who
Health and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru meets WHO officials at the
Nehru. Other key participants included WHO Director- fourteenth World Health Assembly in New Delhi in February 1961.
General Dr. Brock Chisholm and representatives from
Afghanistan, Burma, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Thus was
born the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office. Like External Affairs. Beginning around 2000, its mandate was
WHO internationally, the regional office’s objective was, expanded to include community health, noncommunicable
and remains, to provide technical assistance and support diseases, mental health, health systems development,
to the countries of the region in improving the health of sustainable development and healthy environment, and
their people. health action in emergencies.
The participants in that first meeting selected New Delhi In the 1970s, as the capacities and self-reliance of the countries
as the location for the office and India’s Deputy Director- in the region grew, WHO’s role evolved from providing
General of Health Services, Dr. Chandra Mani, as the technical assistance and cooperation through demonstration
first Regional Director. The meeting also resulted in the projects to training and upgrading the skills of health
approval of a concrete programme for 1949, focusing on personnel in new health care approaches. In India, WHO
such health priorities as tuberculosis (TB), maternal and has played a critical role in strategic health planning. It has
child health, nutrition and sexually transmitted diseases. also been instrumental in the country’s transition from
In the late 1980s the WHO country office for India was hospital-based to community-based care and the resultant
established through an agreement with the Ministry of increase in health posts and centres focusing on primary care.
(Left): Children are vaccinated against smallpox at school as part of

a mass immunization campaign in New Delhi.
(Below): An intensive polio immunisation drive was conducted to
reach out to populations in hard-to-reach areas like this.
WHO India has played a critical role in addressing

emergencies by leading the development of the
International Health Regulations Framework and
providing support to prevent or contain outbreaks such as
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian flu. It
who
also led UN and international support for the health sector

during the Odisha cyclone, the Gujarat earthquake and
In 1980 WHO established its Women’s Health and the Indian Ocean tsunami. The WHO India office played
Development Programme to incorporate women’s health an important role during plague outbreaks in Gujarat and
into programmes worldwide. WHO also promoted the Maharashtra in 1994 and Himachal Pradesh in 2002.
concept of integrated family health, covering maternal
and child health, nutrition, immunization and family The WHO country office has made a substantial
planning. WHO’s assistance to the maternal and child contribution to HIV/AIDS control in India, including
health, TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS control programmes by setting up antiretroviral therapy centres and supplying
helped India achieve MDG 6 and come close to achieving antiretroviral drugs. It was pivotal in pioneering the directly
Goals 4 and 5. Other important areas of engagement observed treatment, short course (DOTS) approach for
included promotion of the ‘Health for All’ strategy, TB, now used globally. WHO transformed TB control
prevention and control of new and emerging infectious in India, resulting in a substantial decline in prevalence.
diseases, and polio eradication. Since its implementation, millions of TB patients have
been treated and cured. WHO’s technical and strategic
inputs were also critical in reducing the burden of diseases
such as kala-azar and malaria.
Other contributions in India include the eradication of

smallpox and dracunculiasis; elimination of maternal and
neonatal tetanus and leprosy as public health problems;
and eradication of polio and yaws. WHO collaborated
with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in setting
up the National Tobacco Control Programme, launched in
2007. Beginning in 2012, WHO’s collaboration with India
has been entirely revamped to reflect the current context
as well as WHO reforms and global health priorities.
The restructuring is aimed at improving WHO’s ability
to achieve ambitious new goals, such as reversing the
unprecedented growth of non-communicable diseases and
fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals while also
who
achieving universal access to health care.
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62
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION,
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND AND WORLD BANK
Financing Development
International financial institutions provide mechanisms for international cooperation in managing the global financial
system, as well providing funds for development projects. These institutions include the Bretton Woods organizations,
multilateral development banks, regional development banks and bilateral arrangements.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) works to

eliminate poverty from Asia and the Pacific. As
a multilateral development bank, its mission is
to help developing Member States improve the
living conditions and quality of life of their people through
infrastructure-led growth.
Established in 1966, ADB has 67 members, 48 from the
Press Information Bureau, Government of India

region and 19 from outside. Headquartered in Manila, it
has 31 field offices, 28 across the region and 3 representative
offices, in Tokyo, Frankfurt and Washington, D.C. The
organization is committed to helping developing Member
States evolve into thriving, modern economies that are
well integrated with each other and the world.
The Bank’s strategies are investment in infrastructure,

health care services and financial and public administration
systems. It also helps nations prepare for the impact
of climate change and to better manage their natural
ADB President Takehiko Nakao meets with Prime Minister
resources. According to ADB’s Strategy 2020, 80 per Narendra Modi in New Delhi in February 2015.
cent of its operations are in five areas: infrastructure,
environment, regional cooperation and integration,
finance sector development, and education. Support for India is one of the Founding Members of ADB and now
other areas of operations – such as health, agriculture and its fourth largest shareholder. Since lending operations
disaster and emergency assistance – is selectively provided. commenced in the country in 1986, ADB has approved
The Bank’s main tools are loans, grants, policy dialogue, 240 sovereign loans amounting to $36.8 billion. As of
technical assistance and equity investments. 31 December 2015, the portfolio included 84 ongoing
sovereign loans amounting to $11.9 billion. ADB’s

India operations are guided by the country partnership
strategy, which is formulated in consultation with the
Government and other stakeholders and reflects the
development priorities highlighted in the Government’s
Five Year Plans.
During the first decade of its operations in India, ADB’s

initiatives were focused largely on national-level entities
through central public utilities in the transport and
energy sectors. Today, while continuing to support India’s
endeavours to reduce poverty through infrastructure-
led growth, ADB’s India programme has expanded its
Rakesh Sahai
sectoral, geographic and thematic coverage, in line with
the Government’s evolving priorities and increasing focus
on inclusive and sustainable growth. The Bank now has
a presence in over 20 states, and its investments in basic Children cycle down a road improved by the Prime Minister’s Rural
Roads programme. ADB has been supporting this, the Government's
infrastructure and services, such as electricity, roads and flagship initiative to improve rural connectivity, in five states.
water supply, have benefited millions of India’s people.
The transport and energy sectors have traditionally In the urban sector, ADB is currently working in around 15
attracted the bulk of ADB’s investments in India. The states, primarily on water supply and sanitation. Its future
transport programme promotes regional connectivity. It plans call for support to government initiatives such as
targets mobility in rural and urban areas by supporting Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat (Clean India Mission),
development of ports, mass transit systems and access roads in consultation with national and state governments. In
in selected economic corridors. An important example is addition to the infrastructure funded by ADB, its operations
the ADB’s support to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak have helped build institutional capacities. The Capacity
Yojana (Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Programme), Development Resource Centre established at ADB’s India
part of government efforts to connect remote villages Resident Mission in New Delhi has been a pioneering
with national highways. The Bank is also supporting the effort in this regard. So far, more than 6,000 executing
construction and improvement of about 32,000 km of agency officials have been trained in ADB procurement,
rural roads in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, consultant selection and disbursement, and safeguard
West Bengal and Odisha. procedures, in addition to project implementation.
Its energy programme continues to focus on expanding For 2016-2018, the ADB lending programme will be
access to energy by reducing losses, strengthening scaled up as it implements the country partnership strategy
infrastructure, promoting clean energy and increasing through interventions in sectors covering energy, transport,
energy efficiency. Through the Clean Energy Finance water, urban infrastructure, agriculture, natural resources
Investment Programme, ADB funds will support lending and rural development as well as in finance and education.
by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency More than 95 per cent of the lending programme will
to eligible renewable energy projects, including wind, contribute to inclusive economic growth, and 60 per cent
biomass, hydropower, solar and cogeneration technologies. will support environmental sustainability.
383
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was created

in 1956 as the private-sector investment arm of the World
Bank Group. IFC was an early champion of India’s nascent
private sector, which went on to transform the economy of
the country in the 1990s and early in the new millennium.
IFC has invested over $15 billion in India since it began
in 1959.
Kirloskar Oil Engines, Republic Forge Company and
IFC
Assam Sillimanite were among IFC’s first investments in
India in 1959 and 1960. Since then it has supported start- Robert L. Garner, IFC President (second from left) at a meeting in
New Delhi in October 1958.
ups such as Bharat Forge and Titan Watches, which grew
into global brands. Bajaj Scooters, Arvind Mills and Moser
Baer have become household names. IFC’s investments by creating a capital markets department to strengthen
also helped business giants such as Bharti, Jet Airways, local banks, stock markets and other intermediaries. Since
Tata Iron and Steel Company, and Larsen & Toubro. then, it has issued bonds in 15 local currencies, from the
IFC was a pioneer in facilitating innovative and industry- Indian rupee to the Armenian dram, Malaysian ringgit,
leading projects in India, with HDFC, FINO PayTech, Chinese renminbi, Nigerian naira and Zambian kwacha.
Ballarpur Industries Limited Power Grid, Azure, Green In 2013, IFC announced a $1 billion offshore rupee-
Infra, Technowind and Bandhan, which has grown from a linked bond programme to strengthen India’s capital
microfinance institution into a fully functioning bank. IFC markets and attract foreign investment. This was followed
currently has investments in 215 clients in the country. Its by the 10-year Masala Bond, listed on the London Stock
portfolio covers infrastructure, renewable energy, logistics, Exchange, which will mobilize international capital
financial inclusion and health care. markets to support infrastructure development in India.
IFC also launched a $2.5 billion onshore rupee financing
In 1971, when few development thinkers were focused on programme to fund infrastructure projects in India.
the roles of financial institutions, IFC broke the mould
Over 2,000 clients throughout the world have benefited
from IFC investments, which have created 2.6 million jobs
over its 60-year history. A major recent initiative is IFC’s
2003 loan of $75 million to Powerlinks Transmission
Limited, a joint-venture company, to construct
transmission lines to carry hydropower from Bhutan to
several north and east Indian states. With reliable access
IFC President Robert L. Garner (at left), meets with Indian Home
Minister Govind Ballabh Pant (right) and Lala Lakshmipat
ifc
Singhania of the JK Group in New Delhi in 1958.
384
IFC’s investments in the private sector have beneficiaries large and

small. Jamna and Ramu are two small-scale entrepreneurs who
benefited from IFC investments indirectly, showing the powerful
ripple effect of large-scale investments.
Jamna benefited from That translates
IFC’s investment to a 400 per
in Ujjivan, an urban cent increase
microfinance in business
institution with 1.1 revenue.
million customers
spread over 20 states Ramu had a
of India. She started more circuitous
a tailoring business path to success.
in Sultanpuri in New Five years ago he
ifc
Delhi 10 years ago. was unemployed,

Over time, she started a second business, spending his days idling around his village
selling cloth to the wholesale market. “I in Odisha. Then IFC funded construction of
needed working capital,” Jamna recalls, a $70 million cement plant near the village.
“so six years ago I joined an Ujjivan group Ramu’s loafing ended when he got a job
and took my first group-lending business as a manual labourer at the plant. He
loan of `8,000.” She increased her learned construction and maintenance
borrowing to expand her business over a skills, and over time he developed an
five-year period, with her fifth loan reaching entrepreneurial outlook. Today Ramu
`30,000. During that time, she says, "The owns a contracting company with 200
monthly sales from the wholesale business employees, providing workers to the
have increased from `18,000 to `91 000." cement plant and other clients.
to power, businesses have been able to increase production financing package to Yes Bank to promote women
and hire more workers. The project also made it possible entrepreneurs – IFC’s first gender-related credit line in
for land-locked Bhutan to export hydropower, boosting its South Asia.
economy. Over the 25-year period of this project it will
create around 10,000 direct and nearly 75,000 indirect IFC has a leading role in financing infrastructure
jobs in some of India’s poorest states. projects in India and advising client governments on
public-private partnerships. In 2009 it became one of
IFC plays a key role in strengthening the microfinance the earliest international financiers of renewable energy
sector in India through investments and advice, for (wind and solar) projects in India. Its client Azure Power
example, for Utkarsh Microfinance and Bandhan is now a leading player in the grid-connected solar-
Financial. IFC supported the transformation of Bandhan power sector. IFC is also supporting the government
into a universal bank (providing a wide variety of banking of Madhya Pradesh to set up the 750-MW Rewa solar
services) after it received a banking licence from the power project, which will be the largest single-site solar
Reserve Bank of India. It also provided a $150 million power project in the world.
385
The International Monetary Over the years, and reflecting shifts in the global
Fund (IMF) was conceived at the economy, the IMF’s mandate has evolved to emphasize
Bretton Woods Conference in July financial sector stability. Its main tools are: surveillance
1944. The Conference was held to and monitoring of the international monetary system, to
build a framework for economic highlight possible risks to stability and provide advice on
cooperation that would prevent needed policy adjustments; technical assistance through
the economic crises that had occurred in the past. The training and capacity-building; and lending, to provide
point of establishing the Fund was to ensure stability of member countries the breathing room to correct balance-
the international monetary system by promoting orderly of-payment deficits. The Fund has developed different
adjustments to exchange rates and eliminating exchange types of lending arrangements to address specific
rate restrictions. situations in its diverse membership. Loans are provided
at market rates for middle- and upper-income members,
India attended the Conference and was one of the while low-income nations can borrow at concessional
original members of the IMF, joining the organization on rates (presently at zero interest until the end of 2016).
27 December 1945. In the years up to 1970, India was
among its largest members, based on its quota (ownership
Manmohan Singh, then Union Minister for Finance, chats with the
share), and it was allotted a permanent place on the IMF’s Managing Director of the IMF, Michel Camdessus in New Delhi on
Executive Board of Directors. 24 October 1991, at the beginning of India’s liberalization reforms.
Photo Division, Government of India
386
The IMF underwent a major transformation with the In New Delhi, the IMF Resident Representative’s
end of the fixed exchange rate regime in 1973, popularly office is responsible for maintaining relations with the
known as the end of the Bretton Woods era. The oil Government of India and monitoring economic trends
shocks from 1974 to 1979 and the international debt and activities. From 2007 to 2012, the IMF ran a joint
crises in many developing nations in the 1980s were training programme with India at the National Institute
followed by a sharp increase in IMF lending. This helped of Bank Management in Pune to train senior civil servants
many developing nations avoid bankruptcy and disorderly on economic and other operational areas. In 2014, India
macroeconomic adjustments. requested IMF support to design the Financial Data
Management Centre, with the aim of ensuring regulators
India has benefited from conforming to international have adequate information on all players in the Indian
financial norms like the floating exchange rate system financial system. In March 2016, the Government of India
and IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard, which and the IMF agreed to establish the South Asia Regional
sets forth best practice for nations to publish their Training and Technical Assistance Centre in New Delhi,
macroeconomic data and data dissemination practices. with financial backing from Australia, the Republic of
Another advantage of IMF membership is access to Korea and other donor countries, to support capacity-
timely technical knowledge about financial markets building in the South Asia region.
and the global economy. India has also benefited from
the rupee gradually becoming a recognized currency The global financial crisis of 2008 uncovered the fragility
for importing and exporting goods and services. At the of international financial systems and reinforced the
same time, India has played a significant role in drafting importance of the IMF, for both its analytical capacities
Fund policies, drawing attention to the needs of the and its role as a backstop for global financial stability. In
developing world. April 2009, the Fund’s lending capacity was tripled to
around US$750 billion, with broad support from creditor
The IMF has assisted India’s response to its domestic countries, including India. This enabled it to provide
economic crises. In 1965, India accepted the adjustment additional financial resources to countries in need at a
measures recommended by the IMF, owing to a balance time of great crisis. Also in 2009, India contributed SDR
of payments shortfall. These measures met with strong 4.4 billion to the Fund, marking its emergence as a strong
domestic political opposition. Despite a loan of US$200 global player in the world economy.
million that would normally be tied to market-oriented
reforms, change remained elusive until the 1980s. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde visited India
in 2015 and 2016. On both occasions she met with Prime
In 1981, India obtained an IMF loan of SDR 3.9 Minister Narendra Modi and other senior officials and
billion (SDRs are the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights – delivered public lectures on India’s economic future. Along
a form of money that can be exchanged for freely usable with Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Lagarde co-
currencies). This was the largest loan in IMF history at hosted the Government of India-IMF Advancing Asia
the time. Subsequently, during India’s critical financial Conference, held in New Delhi in March 2016. The IMF
crisis in 1991-1993, the country borrowed a total of estimates that India has become the fastest-growing large
SDR 2.2 billion. Through gradual macroeconomic economy in the world in 2016. It expects that India’s role
adjustment and structural reform, India began moving as a major global economic player and shareholder in the
towards greater integration with the global economy. Fund will continue to grow in the years to come.
387
In the 1960s, when India sought to increase food

production, the World Bank Group helped set the stage
for the Green Revolution by providing agricultural credit
and subsidizing imports of agricultural inputs, among
The World Bank concept was conceived at the 1944 other actions. This transformed the nation from a recipient
Bretton Woods Conference, and it was the Indian of grain imports to a global agricultural powerhouse.
delegation that suggested the name: the International When India was focused on reducing poverty in the
Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This is now 1970s, the World Bank Group intensified its assistance for
the name of a major arm of the World Bank Group. agriculture and expanded its programmes benefiting poor
people. The World Bank also took part in one of India’s
The World Bank Group has a long and enduring most extraordinary successes: the White Revolution, or
partnership with India. Its New Delhi office, established Operation Flood. Over a span of just 25 years, India, a
in 1957, is the Group’s oldest continuously functioning chronically milk-deficient country, became one of the
country office. Over the years, the World Bank Group largest producers of milk and milk products in the world.
has stood side by side with India, aligning its strategies
with the country’s own goals for growth and development. In the 1980s, when India intensified its search for
In the first decade after India’s independence, the Group petroleum, the Group helped construct oil and natural gas
partnered with the fledgling nation to lay the foundations facilities at the Bombay High Oilfield and assisted the Oil
of a modern industrial state. In fact, the Bank’s first loan and Natural Gas Commission in exploring for hydrocarbon
to India came as early as 1949, to refurbish the Indian reserves in the Krishna-Godavari basin. It also supported
Railways. During these early years, World Bank projects the establishment of Powergrid, a major public enterprise
helped build the country’s core infrastructure. that now manages one of the largest power transmission
networks in the world.
Beneficiaries of the World Bank’s loan for the production of high yielding
With the economic reforms of the 1990s, the World
food grain seeds prepare seed beds with a tractor and plough the soil at
the experimental farm of the Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University in Bank Group worked with India to further expand its
Pantnagar in June 1969. infrastructure. It also increased support for human
Dilip Banerjee
UN Photo
388
Pallon Daruwala
Dilip Banerjee
development by helping tackle diseases and promoting (Left): An IFC loan of $152 million is supporting infrastructure
child survival and safe motherhood programmes. Projects development at Pipavav Port in Gujarat.
(Right): The World Bank has introduced information and
also worked to raise agricultural productivity and bring communication technology innovations to monitor municipal and
much-needed water supplies to village households. In the health services as well as rural water supply and sanitation.
first decade of the new millennium, the Group helped
expand access to education by supporting the country’s
flagship Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) and road transportation in the traffic-choked mega-city
initiative, which has brought nearly 20 million out-of- of Mumbai. Over the years, the Group has also helped
school children into primary school. the Government respond to natural disasters, such as the
Gujarat earthquake and the 2004 tsunami.
At the same time, it worked with the Government to
expand the national highway network and improve rural As India strives to meet the aspirations of its 1 billion-
road connectivity. Help was also given to upgrade rail plus people, the World Bank is helping the country
implement a number of transformational programmes.
These include development of the eastern dedicated
A boat transports people on the Ganga at Varanasi in 2007. The
World Bank is supporting India's efforts to clean up this iconic river. freight corridor, which will carry freight at high speeds in
an environmentally friendly manner along a key transport
artery. The Group is supporting the rejuvenation of the
Ganga and the country’s ambitious programme to revive
inland waterways, as well as helping to build skills, create
smart cities, ramp up rural sanitation and make power
accessible to all of India’s people.
Since the World Bank first began work in India, the

Group has undertaken more than 700 projects across a
range of sectors with a combined worth of around $120
billion. Today, more than 85 projects are active in the
country, valued at over $27 billion. Yet, as significant as
World Bank investments have been to India’s growth over
the decades, the Bank remains a small player in India’s
trillion-dollar economy.
389
Since
the inception of the United Nations, India
has been committed to the principles
and objectives of the Charter … On this
historic occasion (50th session) we pledge
our continuing commitment to the United
Nations efforts to chart a new course for the
collective benefit of all humanity.
Pr anab Mukherjee
Min ister o f E x t e rn a l A f f a irs , G o v e rn me n t o f I n d ia
29 September 1995
UN Organizations
India from Afar
391
63
UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
Transcending Trade
The United Nations Conference on Trade initiative, least developed countries had a prominent place
and Development was formed in 1964 to in the discourse. In 1971 a separate category was created
address the inequities of the world order for these nations, entitling them to special measures and
into which States had emerged when they treatment. India was a champion of the developing world
won their independence. As the developing in efforts to realize a new international economic order in
nations realized that the Bretton Woods institutions the area of trade and development. It was instrumental in
would not be able to sufficiently reflect their concerns, working with UNCTAD for the introduction of Part IV
UNCTAD became the key platform for alternative on ‘Trade and Development’ into the General Agreement
negotiations around trade and development. With 13 on Tariffs and Trade in 1965.
Conferences over the years, the institution has now grown
into a permanent intergovernmental forum with 194 By the 1980s, economic thinking had evolved
members, advocating balanced growth through trade. significantly, with development strategies focusing on
market orientation, trade liberalization and privatization.
India’s consistently strong voice for the developing world Yet, despite structural adjustment programmes, many
has made it a major player with UNCTAD, spanning a developing nations, including India, plunged into debt
multiplicity of economic reforms. This led to the choice crises. As a result the 1980s were referred to as the ‘lost
of New Delhi for UNCTAD II in 1968. It was at this decade’ of development. Liberalization in the early 1990s
Conference that the Generalized System of Preferences put India on a more stable growth path and the country
resolution was passed, providing for reduced or zero tariffs continued to provide strong support to UNCTAD.
on selected products from developing nations. At India’s
Meanwhile, UNCTAD played a key role in supporting
developing countries, including India, in building
awareness of the crucial role of services in development
Indian development economist Rangaswami
and in the negotiations for the General Agreement
Krishnamurti was noted for his work leading to the
establishment of the Economic Commission for Asia and on Trade in Services (GATS). This made a major
Far East and the Asian Development Bank. As a result, contribution to the development-friendly architecture
he was invited to join the UNCTAD team. He helped of the GATS. India was among the foremost supporters
establish it as an organization in 1964 and quickly rose to of labour mobility, through the ‘temporary movement
become Director of the Manufactures Division. Later he of natural persons’, as one of the methods of trading
was Chef de Cabinet of Secretary-General U Thant and services. Beneficial for developing countries that largely
eventually he became head of the UNCTAD office at
had labour-surplus and capital-deficit economies, this
UN Headquarters.
became one of the four recognized modes of service
supply under GATS.
UN Photo/PR
UNCTAD worked at great length to support At the opening of UNCTAD's second session, on 1 February 1968 in
improvements to the developing world’s productive New Delhi, UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social
Affairs Phlippe de Seynes reads a message from Secretary-General
capacity and export competitiveness. It prepared a U Thant. Near him on the dais are A.M. El Kaissouni, Head of
comprehensive toolkit to enhance policies, regulations the United Arab Republic delegation and President of the 1964
and institutions to help countries harness the benefits UNCTAD Convention; Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi;
of services. This focus is extremely relevant for countries and UNCTAD Secretary-General Raul Prebisch. Attending the
session were 1,400 representatives of 132 Member States.
such as India, where services represent more than half of
GDP and over 30 per cent of exports.
research and analysis of trade and development issues;
In 1993 UNCTAD absorbed the UN Centre on and technical assistance and capacity-building. UNCTAD
Transnational Corporations, expanding its work on has since diversified the nature of its reports to support
international investment issues. In 1994 it began policymakers with a contemporary focus on technology
producing the World Investment Report, which focuses and enterprise development, including in India.
on trends in foreign direct investment and its contribution
to development, alongside its flagship Trade and The financial crisis of 2008 suggested the need once
Development Report. After the formation of the World again for a more measured and balanced approach to
Trade Organization in 1995 – which succeeded the investment, trade and development. UNCTAD took
GATT and resulted from UNCTAD’s consensus-building the opportunity to shape these growing forces. It did
and negotiation support – the role of negotiating trade so by building knowledge through extensive research
agreements was broadly passed on to this forum. and analysis assessing the impact of the crisis in
various fields, and offering alternative paths forward.
UNCTAD continues to provide comprehensive support to India, as it transitions up from a lower-middle-income
developing countries on trade negotiations and trade policy economy, has the opportunity to once again take a
and development. It also has begun promoting policy leadership role within the organization, shaping ideas of
dialogue and intergovernmental consensus-building; development worldwide.
393
64
UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME
Sustaining the Planet

Links between India and the United It has 193 Member States, as well as Observer States and
Nations Environment Programme date other stakeholders. The Environment Assembly gives the
back to the renowned speech by Prime environment the same level of global prominence as issues
Minister Indira Gandhi at the 1972 UN such as peace, poverty and health.
Conference on the Human Environment
in Stockholm. It was there that she made her famous UNEP’s work focuses on seven thematic priorities: climate
comment “poverty is the greatest polluter”. UNEP was change, disasters and conflict, environment under review,
established following that landmark Conference. ecosystem management, environmental governance,
chemicals and waste, and resource efficiency. UNEP
UNEP is the leading global environmental authority and collaborates with the Government of India through the
the environmental voice of the UN. Every aspect of its Ministry of Environment and Forests and other partners
work feeds into the global sustainable development agenda, to address the country’s environmental challenges.
bolstered by partnerships across the UN system, its Member
States, intergovernmental organizations, civil society and The organization has provided technical assistance to India
the private sector. UNEP operates in 41 countries in Asia- to meet its commitments under the Montreal Protocol on
Pacific through its regional office in Bangkok. Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. It has also assisted
India and other South Asian countries to address regional
A new governing body, the United Nations Environment air pollution through intergovernmental cooperation,
Assembly, was established in 2013 by the General development of science and capacity, and demonstration of
Assembly following calls for UNEP to be strengthened. on-the-ground measures to reduce emissions.
India’s first State of the Environment report was produced

Kuntal Kumar Roy
in 2001 with UNEP’s support. It addressed building the

capacity of officials and stakeholders in the approach and
methodology used by UNEP in its Global Environmental
Outlook assessments. In 2005, the Government
mainstreamed its State of the Environment reporting
into national planning and budgeting. These actions
set the stage for environmental collaborations, such as
Living conditions in a remote village in India are enriched with

renewable solar energy, supported by UNEP.
a partnership between the UNEP Global Environment

Facility and Jawaharlal Nehru University to implement a
project on conservation and sustainable management of
Somenath Mukhopadhyay
below-ground biodiversity that ran till 2010.
Another example is the 2003 establishment of a consumer

credit market to finance solar home energy systems in
South India, where the conventional electricity grid was
absent or unreliable. It resulted from a partnership between
UNEP and the UN Foundation, Shell Foundation, UNEP Climate change and unsustainable practices dry out water bodies, so
women like these in West Bengal, carrying their fishing nets along the
Rise Centre and two of India’s largest banking groups. dry riverbed, end their day with little or no catch at all.
Referred to as the ‘Solar Loan Programme’, it helped
provide clean energy to more than 18,000 households
through solar photovoltaic systems, and was honoured 2010 initiative served as a platform to coordinate national
with the prestigious Energy Globe award. policies and build capacities of cities to lower carbon
dioxide emissions. Partners included UNEP’s Transport
UNEP also worked with the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Unit and the UNEP Risoe Centre, the Indian Institute
Environment and Development on the conservation and of Management in Ahmedabad, the Indian Institute of
management of pollinators for sustainable agriculture. This Technology in Delhi and the Centre for Environmental
initiative led to the development of pollination management Planning and Technology University in Ahmedabad.
plans for buckwheat, mustard, cardamom and apple in close
consultation with communities in India. The organization A UNEP-Global Environment Facility project on
has also worked to advance sustainable consumption conservation and sustainable use of cultivated and wild
and production in India since 2006, when the first India tropical fruits was implemented in India from 2008 to
roundtable on sustainable consumption and production 2013. Its objective was to promote sustainable livelihoods
was held in Mumbai. Following two more roundtables, in and food security, and to preserve and measure ecosystems
2007 and 2010, Indian policymakers and other stakeholders and the services they provide (such as preventing
increased their participation in the Marrakech Process (in greenhouse gas emissions). UNEP also collaborates
support of sustainable consumption and production) and with the secretariats of the South Asia Cooperative
its task forces, and in other regional training on sustainable Environment Programme and SAARC to assist its
public procurement and cleaner production. Member States, including India, in building capacity
to address transboundary environmental issues. As UN
National partnerships with key institutions such as the Member States come together to implement the post-2015
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce were sustainable development agenda, UNEP will continue to
developed as a result of greater national engagement on support India’s initiatives for environmental sustainability.
sustainable consumption and production with UNEP.
In 2009, UNEP supported India in a rural black carbon World Environment Day is the United Nations’ principal
and cook stoves demonstration project. With The Energy vehicle for encouraging global environmental awareness
Resource Institute as the implementing agency, the pilot and action. It galvanizes individual action on behalf of the
phase (2009-2013) benefited 500 households with a total environment into a collective global benefit for the planet.
of 2,500 people in a village in India. Another UNEP- In 2011, India hosted the global celebration for the thirty-
supported project promoted low-carbon transport. This ninth World Environment Day.
395
65
NON-RESIDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Blue Beyond Borders

WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) was established as a UN specialized agency in 1967 to promote invention and
creativity for the economic, social and cultural development of all countries. Based in Geneva, it promotes a fair and effective international
intellectual property system. India became a member of WIPO in 1975 and has since ratified many of its treaties. India was the first to ratify
the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.
Here, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, Dilip Sinha, presents India’s
instrument of treaty ratification to Director-General Francis Gurry in Geneva on 30 June 2014.
UNIC/S. Manaktala
UNIC/S. Manaktala
The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has served as the primary The International Trade Centre (ITC), founded in 1964 and
forum for cooperation in the postal sector since 1874. It became a UN based in Geneva, helps developing and transition economies to
specialized agency in 1948. The organization fulfils an advisory, promote their exports. Its office in India has published many
mediating and liaison role, including by making recommendations specialized publications concerned with trade issues catering to
to stimulate growth and improve customer service. The UN Postal businesspeople, policymakers, academics and others. A selection from
Administration, set up in 1951, is also represented in the UPU, the UNIC Library in New Delhi is shown here.
bringing out stamps, such as those depicted here, to commemorate
important events. India, which has been a member since 1876, also
regularly participates in the annual letter-writing competition
organized by UPU for the last 45 years. As a way to encourage
literacy in children under the age of 15, the UPU announces a new
theme every year on which letters are written and posted to the
International Bureau. UPU is based in Bern, Switzerland.
IMO
IMO
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), based in London since 1959, provides machinery for cooperation among governments in the
field of governmental regulation and practices relating to shipping in international trade. IMO encourages adoption of the highest practicable
standards in matters concerning maritime safety, efficiency of navigation, and prevention and control of marine pollution from ships. India has
been a member of the IMO Council since its establishment in 1959. (Left): Shown here is C.P. Srivastava, Secretary-General of the IMO from
1974 through 1989. (Right): In November 2016, Captain Radhika Menon became the first female captain in the Indian Merchant Navy and
the first woman to receive the IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea, for saving the lives of seven fisherman.
397
WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed in 1995 to facilitate greater coherence in global economic policymaking and to provide
a dispute resolution forum for trade-related issues. As one of its Founding Members, India has played a major role in formulation of trade
policies, with a special focus on the developing world. It has resolved various trade disputes through the WTO, based in Geneva. At the
January 2014 Partnership Summit, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Bengaluru, Director-General Roberto Azevedo is
seen with Anand Sharma, Indian Union Cabinet Minister for Commerce and Industry; Mustapa Bin Mohammed, Malaysia’s Minister of
International Trade & Industry; Dhruv M. Sawhney, former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry; S. Iswaran, Minister in the
Prime Minister’s Office; and Willam Danvers, Deputy Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Ambassador
Anjali Prasad
(right), Permanent
Representative ofIndia
to the WTO,during
trade negotiations in
WTO
Geneva in 2014.
398
Communication Multimedia and Infrastructure Association of India
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), based in Geneva, was created to help emerging countries
establish and develop telecommunication systems. When ITU celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1965, the
Government of India released the stamp shown above. Today, ITU remains the key forum for governments and
private sector organizations to create policy around traditional and new forms of media, including Information
and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet. The 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference at
Busan, Republic of Korea, addressed six major radiocommunication issues, including capacity-building in
developing nations. Seen in the picture is the Indian delegation, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of
Communications and Information Technology (seated, third from right).
399
ICAO
ICAO
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), headquartered in Montreal, serves as a forum for cooperation
to promote the safe and orderly development of civil aviation worldwide, as well as international air transport standards
and regulations. Shown here is the Indian delegation to the first ICAO General Assembly in 1947, which included (left to
right) K.M. Raha, B.M. Gupta and M.G. Pradman. India’s relationship with ICAO and adherence to its standards have
been strong since ICAO’s establishment. At right, Nasim Zaidi, representative of India on the ICAO Council, presents the
country’s instrument of accession to the Montreal Convention of 1999 to Denys Wibaux, ICAO Director of Legal Affairs
and External Relations,in Montreal on 1 May 2009.
Brookings India
UNU
The United Nations University was established by the General Assembly in 1973 as an international institution of higher education
for peace, building sustainability through collaborative research and education. It is based in Tokyo and has 12 locations around the
world. The Rector of the University is an Under-Secretary-General of the UN and the highest-ranking UN official in Asia. As academic
research quality has improved in India, its relationship with the University has strengthened. (Left): S.P. Thyagarajan, Vice Chancellor
of the University of Madras and UN University Senior Vice Rector, Ramesh Thakur (left), during the signing of a memorandum of
understanding for a new peace centre in Chennai. (Right): UNU Rector David Malone during a roundtable discussion in New Delhi
flanked by Ambassador Shyam Saran and W.P.S. Sidhu.
400
The University for

Peace in Costa Rica
was established as a
treaty organization with
its own Charter in an
international agreement
adopted by the General
Assembly in 1980. Like
the UN University it
works to promote the
spirit of understanding,
tolerance and peaceful
coexistence among all
people. India is a party
to the agreement, and
the University houses an
inspirational statue of
UPEACE
Mahatma Gandhi on
its campus.
Hindustan Times
PIB
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), formed as a specialized UN agency in 1957 and headquartered in Vienna, assists
States in planning and using nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. It develops nuclear safety standards to achieve and maintain
security and protect human health. As a Founding Member of the agency, India has acceded to most IAEA safeguards despite being outside
the Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Left): IAEA Chief Yukiya Amano meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 27 March
2015. (Right): Former IAEA Chief Mohamed El Baradei chats with Atomic Energy Commission Chief Anil Kakodkar during a visit to
Mumbai on 9 October 2007.
401
The UN Office for Project Services

(UNOPS) was set up in 1974 as
the operational arm of the UN for
implementation of projects for the UN
system. It also implements projects for
international financial institutions,
and at times for governments and other
partner organizations, by assisting in
project management, infrastructure
and procurement. UNOPS offers the
advantages of specialization, knowledge
and transparent operations. In the
picture, officials from UNOPS meet
with Alok Sinha, Chairman of the
Airports Authority of India, for a project
on training the civil aviation personnel
UNOPS
of Afghanistan.
UNOCHA
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), part of the United Nations Secretariat,
is responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to disasters. Formerly the
Office of the UN Disaster Relief Coordinator, it works to prevent overlapping or conflicting efforts among the
many actors involved in humanitarian assistance, such as local and international NGOs and donors.OCHA
is based in Geneva. While it has never had a formal office in India, it has staged short-term interventions to
support the Government in disaster relief coordination, notably during the Odisha cyclone and the Gujarat
earthquake. Seen here is the UN On site Operations Coordination Centre, operating from a tent in Bhuj in
2001, in close cooperation with the Government.
402
UN Organizations
Beyond Development
403
66
UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION CENTRE FOR INDIA AND BHUTAN
Promoting UN Values
The United Nations Information
Centres (UNICs) were set up
under the UN Department of 1959
Public Information in 10 key
countries, as recommended by a preparatory commission
in 1946. What is now the Information Centre for India
and Bhutan was the first agency of the United Nations
to be established in India, serving India and the countries
then known as Burma and Ceylon. It opened in New 1977
Delhi in January 1947, seven months before the country

attained independence. It remained the sole face of the
UN in India until the establishment of UNICEF in 1949.
1981
Representing the UN Secretariat, UNIC serves as the
information hub for the UN system, building awareness
of the United Nations and promoting its values of peace,
development and human rights. The UNIC Director is
1993
the spokesperson for the United Nations and represents
the Secretary-General at important occasions and events.
Before the advent of electronic access to information,
scholars, journalists, representatives of NGOs and 2002
individuals interested in the UN would turn to UNIC as
their first resource, and it remains an important resource
for them.
Today as then, UNIC cooperates closely with UN 2010
agencies resident in India. It serves as a centre for

information on the activities of the larger UN system for all
stakeholders. UNIC is situated as a point of convergence
and channel of information between UN Headquarters
in New York, the Permanent Mission of India in New
York, the Ministry of External Affairs and other key 2015
institutions. In addition to keeping the Government The evolution of the UNIC newsletter, 'UNews'.
and the public informed about the workings of the UN,

it provides information to UN Headquarters about the
socioeconomic and political realities of the country.
UNIC leads the UN Communication Group and

conveys the group’s strategy and advice to the UN
country team. It also works closely with the UN Resident
Coordinator. UNIC collaborates with partners such as
Courtesy: b. patel
embassies, schools and cultural centres to commemorate
important dates observed by the UN, such as UN Day,
International Human Rights Day, International Women’s
Day, World Water Day, International Youth Day,
UNIC Director Bhaichand Patel (right) meets the King of Bhutan,
International Day of Older Persons and International Day
Jigme Singye Wangchuk, along with UN Under-Secretary-General
for Persons with Disabilities. J. Verner Reed in Thimphu in 1991.
Since its inception, UNIC has produced a newsletter

that reports on the work of the UN and its agencies. organs, UN agency flagship reports, recent and periodic UN
The first newsletter addressed reconstruction after the documents, books, newsletters and audiovisual materials
Second World War and the independence of newly about the UN. Many of the materials about the India-
decolonized countries. As the number of UN agencies in UN relationship published in India have been written
India increased over the years, the newsletter evolved from by this office. The UNIC Library is also linked to the 16
its role of bringing global events to local populations to depository libraries supported by the Dag Hammarskjöld
promoting the work and activities of the UN in India. The Library at UN Headquarters. It also contributes to over 20
publication has grown from a manually typeset single sheet new reading rooms across India and Bhutan established
of paper printed weekly in black and white to its current over the last five years, as discussed in chapter 40.
form – a detailed monthly booklet in English and Hindi,
published both electronically and in hard copy, covering The UNIC website was set up in 2005 to expand access
local and global events. UNIC also supplies multimedia to information about the activities of the UN. Along with
material from DPI to local broadcasters, such as All India the social media channels, the website is a repository of
Radio and Doordarshan, often in multiple languages, information about the UN’s work globally and locally. It
including English, Hindi and Bengali. covers visits by the Secretary-General, updates on regular
events and Model UN collaboration. A complete archive
With the advent of the Internet, UNIC transferred of e-newsletters from 2005 onwards is also available.
its historic archive of films and audiovisual tapes to
Doordarshan, which is currently digitizing this valuable UNIC has travelled a long journey in India, growing in
UN product. To further increase outreach among local its efforts to promote UN values, principles and actions.
audiences, UNIC publishes vernacular translations of With its wide physical as well as virtual presence today,
UN documents such as the Charter and the Universal UNIC reaches out to more people than ever before. UNIC
Declaration of Human Rights. identifies deeply with its slogan ‘UN-India Connect’,
which is also another interpretation of its acronym, UNIC.
For decades, the UNIC Interagency Library was the only Its staff look forward to continued growth and deeper
source in India for official records of the six main UN engagement during the coming years.
405
67
UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
Protecting Refugees
with adoption of the Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees (1951 Convention) – the legal foundation for
helping refugees and the basic statute guiding UNHCR’s
work. Today, UNHCR helps over 50 million refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for worldwide, working in 126 countries with more than 9,000
Refugees was established on 14 December 1950 by the
General Assembly to assist those displaced in the wake of Bengali refugees arrive in Salt Lake, near Kolkata, West Bengal,
the Second World War. This was followed one year later in 1971.
UNHCR
staff members, and is evolving into a major humanitarian

actor. The agency has twice received the Nobel Peace
Prize, in 1954 and 1981.
At the request of governments, UNHCR also offers its

expertise to help people internally displaced in their own
countries as well as stateless people, an often overlooked
group of people in danger of being denied their basic
human rights.
India has a proud tradition of helping those who seek

help. It has welcomed refugees for centuries, from Jews
in Cochin, to Parsis in Gujarat to Armenians in Kolkata.
The concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole
UNHCR
world is one family) guides India’s generous approach
to refugees. In 1959, India welcomed the first group of
UNHCR staff meet with Afghan refugees in New Delhi in
Tibetan refugees under the leadership of His Holiness the September 2014. Many families fled the violence together.
Dalai Lama. The Tibetans established their Government-
in-exile in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. In the 1960s,
UNHCR provided assistance to Tibetan refugees through receive welfare support from the Government. UNHCR
the League of Red Cross Societies and the Common has a small operational presence in Chennai to facilitate
Project of the European Refugee Campaign. They received the voluntary return of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. In
assistance in health, housing, industrial employment and coordination with its office in Sri Lanka, UNHCR verifies
agriculture. Today, more than 100,000 Tibetans are living that refugees return voluntarily and in safety and dignity.
and working in India. Between 2002 and 2013, UNHCR assisted more than
12,000 refugees to return to their homes in Sri Lanka, and
Following the mass influx of Bengali refugees from East there is hope that many of the remaining Tamil refugees
Pakistan in 1971, the UN Secretary-General, U Thant, will also opt to return in the future.
designated the High Commissioner for Refugees, Prince
Sadruddin Aga Khan, as the focal point for assistance. India has been a member of UNHCR’s governing body,
Between 1969 and 1975, UNHCR maintained a the Executive Committee, since 1995. The Committee
presence in India to coordinate assistance to Tibetan and reviews and approves the agency’s programmes and budget,
Bengali refugees. It was primarily disbursed through the advises on international protection and discusses refugee
Government as humanitarian aid and, later, in support of issues with UNHCR and its partners. Today, UNHCR
refugee repatriation. has 72 staff working in India. Over the years, many Indian
nationals have contributed to UNHCR’s work globally
After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a large group of and have assumed important positions of responsibility
Afghan refugees arrived in India in 1980-1981, leading within the organization, as well as in other UN agencies.
UNHCR to reopen its office in New Delhi. In the 1980s India is also a major procurement partner for UNHCR.
the civil war in Sri Lanka generated several waves of Tamil Over the past three years it has provided more than $100
refugees who found shelter in the state of Tamil Nadu. million worth of humanitarian relief items for distribution
Some 67,000 Tamils still reside in refugee camps there and to refugee emergency situations across the globe.
407
68
UNITED NATIONS MILITARY OBSERVER GROUP IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
Maintaining Peace
The United Nations Military and military observers were deployed. On 27 July 1949,
Observer Group in India and Pakistan under the auspices of UNCIP, India and Pakistan signed
(UNMOGIP), the second oldest among the Karachi Agreement, which defined the ceasefire line
the UN peacekeeping operations, has between India Administered Kashmir and Pakistan
its origin in the conflict between India Administered Kashmir.
and Pakistan over the former Princely State of Jammu
and Kashmir. It exists to supervise the ceasefire between On 14 March 1950, the Security Council adopted
India and Pakistan in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, resolution 80 (1950), terminating UNCIP. At the same
and has been called upon to do so in its various forms time, a UN Representative for India and Pakistan was
over the years. appointed and a Chief Military Observer was nominated
by the Secretary-General. Subsequently, by resolution 91
On 15 January 1949, following the first war between India (1951) of 30 March 1951, the Security Council decided
and Pakistan, the Military Adviser of the United Nations that UNMOGIP should continue to supervise the
Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) presented ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir.
a plan to both countries, based on Security Council
resolution 47 (1948), for the organization and deployment
The UNMOGIP team with the Chief of Army Staff of India, Gen.
of UN military observers to assist UNCIP in maintaining P.P. Kumaramangalam, Distinguished Service Order, (fourth from
peace in the conflicted area. This plan was accepted right) and his team in Srinagar in 1968.
UNMOGIP
When war broke out again in August 1965, the Security

Council called for a ceasefire, asking the two Governments
to cooperate fully with UNMOGIP. On 20 September,
the Security Council adopted resolution 211 (1965) by
which it demanded a ceasefire and called for a subsequent
withdrawal of all armed personnel. UNMOGIP’s strength
was increased and the United Nations India-Pakistan
Observation Mission (UNIPOM) was created. On
10 January 1966, India and Pakistan agreed to withdraw
all armed forces to positions held before 5 August 1965.
On 26 February 1966, on the basis of UNMOGIP and

UNIPOM information, the Secretary-General reported
UNMOGIP
that the withdrawal had been completed on schedule and in
all respects. UNIPOM was terminated while UNMOGIP
The UNMOGIP office in Srinagar is the headquarters of the
continued to function on the basis of the Karachi Agreement.
mission from May to October every year.
In the summer of 1971, tension between India and Pakistan
mounted again in what was then East Pakistan. On
20 July 1971, the Secretary-General submitted a pertaining to the observance of the 17 December 1971
memorandum to the Security Council drawing attention ceasefire. UNMOGIP headquarters is located in Srinagar
to the deteriorating situation in the subcontinent. from May to October and in Islamabad from November
to April. It directs and controls the activities of field
On 7 December, the UN General Assembly adopted stations and reports regularly to the UN. An Indian Army
resolution 2793 (XXVI) calling upon India and Pakistan to Liaison Officer is located in Srinagar headquarters and his
take all measures for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal counterpart, a Pakistani Army Liaison Officer, is affiliated
of their armed forces. Hostilities ceased on 17 December. with the Islamabad headquarters. As of March 2016, 10
The Security Council adopted resolution 307 (1971) on countries – Chile, Croatia, Finland, Ghana, Philippines,
21 December, demanding that a durable ceasefire remain Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and
in effect in all areas of conflict until the armed forces had Uruguay – contribute military personnel to UNMOGIP,
withdrawn to their respective territories and positions, including a total of 44 military observers.
which fully respected the 1949 ceasefire line in Jammu and
Kashmir supervised by UNMOGIP. In July 1972, India UNMOGIP deploys military observers in UN field
and Pakistan met in Shimla and agreed on the Line of stations on both sides of the Line of Control and Working
Control, which followed the same course as the ceasefire Boundary. They maintain observation posts and conduct
line established in the 1949 Karachi Agreement, with minor field trips and area reconnaissance and investigate
deviations. However, the positions of India and Pakistan on complaints of ceasefire violations and Working Boundary
the functioning of UNMOGIP remained unchanged. incidents. Difficult terrain, adverse climatic conditions and
the remote location are among the challenges the military
UNMOGIP reports to the Secretary-General through observers face. The Indian and Pakistani armies provide
the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. It is headed the premises for the field stations as well as drivers and
by a Chief Military Observer who is also the Head of security for headquarters, field stations and mobile teams.
Mission. Its task is to observe and report on developments The mission is financed from the regular UN budget.
409
69
UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME
Promoting Security
Headquartered in Vienna, UNODC operates in all regions
of the world through an extensive network of field offices.
The regional office for South Asia, established in 1987,
is in New Delhi and covers Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime was the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It works closely with
established in 1997 when the United Nations Drug governments to promote justice, health and security in
Control Programme was merged with the Centre for South Asia.
International Crime Prevention. It assists Member States
in fighting illicit drugs, crime and terrorism. This mandate UNODC has worked in India over the last 25 years to
is enshrined in the three UN conventions on drug control, address drug trafficking in the context of a constantly
the Convention against Corruption and the Convention evolving drug market, involving an increasing number of
against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols
Thereto, the Universal Instruments against Terrorism,
To mark World AIDS Day in 2014, the Executive Director of
and the United Nations standards and norms in crime
UNODC, Yury Fedotov (centre), attended a football match at the
prevention and criminal justice. Jesus and Mary College Soccer Ground in New Delhi. The teams
were made up of drug users and people living with HIV.
UNODC
UNODC
UNODC
drugs and psychoactive substances. It developed computer- (Left): UNODC organized a national consultation in New Delhi
based training on drug law enforcement for customs and in October 2012 to develop guidelines for setting up a victim
assistance and protection mechanism for trafficked survivors.
drug law enforcement agencies. In an effort to bridge the (Right): A drug user receives free medicine at the National Drug
knowledge gap and provide crucial data, UNODC has Dependence Treatment Centre in Ghaziabad in April 2003.
introduced good practice guides, manuals, toolkits and
studies, including the UNODC World Drug Report.
This annual report provides a global overview of the latest and civil society but also within the UN family. As part
drug trafficking trends and includes a tool to analyse their of a joint UN initiative in North-East India, it supported
potential impact on India. programmes providing female drug users with access
to drug treatment while establishing HIV-prevention
UNODC has been working with the Government to curb services, starting in 2006.
human trafficking in India. It has provided training to
judges, prosecutors and other law enforcement officials on As part of its advocacy, in recent years the Office has
criminal justice topics in the context of the universal legal organized panel discussions, theatre and football matches
framework against terrorism. It has also raised awareness to bring together parliamentarians, government officials,
on the relevance and importance of the Convention against the media and the general public with members of the
Corruption, as well as on tools to apply it. drug-using community to encourage understanding and
compassion. UNODC also uses social media to reach people
Over the last 20 years UNODC has been involved with everywhere. In 2014, it commemorated the first World Day
prevention, treatment and care for persons who use against Trafficking in Persons (30 July) through the online
drugs and who live with HIV. It has also worked on #igivehope campaign. Millions of people participated in this
HIV prevention in prisons. A landmark achievement global campaign, sharing pictures on Facebook and Twitter
was implementation of the opioid substitution treatment of themselves with a graphic heart – an internationally
programme in Tihar prison in New Delhi, the largest recognized symbol of love, care and friendship.
prison complex in South Asia. It is the only prison in India
that offers such treatment to drug-dependent prisoners. After 25 years of work in India, UNODC understands
India’s context and needs. It will continue to work to develop
UNODC has always sought to build partnerships and sustainable programmes and partnerships to address the
enhance cooperation, not only with the Government risks posed by drugs, crime, corruption and terrorism.
411
70
UN STAFF ASSOCIATIONS
Supporting the Staff

Around the world, the United Nations The first Federation of United Nations Staff Associations
comprises six main organs and over 30 (FUNSA) was created in 1971 in India. It is headquartered
funds, programmes, specialized agencies at the WHO office in New Delhi and its first President,
and other organizations. It employs R.L. Rai, was an employee of WHO. In 2004, he was
44,000 staff members in the Secretariat at succeeded by Amrita Mehrotra of ILO. FUNSA draws
Headquarters and 225,000 in agencies and field offices. together the local staff associations representing the staff
As at any other organization, at the United Nations the of ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, UNHCR, UNIC,
staff is the backbone. Staff members are represented by UNICEF, the United Nations Department of Safety and
numerous employee associations, including unions, spousal Security, UNODC, UNOPS, UN-Women, WFP and
associations, retiree groups and the United Nations Joint WHO. Some UN agencies (such as FAO and UNESCO)
Staff Pension Fund. UN staff regulations allow a duty have staff associations that are not a part of FUNSA.
station or a group of stations to form representative bodies. FUNSA is represented internationally through the
The regulations also define the role of these bodies, the Federation of International Civil Servants Associations.
election of their officers, their human resource policies and This permanent body is comprised of a six-member
how they should make proposals to the UN Secretary- elected executive committee and nine representatives from
General on behalf of their staff. the individual staff associations it represents.
FUNSA provides a platform for collective handling of

issues relating to staff welfare and serves as a watchdog for
the UN staff associations in India. The body meets formally
twice a year and conducts workshops every two years to
formulate its policies and address issues of concern. It also
provides assistance to the staff associations as required. UN
staff salaries are the primary issue taken up by FUNSA. In
this regard, it facilitates the comprehensive salary survey,
conducted every five years through the International Civil
Service Commission. FUNSA also takes up issues such as
employee benefits and organizational restructuring.
A street play by Manch theatre troupe was organized by UNIC and

FUNSA at the UN lawns in New Delhi on Human Rights Day in
2014. It was meant to create awareness of human rights concerns
UNIC
among UN staff in India.

UNPA UNWA
The UN Women’s Association (UNWA), a branch of the (Above) In a kindergarten exchange organized by UNWA, children
UN Women’s Guild, was initially set up to assist spouses from the UNWA-supported kindergarten in Bhogal visit the
American Embassy School in New Delhi in 2014. The visit allowed
of expatriate employees in Delhi. In 1965, 10 spouses were children of different backgrounds to interact.
moved by the poverty they observed around them and (Left) The 2015 annual general meting of the UN Pensioners’
sought an independent way to help. The result was the Association of India, held at UN House in New Delhi. (Left
UNWA kindergarten, set up in a boys’ school in Bhogal, to right): J.K. Batra and D.K. Bose, members of the executive
committee, J.P. Aggarwal, President, and R.C. Sawhney, Treasurer.
a low-income area of Delhi. The kindergarten operates
at international standard while also teaching the local
curriculum and integrating with local primary schools. charitable work, it advocates with the UN mission
It offers Mid-Day Meals, an annual health check-up, regarding the right to work for UN spouses.
teacher training sessions and improved infrastructure.
An estimated 5,000 children have passed through the A third staff-related association is the UN Joint Staff
kindergarten since its founding 51 years ago. The members Pension Fund, established by the General Assembly in
have come up with innovative methods of raising funds for 1949. Today it has over 120,000 active participants and
the school, including by renting ‘house kits’ with kitchen over 60,000 beneficiaries. The Delhi UN Pensioners'
and household items to help newly arrived employees set Association was established in 1978 and later renamed the
up their homes. Corporate entities such as Boeing and UN Pensioners' Association in India. Today it provides
Nestle have also donated funds. services to about 500 members.
Today, the UN Women’s Association has been renamed These three organizations help advance the causes and
the UN International Association and welcomes all protect the rights of UN staff, enabling them to undertake
spouses of staff members, both female and male. In the work of their agencies in a more welcoming and
addition to supporting UN agency families and its stable environment.
413
We
need a genuine dialogue and engagement
between countries … Our efforts must
begin here – in the United Nations. We
must reform the United Nations, including
the Security Council, and make it more
democratic and participative.
Narendr a Modi
P rime Min is t e r o f I n d ia
27 September 2014
Beyond 70
International Day of Yoga
Stretching Ourselves
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gets a yoga lesson in New Delhi on 13 January 2015 from Vijay K. Nambiar, the
Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Myanmar.
415
(Right) Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon (left) and
his wife, Yoo Soon-taek
(centre), take part in a
special Yoga Day event at
UN Headquarters.
(Facing page) Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
championed yoga during
the record-breaking
celebrations at Rajpath.
New Delhi,
21 June 2015.
Yoga offers a simple, accessible, and inclusive means to

promote physical and spiritual health.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
416
BEYOND 70
It is fitting that the fastest ever adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution and
the one garnering among the greatest number of cosponsors was a resolution
endorsing a form of peace – or at least an activity leading to inner peace: the practice
of yoga. Based on the suggestion of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during
the 2013 General Assembly session, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on
11 December 2014 declaring 21 June as the annual International Day of Yoga. The
resolution was cosponsored by the representatives of 175 nations. Among those
participating in the first celebration of the Day, in 2015, were more than 35,000 people
who gathered in the shadow of India Gate in New Delhi, including Prime Minister
Modi, diplomats and representatives from 84 countries. This event established
two Guinness world records: those for ‘largest yoga class’ and ‘most nationalities
participating in any event’. Awareness events and yoga demonstrations were also
held in 192 other countries, at iconic locations ranging from UN Headquarters to
the Eiffel Tower to Angkor Wat. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his wife also
celebrated the Day, attending a yoga session at UN Headquarters. In keeping with his
mission to promote global solidarity, the Secretary-General called yoga a unique tool
to bring together communities in an inclusive manner. In November 2016, yoga was
unanimously listed by a 24-member intergovernmental UNESCO committee as an
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Press Information Bureau
417
Jay mandal
Acronyms
The UN headquarters lit up with Diwali greetings for the first time in 70 years,
over three nights in October 2016. The Indian festival of lights, as the General
419
Assembly President noted, celebrates the power of light over darkness, hope over
despair, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil.
Acronyms
ADB Asian Development Bank ICRC International Committee of the Red

APCTT Asia and Pacific Centre for Transfer Cross
of Technology IFAD International Fund for Agricultural
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Development
Nations IFC International Finance Corporation
BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and IFUNA Indian Federation of United Nations
South Africa Associations
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of ILO International Labour Organization
all Forms of Discrimination against IMF International Monetary Fund
Women IMO International Maritime Organization
COP Conference of the Parties IOM International Organization for
CTBT Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Migration
Treaty IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union
DPI Department of Public Information ITC International Trade Centre
DPKO Department of Peacekeeping ITU International Telecommunication
Operations Union
DRR Disaster risk reduction LGBT Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
ECAFE Economic Commission for Asia and MDG Millennium Development Goal
the Far East MGIEP Mahatma Gandhi Institute of
ECOSOC Economic and Social Council Education for Peace and Sustainable
ESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Development
Asia and the Pacific MONUSCO United Nations Organization
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of Stabilization Mission in the
the United Nations Democratic Republic of the Congo
GATS General Agreement on Trade in MUN Model United Nations
Services NAM Non-Aligned Movement
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Trade NCERT National Council for Education and
GCNI Global Compact Network India Research Training
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency NDRF National Disaster Response Force
ICAO International Civil Aviation NGO Non-governmental organization
Organization NIEO New International Economic Order
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and NPT Treaty on Non-Proliferation of
Political Rights Nuclear Weapons
ICESR International Covenant on Economic, OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for
Social and Cultural Rights Human Rights
420
Acronyms
SAARC South Asian Association for Regional for Women [now UN-Women]
Cooperation UNIFIL United Nations Interim Force in
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals Lebanon
SDRs Special Drawing Rights UNIPOM United Nations India-Pakistan
SMEs Small and medium-size enterprises Observation Mission
UN-Women United Nations Entity for Gender UNMOGIP United Nations Military Observer
Equality and the Empowerment of Group in India and Pakistan
Women UN-NGLS United Nations Non-Governmental
UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on Liaison Service
HIV/AIDS UNOCHA United Nations Office for the
UNAMIR United Nations Assistance Mission Coordination of Humanitarian
for Rwanda Affairs
UNCIP United Nations Commission for UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and
India and Pakistan Crime
UNCT United Nations Country Team UNOPS United Nations Office for Project
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade Services
and Development UNPROFOR United Nations Protection Force
UNDAF United Nations Development UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works
Assistance Framework Agency for Palestine Refugees in the
UNDOF United Nations Disengagement Near East
Observer Force UNSO United Nations Statistical Office
UNDP United Nations Development UNTAG United Nations Transition Assistance
Programme Group
UNEF United Nations Emergency Force UNU United Nations University
UNEP United Nations Environment UNV United Nations Volunteers
Programme UNWA United Nations Women’s Association
UNESCAP United Nations Economic and Social UNYOM United Nations Yemen Observation
Commission for Asia and the Pacific Mission
UNESCO United Nations Educational, UPR Universal Periodic Review
Scientific and Cultural Organization UPU Universal Postal Union
UNFCCC United Nations Framework WFP World Food Programme
Convention on Climate Change WFUNA World Federation of United Nations
UNFICYP United Nations Peacekeeping Force Associations
in Cyprus WIPO World Intellectual Property
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund Organization
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner WTO World Trade Organization
for Refugees
UNIC United Nations Information Centre
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNIDO United Nations Industrial
Development Organization
UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund
421
Resources
This book is a product of a two-year research project undertaken by the UN Information Centre for India and Bhutan
(UNIC), spanning primary and secondary sources, digital and physical sources, and both United Nations and external
sources. The process also included expert interviews, external contributors, as well as the human resources within the
UNIC office and the UN System in India.
The content of this book was shaped by interviews with the following distinguished individuals:
• Amb. Virendra Dayal, former Chef de Cabinet, Office of the Secretary-General
• Amb. Muchkund Dubey, Council for Social Development, former Permanent Representative of India to the UN
Offices in Geneva, and Foreign Secretary
• Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Prof. Nagesh Kumar, Director, South and South-West Asia Office, UNESCAP
• Prof. Shiva Kumar, Senior Adviser, Human Development Report Office, UNDP
• Ajay Mathur, Director-General, TERI
• Prof. C. Raja Mohan, Head, Strategic Studies and Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation
• Prof. C.S.R. Murthy, Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament, and School of International
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Rineeta Naik, Communications Officer, UN-Women
• Prof. M.V.S.V. Prasad, Assistant Professor, Department of Education in Social Sciences, NCERT
• N.C. Saxena, Consultant, UNDP, UNICEF and World Bank, and Distinguished Fellow, Skoch
Development Foundation
• W.P.S. Sidhu, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, New Delhi
• Prof Pawan Sudhir, Head, Department of Education in Arts and Aesthetics, NCERT
• Prof. Yogesh Tyagi, Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University
The following resources were consulted on a recurring basis:

1. The Dag Hammarskjöld Library: https://library.un.org/
2. The United Nations Yearbooks
3. United Nations Multimedia and UN Photo: http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/
4. The UNIC Library
5. The United Nations Intellectual History Project
6. Foreign Affairs Records, Ministry of External Affairs Library, Government of India:
http://mealib.nic.in/?2588?000
7. Photo Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India: http://photodivision.gov.in/
8. Websites of concerned organizations
422
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Seven

UNIC Editorial Team

UN Editorial Review Committee

I India At The 32. Indian Federation of

4. India at the Security Council

iIi United Nations 60. world food programme

Sharing Expertise.........................342 63. United nations conference on trade

59. united nations volunteers

The views expressed by individual authors do not necessarily imply

Pandit Jawahar lal Nehr u

Council, New York,

As the Indian delegate to the United Nations Human

Article 51 also reflects India’s commitment to the ideals of peace and

Children with a large

On 14 June 1942, in his newspaper,

As one of the most revered world

There is no route to peace;

peace is the route.

Gandhi’s ideals of non-

the iconic Knotted Gun

The Security Council,

Pakistan”. Samar Sen of

Ambassador Hardeep Singh

Both international law and constitutional principles must provide the

Tokyo Trials, set up after the

Indian Judges on the

UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ/Frank van Beek

F Raghunandan Pathak (1989–1991)

F Dalveer Bhandari (2012–Present)

International law almost always functions on an ‘opt-in’ principle, due to challenges in

Each State party to the statute of the International Court of

A cake commemorating the

work of Lt. Gen. Satish

I got the opportunity to work with a range of international

As far as the mission was concerned, it was the first time

that United Nations peacekeepers were being deployed in

of my senior military and civilian staff, I must, however,

The second observation relates to what we, as Heads

Having stated this, I cannot but help make the point

In the context of the large-scale loss of life among innocent

endorsed by the 2005 World Summit. It is a sad irony that

It is up to the world leaders to display the maturity,

Another recommendation that secured the endorsement

To recognize and celebrate the contributions of Lt. Gen.

In 1960, Ambassador Rajeshwar Dayal of India was appointed the Secretary-General’s

Medical Services staff of

A total of 162 Indian peacekeepers have given their lives in

April 2005. Two infantry battalion groups and a Level II

Indian peacekeeping forces have been deployed in the Golan

An observation post of the

Indian Force Commanders in UN Peacekeeping Missions

The surge in demand for peacekeeping operations in various theatres of the

Kiran Bedi inaugurates the yoUNg@70

Bedi, winner of the Magsaysay

Has the atom bomb rendered non-violence obsolete?

Homi J. Bhabha (right),

without Portfolio, Ilya S.

The Indian Representative in Geneva, V.C. Trivedi,

To bring “the Flower”, the lotus-shaped neutron initiator of the

unacceptable to India. This was the beginning

The years of idealistic pursuit of complete and

The cost that India paid in credibility and goodwill

The action plan for a nuclear-weapon-free and