News Analysis India

Tag: United Nations

  • Delhi HC questions activist Saket Gokhale for tweeting against Lakshmi Puri without verifying facts

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday questioned activist Saket Gokhale for putting out alleged defamatory tweets against former Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations Lakshmi Puri, without verifying the facts from her or approaching any government authority.

    Gokhale, in his tweets On June 13 and 26 made reference to certain property purchased by Puri in Switzerland and also referred to her husband Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

    Observing that right to reputation is recognised as a fundamental right, the high court asked Gokhale, also a freelance journalist, as to how he can vilify people, particularly when the tweets put out by him were prima facie incorrect.

    The court was hearing a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri seeking Rs five crore damages from Gokhale and also a direction against him to take down or delete the tweets, wherein false and factually incorrect, per-se defamatory, slanderous and libellous statements / imputations have been made by him against her and her family.

    “Show me before you put out tweets, you sought to clarify these facts from the plaintiff,” Justice C Hari Shankar asked Gokhale’s counsel who responded in negative while adding that there was no such requirement under the law and that he had tagged the finance minister in one of the tweets itself.

    “So according to your understanding of the law, any Tom, Dick and Harry can write anything against anyone on Internet irrespective of the fact that it destroys and damages the reputation of a person,” the judge said and reserved its order on the suit for July 13.

    “You tell me what exercise you have carried out with public authorities before putting out the tweets on social media,” the judge asked.

    The court said before putting out anything in public, one has to exercise due diligence and asked whether Gokhale was ready to take down the tweets? To this, his counsel Sarim Naved responded in negative.

    During the arguments, senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing Puri, contended that the tweets were defamatory, malicious and based on false information and that Gokhale was nobody to put questions to her. “It is a case of ex-facie per se defamation. If I may use a Hindi phrase, ‘Ulta chor kotwal ko dante’. When I sent him a legal notice, he said he was being harassed,” the counsel argued.

    He said Puri does not hold any public office for these details to be put in public domain and if he was putting her name in public, he should have the minimum civility to ask her before he publishes this which was deliberately ignored.

    “I have made out a prima facie case and the balance of convenience is in my favour. There is conclusive evidence of defamation and harassment having taken place. People who have served the country with utmost integrity are being accused by people who are nothing. These materials which destroy the honour and integrity of a person shall not be allowed to stay,” Singh argued.

    Naved said as a citizen, Gokhale has the right to go into the assets of public functionaries. He also said Puri’s husband is a union minister and that assets of such persons along with spouse should be in public domain but in this case, the money received from their daughter is not in public domain.

  • India elected to UN Economic and Social Council for 2022-24 term 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: India has been elected to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) for a two-year period starting next year. The ECOSOC is one of the six main arms of the UN. 

    ​The 54-member ECOSOC aims at advancing the three dimensions of sustainable development economic, social and environmental.

    It also acts as a platform for debate on innovative thinking and coordinating efforts to achieve goals that have been agreed upon internationally. It is also responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.

    I thank all Member States of the @UN for their vote of confidence in India for #ECOSOC https://t.co/vIDILvt1I0
    — PR/Amb T S Tirumurti (@ambtstirumurti) June 8, 2021

    “I thank all Member States of the @UN for their vote of confidence in India for #ECOSOC,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN TS Tirumurti tweeted. India was elected in the Asia-Pacific category along with Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Oman. 

    In the Economic and Social Council by-election, Greece, New Zealand and Denmark were elected for a period from January to December 2022 and Israel was elected for a period beginning January 1, 2022 till December 31, 2023.

    The UN Charter established the ECOSOC in 1945 as one of the six main organs. According to the ECOSOC website, its 54 members are elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly. 

    Seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with 14 allocated to African states, 11 to Asian states, six to eastern European states, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean states and 13 to western European and other states.

  • Indian institutions have stopped taking notice of human rights violations, UN should step in: Mehbooba Mufti

    Mehbooba said anyone who raised voice against the wrong measures of the Government of India (GOI) was labelled as quot;Pakistani agent quot;.

  • India slips two spots to rank 117 on 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted as 2030 agenda: Report

    India #39;s rank dropped by two places primarily because major challenges like ending hunger and achieving food security, achieving gender equality and other goals remain in the country.

  • India may overtake China as most populous country sooner than UN projections of 2027: Report

    India is expected to add nearly 273 million people to its population between now and 2050, a UN report said in 2019.

  • CAG Girish Murmu is chief of UN panel of External Auditors again

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Girish Chandra Murmu, has been appointed chairman of the Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations for the second time in a row for 2021. 

    Currently, the panel consists of countries including India, Germany, Chile, China, the United Kingdom, France, Philippines, Switzerland, Italy, Ghana, Indonesia, Canada and Russia.

    As the chairman, India’s CAG plays a key role in achieving the panel’s objective of greater degree of collaboration and coordination among members and exchange of information on audit methods and findings.

    The CAG leads the panel as a distinctive forum to support the delivery of high quality, standards-based assurance to ensure that reported financial information provides a transparent and accurate basis for the decisions made by the UN and its agencies like WHO, FAO, WFP, WIPO etc.

    Like any other organisation, the accounts and management operations of the UN and its specialised agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency are required to be audited and reported on periodically by independent external auditors.

    The UN General Assembly in 1959 established the Panel of External Auditors, comprising individual external auditors of the United Nations system, who are also heads of supreme audit institutions of their countries.

    India’s CAG had earlier been on the UN Board of Auditors from 1993 to 1999 and from 2014 to 2020.  Currently, he is the external auditor of the World Health Organization (2020-2023), Food & Agriculture Organization (2020-2025) and Inter Parliamentary Union (2020-2022).

    In recent past, he has been the external auditor of the World Food Programme, World Intellectual Property Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, UN World Tourism Organization, International Organization for Migration, International Maritime Organization and Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons etc.

  • Stop vaccine nationalism, encourage internationalism: India at UNSC meeting 

    By PTI
    UNITED NATIONS: India, which has shipped ‘Made In India’ COVID-19 vaccines to around 25 nations, on Wednesday urged the international community to stop “vaccine nationalism” and actively encourage “internationalism”, underlining that hoarding superfluous doses will defeat global efforts to attain collective health security and combat the pandemic.

    Addressing the UN Security Council, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar outlined nine points for consideration of the international community to help the world put the COVID-19 pandemic decisively behind it and to emerge more resilient.

    “Stop ‘vaccine nationalism’; indeed, actively encourage internationalism.

    Hoarding superfluous doses will defeat our efforts towards attaining collective health security,” he said, speaking at the open debate on the implementation of resolution 2532 (2020) on the cessation of hostilities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He also emphasised that disinformation campaigns taking advantage of the pandemic to advance their nefarious objectives and activities must be stopped.

    Jaishankar voiced concern that lack of global coordination regarding vaccine distribution will hit conflict affected areas and poorer countries the hardest.

    He cited the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that more than 60 million people in such areas are at risk.

    India is also concerned over a “glaring disparity” in accessibility of vaccines globally and Jaishankar emphasised that equity in access to vaccines is important for mitigating the impact of pandemic.

    “This disparity calls for cooperation within the framework of COVAX, which is trying to secure adequate vaccine doses for the world’s poorest nations,” he said.

    He further called for strengthening the COVAX facility to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines to all countries in a fair and equitable manner.

  • India to get United Nations tag of international disaster response force for NDRF

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India could soon be a part of the United Nations (UN) mandated international disaster rescue operations as its the country’s federal contingency force, NDRF, is expected to obtain a globally recognised standardisation later this year, a top ranking official has said.

    The authorisation will be done by the Switzerland-headquartered INSARAG (or the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) which is a network of more than 90 countries and organisations under the UN umbrella to deal with urban search and rescue related issues.

    “Just like we have the Bureau of Indian Standards in the country, the UN agency INSARAG standardises disaster response teams across the world. It is an international gold standard,” NDRF director general S N Pradhan told PTI in an interview.

    “We are very much in thick of it and hopefully we will get the standardisation in 2021.”

    He further explained the purpose of this categorisation that is possessed by some of India’s neighbours like China and Pakistan.

    “If there is a call from the UN to respond to some disaster you will be called upon. You will be an international response force,” Pradhan said.

    “It is not that we have not been doing that (going for international rescue operations) but when NDRF went to Japan and Nepal in the past it was a bilateral decision between two countries but with this standardisation it will be a UN mandated task,” he said.

    It will be a matter of great prestige for India that its force is known as an international response force, the DG said.

    He said an INSARAG committee, comprising Australian and Singaporean experts, has conducted preliminary review of NDRF teams in September, 2019, but the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic put the process on a back burner for a while.

    “Hopefully, in 2021 you will see at least two heavy teams of the NDRF notified as INSARAG teams,” he said.

    The National Disaster Response Force was raised in 2006 to undertake specific tasks of relief and rescue during natural and manmade disasters or life threatening situations.

    It has 12 operational battalions comprising more than 15,000 personnel based across the country at present while four more battalions are taking shape.

    Pradhan said this UN standardisation could “trigger a long-term process where more and more of its teams can be certified”.

    “It (INSARAG standardisation) will be a good thing as NDRF is second to none. This could lead to a cascading effect where NDRF can become a national accreditation agency for state disaster response forces and that also could be UN supported.”

    “In Chile and China, the UN has certified their provincial teams so that state teams can also travel across the world for disaster response operations,” he said.

    These are “very exciting developments” and it can add to the profile of India being a great disaster response oriented country where the protocols and standard operating procedures are of world standard, he said.

    The DG also spoke about reviewing the technology and rescue gadgets used by the force.

    “We are reviewing our technology and changing specifications. It is not bad but authorised items in quality and quantity are 10 years old so it calls for a review.”

    “The review has already been completed and submitted to the government,” he said. 

    Pradhan said the force was undertaking “simple but effective” technology changes like using battery-operated saw cutters as compared to those which run on petrol at present.

    “We are reviewing the national emergency communication plan. It is going into phase 2 now. We are going to upgrade, have more in quantity and better equipment which is true to form so that we are able to negate any impact of total collapse of communication in a disaster-hit area,” he said.

    The DG said the force will be upgrading its capacity and equipment in the next two financial years, which will be followed by training.

    Taining will be made effective in such a way that while NDRF will be the federal force there will be collaboration with other central paramilitary forces like the CRPF, BSF and ITBP and others so that they have their disaster response units ready to “shore up” NDRF when required, he said.

  • India to chair UNSC’s crucial Taliban and Libya sanctions committees

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: India will head three key panels in the United Nations Security Council after it assumed a two-year-long non-permanent membership at the body on January 1.

    The panels include the Taliban sanctions committee, the counter-terrorism committee for the year 2022 and the Libya sanctions committee. By heading the Taliban sanctions committee, India will get a greater say in the Afghan peace process and will be able to step up pressure on Pakistan over the issue of terrorism.

    Reacting on the development, the spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava, said India’s tenure would be guided by a commitment to promote responsible and inclusive solutions to international peace and security.

    Meanwhile, taking note of the US government’s decision to extend the ban on certain non-immigrant visas, the Indian government said it is in touch with the authorities concerned. “We are engaged with the US government for increased predictability in the visa regime and to minimise inconvenience to Indian nationals,” Srivastava said.

    The US government had temporarily placed a ban on certain non-immigrant visas, including H1-B, till December 31 and later extended it for another three months citing the coronavirus pandemic. 

  • Beijing threatens ‘heavy price’ if US envoy travels to Taiwan

    By AFP
    UNITED NATIONS: China on Thursday warned the United States would pay a “heavy price” if its United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft made good on plans to travel to Taiwan next week.

    Democratic and self-ruled Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by authoritarian China, which views the island as its own territory and has vowed to seize it one day, by force if necessary.

    Beijing opposes any diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and has pushed to keep it isolated on the world stage.

    Outgoing US President Donald Trump has sent multiple senior officials to Taipei over the last year as he clashed with China on a host of issues such as trade, security and human rights.

    Craft’s January 13-15 visit will come just a week before the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden and creates a fresh diplomatic headache for the incoming administration.

    “The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action,” a statement from the Chinese mission to the UN said in response to the planned trip next week by Craft.

    “China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-US relations and the two countries’ cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on the wrong path.”

    The American UN mission said Thursday evening that Craft would meet with Taiwanese officials and other members of the diplomatic community.

    “During her trip, the Ambassador will reinforce the US government’s strong and ongoing support for Taiwan’s international space,” the American statement said.

    She is scheduled to speak at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs on January 14, “on Taiwan’s impressive contributions to the global community and the importance of Taiwan’s meaningful and expanded participation in international organizations,” according to the statement.

    Taiwanese presidential spokesman Xavier Chang welcomed the visit, saying it “symbolizes the firm friendship between Taiwan and the US”.

    Washington diplomatically recognizes Beijing over Taipei, but remains a staunch ally of the latter and is bound by Congress to sell weapons to Taiwan to defend itself.

    It opposes any move to change Taiwan’s current status by force.

    Senior US officials have made visits to Taiwan before but they became more common and prominent under Trump.

    Last year three prominent trips were made, including by health secretary Alex Azar, the first by a cabinet official.

    During that visit China sent fighter jets across the Median Line — a de facto border that runs down the Taiwan Strait.

    Beijing has piled military, economic and diplomatic pressure on Taipei since Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s election in 2016, in part due to her refusal to acknowledge its stance that the island is part of “one China”.

    Tsai, who won a landslide re-election last year, regards the island as de facto sovereign.

    China’s sabre-rattling reached new peaks last year with Taiwan responding to a record 380 incursions into its defense zone.