Participations of India at the UN

India is a founding member of the United Nations. The country signed the declaration by the United Nations on January 1, 1942, and participated in the United Nations Conference in San Francisco from April 25 to June 26, 1945. India has always supported the purposes and principles of the UN and has made a significant contribution to many projects.

India became a member of the UN in 1945, two years before independence. In 1946, it began discussing issues like discrimination, colonialism, racism and others. In 1953, the main representative of India, Mrs Vijaya Laxmi Pandit, became the first woman president of the UN General Assembly. 

Indian Contributions to Peacekeeping  

India has a history of service in UN peacekeeping, contributing more personnel than any other country. More than 244,500 Indians have served in 49 of 71 UN peacekeeping missions established worldwide since 1948.

India has a long tradition of motivating women on UN peacekeeping missions. In 2007, India became the first country to have an all-women group for Forming a Police Unit for the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia. Hailed as role models, they helped to build the ability of the Liberian police, which directed an improvement in the number of local women working in Liberia’s security division. The members of Indian Women FPU also distinguished themselves through humanitarian assistance, including organising medical camps.

Medical care is among the many services Indian peacekeepers provide to the communities they serve on behalf of the organisation. They also perform specialised tasks such as veterinary support and engineering services.

Indian veterinarians served with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and stepped up to help herders who lost much of their cattle to malnutrition and disease in the war-torn country. The Indian group in South Sudan has gone the extra mile by giving vocational training and life-saving medical service and contributing to significant road improvement work. 

The Indian group in the Upper Nile area (includes the Indian Battalion, the Horizontal Mechanical Engineering Company, the Level II hospital, the Petroleum Platoon and the Force Signal Unit) have all received UN medals of honour for their responsibility in peacekeeping. In 2014, India became the third-largest troop contributor.

Representation in the UN 

India enjoys enormous goodwill and support from the UN. India has been appointed to several UN bodies. In the last few years, India was appointed to the Human Right Council (HRC), Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), International Court of Justice (ICJ), UN Board of Auditors, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR),

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), International Law Commission (ILC) and Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), among others. Presently, India is represented in 22 UN Bodies.

Famous figures 

India’s current representative in the UN assembly is T.S. Trimurti (appointed in 2020). 

There are also some notable figures in the history of the UN Assembly.

• Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar

Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar was India’s representative at the Cisco Conference leading to the creation of the United Nations. He also became the first important representative of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1946. 

• Hansa Mehta

Hansa Mehta represented India on the Nuclear Sub-Committee on the status of women in 1946. As the Indian delegate on the UN Human Rights Commission from 1947 to 48, she was responsible for changing the language of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from “all men are created equal” to “all human beings”, highlighting the need for gender equality. 

• Lakshmi Menon

Lakshmi Menon was one of India’s representatives. She argued forcefully in favour of non-discrimination based on sex and “the equal rights of men and women” in the Declaration of Human Rights. A strong advocate of the “universality” of human rights, she argued that “if women and people under colonial rule were not explicitly mentioned in the Universal Declaration, they would not be considered included in “everyone”.

• Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman to be voted President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1953. 

• Chinmaya Rajaninath Gharekhan

Chinmaya Rajaninath Gharekhan served as ECOSOC President in 1990. In January 1993, he became the Secretary-General. The UN Secretary-General served as a special envoy to the Middle East peace process in the capacity of founder-Secretary-General of the United Nations, which he held until 1999.

Conclusion 

India is a founding member of the United Nations. Over the years, India has motivated the UN to carry out an influential role and be more effective in following proper international order to create an economic background conducive to rapid economic growth and development in developing countries. 

India has become actively part of the five core human rights conventions, namely, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Child’s Rights (CRC). India has also signed the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC). Also, with the help of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the UN assembly, people worldwide celebrate International Yoga day.