Unique book on 70 years of India and UN

November 14, 2015 (NYC): Yesterday was Friday. I had a few meetings in WFUNA office and then had a meeting with the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, Mr Asoke Mukerji.

In the late afternoon, I had a meeting with the Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, Mr Bhagwant Bishnoi. Asoke Mukerji who will be in his post until January 2016 presented me a book India and The United Nations – A Photo Journey – 1945 -2015.

The book is a photographic documentation of how India and the United Nations have influenced each other in the last 70 years. It captures some of the vital moments that have shaped the modern history. The photographic reproduction of the original manuscript of the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations, June 26, 1945, features the three amendments proposed by India; India signing the United Nations Charter at the San Francisco Conference in 1945 by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the only woman to head a delegation to the First United Nations General Assembly session in 1946.

It features those persons who played an important part like Sir V T Krishnamachari, Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar in the early days to modern day Indian icons like Sachin Tendulkar. Has historic moment of Indian Independence in 1947 and the new Indian flag being hoisted. It also records Hansa Mehta’s contribution to the UN Commission on Human Rights when she changed the phrase “all men are created equal” to “all human beings are created equal”.

The change of language denoted the consciousness of gender bias as early as 1949. The photo of Vijaylakshmi Pandit as the First Woman President of UN General Assembly, 1953; opening of South Asia’s first penicillin plant in India in 1956; India signing the Convention on Political Rights of Women in 1947; A B Vajpayee addressing General Assembly in Hindi for the first time in 1977 to the General Assembly adopting resolution on International Day of Yoga, 2014, leading to the celebration of 1st International Day of Yoga on 21st June 2015.

The book has immense archival value and chronological records of the milestones in history of India vis-a -vis United Nations. This is a great book which I shall put in my collection of favourites.

On Friday evening I went to a private residence for dinner. Today, I will go to the United Nations again to attend the closing ceremony of WIMUN 2015.

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