UNITED NATIONS REFORM IS "THE NEED OF THE HOUR"

 UNITED NATIONS REFORM IS "THE NEED OF THE HOUR"

Establishment - 24 October,1945 Head quarters - New York

        Secretary-General - Antonio Guterres

At the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN), the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude on behalf of over 1.3 billion vountry men for being a proud founding member of the historic organization. He also expressed the need for the reform in the responses, processes and character of the United Nations stating that it is the need of the hour and that the faith and respect enjoyed by it in India are unmatched.

UN was born out of the urgent need for global cooperation at a time when the United States and the USSR were showing their aggressiveness towards each other through either tolerant European economic rescue plans or expansionist Eastern European strategies. The UN has come a long way through its speedy growth from 51 to 193 member nations and grown from narrowly preventing a snowballed war to implementing successful peacekeeping missions globally.

As an international organization, the UN was made to replace the futile League of Nations in 1945 in order to steer clear of another world war. USA and USSR kept on halting the organization during the cold war so that it may mediate only in conflicts other than the cold war. This somehow went contradictory to its mandate of peacekeeping in the world.

Where on one end, the role of the UN in decolonization process can't be ignored, on the other end its failed mission in Somalia and Rwanda crisis even in post-cold war era is unsatisfactory. After the corruption charges imposed on other organs of UNO like UNESCO and UNICEF, it faced withdrawal of funding from many countries and this in addition to the dynamically changing polarity of the global order and other rising humanitarian and environmental crisis made an inevitalble need for some reforms in the organizational structure and functionaries.

India and the UN- India's Legitimacy

India is one of the founding members of the UN and it signed the Declaration by UN at Washington on 1 January 1942 and also enrolled in the historic UN Conference of International Organization at San Francisco from 25 April to 26 June 1945. India also has been a consistent supporter of its purposes and principles and has contributed significantly for implementing the goals of the UN Charter, mainly the peace keeping one.

Since its inception in the 1950s, India has contributed over 1,60,000 troops to 43 to 64 UN peacekeeping operations. In the fight for the UN's blue flag, over 160 Indian armed and police forces personnel have laid down their lives.

In a change world order, the nature of conflicts is also changing and a peacekeeping force is increasingly being asked to do a lot more than its traditional directive. This makes an issue of concern for India who has viewed the UN as a forum of insurer to international peace and security over the years.

India led the charge of newly independent countries in the UN to argue and secure freedom for the then enslaved countries of Asia and Africa in the 1950s and 60s. The 1960's milestone Declaration on Granting of Independence to colonial countries and peoples was also co-sponsored by India. Being the forerunner in the fight against apartheid and racial discrimination in South Africa, India became the first country to raise the issue in the UN in 1946 and played a leading role in forming of the sub-committee against Apartheid set up by the General Assembly.