Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked Chanakya, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, and Rabindranath Tagore in his address to the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives to address the 76th Session of the UNGA in New York. (Photo: AP/PTI)
PM Modi quoted words of Indian strategist Chanakya, who had said, “When the right action is not taken at the right time, then it is time itself that causes the action to fail.”
The prime minister emphasised, “ If the UN has to keep itself relevant, it has to improve its effectiveness and increase its reliability.”
Pm Modi underlined the need to strengthen the United Nations to protect global order, global laws and global values.
PM Modi said that today all kinds of questions have been raised about the United Nations.
"We have seen such questions being raised, related to the climate crisis and during the Covid-19 pandemic," he said.
The World Health Organisation, the UN's health agency, has faced criticism since the Covid-19 outbreak first surfaced in China in December 2019. WHO faced criticism over mishandling of the pandemic.
Former US president Donald Trump slammed the WHO as a "puppet" of China and accused it of covering up the start of the outbreak and allowing the virus to spread around the entire world.
"The proxy war going on in many parts of the world, terrorism and the recent crisis in Afghanistan have further highlighted the seriousness of these questions," the Prime Minister said.
PM Modi further stated, "With regard to the origin of Covid-19 and the ease of doing business rankings, institutions of global governance have damaged the credibility they had built after decades of hard work.”
The World Bank recently said it is discontinuing its flagship Doing Business publication, citing “data irregularities” in recent editions of the global business climate index.
The decision was taken after a probe of data irregularities allegedly due to pressure by some top bank officials to boost China’s ranking in 2017 came to light.
"It is essential that we constantly strengthen the UN, in order to safeguard global order, global laws and global values," PM Modi said.
PM Modi ended his address by quoting Rabindranath Tagore (in Bengali), "Boldly proceed on the path of good deed and may you overcome all the obstacles in the way".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi added that efforts of all is required to bring peace and prosperity in the world.
(With inputs from PTI)
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