Highest-ranking Indian at UN gets more responsibilities
United Nations, July 7 : Atul Khare, the highest-ranking Indian at the UN, will take over the newly-created Department of Operational Services (DOS) with a greater role in providing logistical support to all of the UN, especially in international hotspots.
The Department of Field Services (DFS) that he now heads has been folded into the new department that he will lead under a reorganisation plan approved by the General Assembly on Thursday as a part of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's ambitious reform plan to streamline the UN.
Khare is an under-secretary-general and a member of the Senior Management Group, the UN Secretariat's high-level body chaired by the Secretary-General -- the only Indian at that level.
The DFS provided logistical support only to the UN peacekeeping operations, but the new DOS he heads will be "serving all of the Secretariat, including field missions, departments, offices, regional commissions, and tribunals", UN Peacekeeping Spokesperson Nick Birnback told IANS on Friday.
"DOS will become the operational arm of the UN Secretariat providing both advice to managers and operational and transactional services," he said.
The new department will absorb logisitics functions in all areas of the UN operations to avoid duplication and introduce efficiencies.
Besides continuing to provide logistical support for the 13 peacekeeping operations, DOS will take on the servicing of the 26 political missions that include the critical ones in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Colombia, Sudan and South Sudan.
Introducing his reform proposals December 2017, Guterres said the DOS will be "focused on operations, services, transactions and surge support to entities in weak environments".
He said: "Reform of the peace and security architecture is aimed at ensuring we are stronger in prevention, more agile in mediation, and more effective and cost-effective in peacekeeping operations."
Simultaneously, the General Assembly also approved the reorganisation of the Department of Management, which will now be a part of the new Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance (DMSPC) that will take on broader responsibilities for the entire secretariat.
Khare, a doctor by training, is a member of the Indian Foreign Service. Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed him under-secretary-general to head the DFS in 2015.
Previously he had worked as an assistant secretary-general and as a special representative. He played a leading role in combating the sexual abuse and exploitation problem by enforcing the zero-tolerance policy.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
