India re-elected to UNESCO executive board for 2021-25 term
United Nations, Nov 18: India has been reelected to the UNESCO Executive Board, one of the three constitutional organs of the United Nations, for the 2021-25 term.
The election of members of the executive board took place on Wednesday.
"India gets reelected to the Executive Board of UNESCO with 164 votes for the term 2021-25, the Paris-based Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) said in a tweet.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took to Twitter on Thursday to applaud the good work of the MEA and the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO.
Good work #TeamMEA and @IndiaatUNESCO, he said in a tweet.
Reacting to India's election, Minister of State for Culture and External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi thanked countries for supporting India's candidature.
Delighted to inform that India has made it to the Executive Board Of UNESCO. Heartiest congratulations and thankful to all the member countries who supported our candidature, she said on Twitter.
In Group IV Asian and Pacific States, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Cook Islands and China also were elected.
The UNESCO Executive Board is one of the three constitutional organs of the United Nations' agency (the others being the General Conference and the Secretariat) and it is elected by the General Conference.
Acting under the authority of the General Conference, the board examines the programme of work for the organisation and corresponding budget estimates submitted to it by the Director-General.
It consists of 58 member-states each with a four-year term of office, according to the UNESCO website. UNESCO has 193 member states.
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CEC threatened Bengal govt officers at meeting, ‘false bravado’ unacceptable: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of threatening state officials during a meeting, and warned that “false bravado” by constitutional authorities was not acceptable.
Her remarks came against the backdrop of the Election Commission’s full bench meeting with senior administrative and police officials of the state earlier in the day, to review preparedness for the West Bengal assembly elections likely to be held in April.
Speaking from the site of her dharna in Kolkata against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Banerjee alleged that the CEC had adopted a threatening tone towards the state bureaucracy.
“The CEC threatened our officers today at the meeting. I want to tell the CEC that having courage is good, but false bravado is not good,” she asserted.
According to officials, Kumar said during the meeting that any lapse in maintaining law and order before the elections would not be tolerated, and strict action would follow if responsibilities were not discharged properly.
The CEC also questioned the absence of a Narcotics Advisory Committee in the state, and asked the officers to strengthen monitoring mechanisms ahead of the polls, they said.
Sharpening her attack on the poll panel, Banerjee alleged that the ongoing SIR exercise was being used to deprive people of their voting rights.
“We have only one point; everyone must be given the right to vote. We want to ensure voting rights for all,” the Trinamool Congress supremo said.
She also claimed that intimidation and deletion of names from electoral rolls were being employed as political tools.
“If you think you can capture power by attacking people, intimidating them and removing names from the voters’ list, that will not happen,” the CM said.
