America
'1 extra minute for every 100 million Indians'
By
By Arul Louis United Nations, Sep 26 (IANS) A large population has its advantage: Prime Minister Narendra Modi got an extra minute for each of about 100 million Indians.
With
his characteristic campaign style oratory in Hindi, Modi exceeded the
allotted ten minutes by 13 minutes for his speech at the opening session
of the UN Summit on Friday.
Uganda President Yoweri Musuveni,
the summit co-chairman who was presiding when Modi spoke, made light of
it saying that although Modi exceeded his allotted time by 13 minutes,
there were 1.2 billion Indians and for every 100 million Indians Modi
was given an extra minute.
Musuveni's foreign minister, Sam
Kutesa, was the president of the last General Assembly and he had
successfully pushed through the text for Security Council reform
negotiations that India backed. It overcame a major hurdle to meaningful
reform negotiations.
Musuveni's lighthearted remark reflected a
serious issue behind India's push for Council reforms. Although India
has about one-sixth of the world's population, it is not a member of the
Security Council and in the General Assembly, the only place it has a
vote, its ballot is equal to that of small nations, some of which have
population of about 100,000.
(Arul Louis can be contacted at [email protected])