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Fifty-five years back when the overwhelming view at the States Reorganisation Commission was that Uttar Pradesh should be split, Home Minister Govind Ballabh Pant held out the threat that division of his state could be only “on my dead body” and quoted as saying that “nobody could divide this land of Ram and Rahim”. But Sardar K M Pannikar, an important member of the SRC, vehemently dissented and put forward his unbiased and forthright evaluation that the UP was the most fit case for division. The boundaries of the most populous state of the union were not touched because of political reasons.

New York: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and China’s academy of sciences today launched a joint programme designed to promote proper management of ecosystems in developing countries, with a special focus on Africa.

New York: The majority of villages in impoverished Niger are now considered to be in a food and nutritional crisis, the United Nations humanitarian wing warned today, with the country facing especially tough times as the annual harvest season ends.

A United Nations-backed report confirms the link between climate change and current trends in extreme weather such as floods and heat waves, and warns that existing measures, even in developed countries, are not enough to cope with the severity of these events.

United Nations Member States voted overwhelmingly today to readmit Libya as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, eight months after the North African country was suspended for its then government’s violent repression of a popular protest movement.

New York: The fruits of Timor-Leste’s recent double-digit annual economic growth are not being shared equally, with many rural people in the South-East Asian country being left behind, an independent United Nations human rights expert warned today.

New York: The United Nations refugee agency said today it is working to move refugees who have fled fighting in southern parts of Sudan and crossed over into neighbouring South Sudan away from the border and to safer areas due to security concerns.

New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged business leaders in the Asia and Pacific region to support the United Nations-led global effort to improve the health of women and children to create healthier communities across the world.

The WTO launched on 18 November 2011 a new discussion forum devoted to next year’s World Trade Report. The theme of the report is “Looking beyond international cooperation on tariffs”.

The WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) appointed on 18 November 2011 the following two new members to the seven-member Appellate Body: Messrs Ujal Singh Bhatia of India and Thomas R. Graham of the United States for four years commencing on 11 December 2011.