Page 48 - DIVA 3 2025_web

international international
un 80th Anniversary
In an era of geopolitical Mission administering the West Irian Act of Free
turmoil, conflicts, gross Choice when the people were asked to vote to be
violations of international independent or accede to Australia or Indonesia,
and humanitarian law, the but eventually the decision was forced by the
United Nations is needed Indonesian government. Unfortunately, my dad
more than ever. Yet, it is died early at the age of 47; I was 20.
being undermined by the I became involved with the UN in the late 70s,
very powers that established quite by accident. I started out as a freelance
the organization eighty years broadcaster with All India Radio, the national
ago upon the ashes of the station, and as a scriptwriter with an NGO
second world war, affirming focused on instructional television. I was
at the time that conflict and assigned to shoot a photo story in Jammu
Sanjay war were things of the past and that Member States and Kashmir on a rural project dealing with
Acharya would work in cohesion to make the world a better, early childhood development, midday meal
safer and more humane place. On 24 October 1945, programmes for children as well as women’s
the United Nations came into existence with the health and income-generating activities. When
approval of the UN Charter “and the hope of many the UNICEF office in New Delhi saw my
had materialized in an international organization photographs, I was instantly taken on. That was
designed to end war and promote peace, justice my break into the UN system as a 24-year-old.
and better living for all mankind.” In 1979, my photograph illustrated the UNICEF
Year of the Child poster and the cover of the
I was born in the post-war period. Through my UNICEF State of the Child Report.
childhood, growing up in post-independence
India, the importance of working together In 1980, I was invited by UNICEF to assist
to make the world a better place, believing in creating the Development Support
in the values of a secular democracy and an Communication Division within the Royal
international outlook came naturally. The Government of Bhutan. My wife and I spent
Nehruvian vision looked to make an emerging two rich and rewarding years in Bhutan. I
India truly independent, enshrining the became the de facto personal photographer to
values of secularism in an inclusive, liberal His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuk. We were
democracy, while propagating a non-aligned, about the same age, in our late twenties, but he
all-encompassing foreign policy for newly was enlightened beyond his years. We travelled
independent developing economies. These to the remotest parts of the kingdom and I saw
lofty policies didn’t endear him to the West but him personally address the needs of his people:
found resonance with many newly independent health care; clean drinking water; deforestation;
countries in the post-colonial era. primary education. He spoke about the concept
of Gross National Happiness and eventually
Nehru believed strongly in the value of the adopted it as national policy.
UN held as a comity of nations, particularly
for developing countries and vulnerable The international world scoffed. But it was
populations. India played a critical role from the a concept that was considered by some
very outset, with Vijayalakshmi Pandit serving environmental activists I had been engaged with
as the first Indian woman President of the UN earlier as an alternative to GDP as a measure of
General Assembly from 1953 to 1954. economic success and human welfare.
An uncle, L.K. Jha, served as India’s principal Sonya and I left Bhutan in 1981 with our son
representative to GATT, forerunner of WTO, who was born in Thimphu, armed with amazing
and its Chairman from 1957 to 1958. experiences, friendships and new knowledge.
I went back fifteen years later in the mid-90s
My father, Prabhakar, joined the UN in 1968 to work on a book on the kingdom and saw
and was assigned as the Press officer to the UN for myself how the concept of Gross National
w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h
Happiness worked practically. I went back to “in a nutshell, Bhutan had advanced
the same villages I had visited earlier with the
King, high in the mountains of central Bhutan. many of the un’s millennium
Children, who earlier shepherded sheep and Development Goals long before they
cattle in torn clothes in the cold, now wore smart had even been considered or globally
blue uniforms to school, there was a primary adopted.”
health centre and access to clean drinking water.
The widespread deforestation recommended by
World Bank experts to fuel economic growth in It was the era of Jim Grant at the helm, an
the 1980s had stopped; it hadn’t contributed to inspiration to all. Nothing mattered more than the
social harmony and gross national happiness. children of the world, no matter where they were.
It was an awesome period to be associated with the
In a nutshell, Bhutan had advanced many of the UN: we joined hands to strive to make the world a
UN’s Millennium Development Goals long before better place.
they had even been considered or globally adopted.
In 1984, I went to Bangkok to work at UN
In 1982, on my return to New Delhi from Bhutan, ESCAP to produce audiovisual documentaries on
I was selected by the UN Department of Public environmental concerns in the Asian and Pacific
Information in New York to participate in a region. Over the next decade, we focused on a
fellowship programme for young broadcasters and number of issues, ranging from desertification,
journalists from developing countries to cover the forest and soil conservation to the coastal and
UN General Assembly. During that time, I was marine environment and their sustainable
invited by the University of Iowa to speak on issues management. I had a wide canvas before me: from
related developmental communication. A TV Iran to the Pacific Ocean, from the Soviet Union
reporter’s first question to me was to ask if I was a (now the Russian Federation), China and the
communist. Puzzled, I wondered what he meant Indian subcontinent across to the Indian Ocean.
by it. He said I was from a third world country, I travelled across the region, covering cold arid
and third world countries ganged up against deserts in northern China and the hot deserts of
the United States, so they must be communists. Iran and India, to mangrove forests in Bangladesh,
Logically, I was one too! mountain ecosystems in Nepal and the coastal
regions of Pakistan and Indonesia. I worked with
It struck me for the first time that while we looked soil scientists, marine biologists, foresters and
upon the UN as a body committed to making the agriculturists to illustrate the intricacies of the
world a better, safer place, not everyone viewed various fragile ecosystems that make the earth a
it with the same eyes. liveable space for all living species. The director of
the division, Kazi F. Jalal, brilliantly brought vision
I was fortunate, indeed privileged, to have and commitment to the task. He understood the
worked with and associated with UN staff who importance of communication as a key component
had the vision and the motivation to carry in the process and we ensured those goals would
forward the goals of the United Nations to be realized even though there was little funding to
make the world a better place. It didn’t matter back it up.
how difficult or arduous the conditions were,
they remained steadfast in their resolve to carry Over the next decade, we collaborated with
forward the aims to promote social progress and governments and policy makers to help improve
better standards of life for all. the environment while promoting sustainable
development. The documentaries and the visuals
I worked on several assignments for UNICEF I produced helped bring life to the complicated
in South Asia through the ‘90s, producing technical reports, introducing a level of awareness
audiovisual documentaries on community health, that would not have been otherwise possible.
child welfare, promoting immunization, caring for Images are often worth a thousand words. My
leprosy patients, advocating the use of iodized salt photographs illustrated the 1990 State of the
for iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), promoting Environment Report for Asia and the Pacific and
the benefits of breastfeeding in early childhood I helped write, edit and publish other documents
development among others. presented at the landmark Earth Summit in Rio
w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h