 With its roots in the freedom struggle, the Indian foreign policy sought to steer clear of block politics and to end the era of unilateral action. Pundit Javaharlal Nehru laid the foundations for a new world order, far removed from block politics that characterized the Cold War. India was among the 51 countries that founded the UN and signed the UN Charter at San Francisco on June 26, 1945. The Gandhian legacy and Gandhian values could not have been more relevant than today, when the threat of nuclear catastrophe stares the mankind in its face. Gandhiji abhorred nuclear weapons, where even the fruits of victory would turn ashes in the mouth. It is against the backdrop of Gandhian legacy that India has been pushing for a convention that prohibits the development, production, testing, deployment, stockpiling, threat or use of nuclear weapons, and providing for its complete elimination. At the first session of the UN General Assembly in 1946, India brought the question of racial discrimination in South Africa on to the international agenda. In the following years, India played a major role in the struggle against apartheid, strongly arguing for the total abolition of racism in every form as the basis of the new world order. India played a leading role in the liberation struggles in countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia. India vigorously campaigned for the inclusion of China in the UN, thus ensuring that the world body achieved universality of character. In a bid to secure peace in a world torn by wars, India took active part in the UN peacekeeping operations in several troubled spots of the world. She participated in the peacekeeping missions to Korea, the Gaza Strip, Congo and during the Suez Canal crisis. The UN initiatives on West Asia, the Iran-Iraq War, the Afghan crisis, Cyprus and in Namibia had the fullest backing of India. Whether it was the crucial question of Palestine or the Suez Canal crisis, India extended consistent support to the Arab cause. India was included in the first committee of 11 countries set up by the UN on the Palestine question. India has had the unique distinction of bringing economic and development agenda onto the global center stage. Global freedom is incomplete if it does not lead to wider horizons of economic opportunity. India believes that poverty alleviation, energy security, environment and food security are central to the new international economic order. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi stressed on the need to dismantle protectionist barriers and strongly advocated enlightened multilateralism. We argued for shifting focus onto the concept of partnership between nations. Indira Gandhi helped launch the new international development strategy to help revive faith in international economic cooperation. India has contributed to the various organs of the UN. The UNESCO was started on the principle that since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace have to be constructed. Veteran Gandhian Hansa Mehta also contributed to the drafting of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and was among the first signatories to it. Long before the world realized the threat posed by climate change, India pushed for a development model that was harmonious with the environment. Under the stewardship of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, India was among the earliest countries to realize the need to protect the environment. Voicing the concerns of the developing countries, India played an important role in the drafting of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea way back in 1982 in order to ensure new maritime exclusive economic zones or EEZs. In the emerging threat of terrorism, India proposed as early as in 1996 the draft comprehensive convention on international terrorism. The convention required the UN member countries to make acts of terrorism punishable. India is pushing world leaders to collectively meet the challenges of terrorism, environment and climate change.