UN General Assembly
1946

India does not yet play a sufficiently effective part in this Assembly. She desires and intends to do so. As a major country, geographically in a strategic position in the Indian Ocean, with significant relations and cultural ties with her neighbours in Asia, the contribution she has made in resistance to aggression and the cause of human freedom and her role in world economy entitle her to a place in the important organs of the United Nations — I would mention especially the Security and Trusteeship Councils — and an adequate share in the administration of the Organization. We are confident that this Assembly will readily recognize and respond adequately to these desires. Hitherto, as a dependent country, our relations with the rest of the world were perforce not of our choice or making. Today the Government of India has announced, in the following words, the outlines of an independent foreign policy: