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Norwegian Indian may be Naidu's deputy at UN body

It is not that Venkaiah Naidu got recognition. It is recognition which has been given to the Indian Republic: Venkaiah Naidu

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Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu
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Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was recently elected the president of the 58-member grouping UN-Habitat, may have a Norwegian citizen of Indian origin from Maharashtra as his deputy. Another post of Executive Director at UN-Habitat — an organ promoting sustainable human settlements across the globe and reports directly to the United Nations General Assembly — is also likely to go to an Indian bureaucrat, making it a fully Indian-owned international grouping.

Former deputy foreign minister of Norway Arvinn Gadgil, 37, has submitted claim to take over as the deputy executive of the UN-Habitat. The Nashik-born Gadgil is a proud 'Marathi manoos' (yearning for Maharashtrian culture), and misses Mumbai and Pune a lot.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the first official UN body dedicated to urbanisation. Established in 1978, it maintains its headquarters at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya. It is an important UN organ responsible for development agenda and focused set of programmes and priorities. India was recently unanimously elected to the body.

Another Indian to lead the agency was Darshan Johal (1997-1998), who held the post of executive director for one year. During his tenure he had set up a UN-Habitat information office in Chennai , which was closed down recently. With nearly 377 million urban residents, India has the second largest urban population in the world. India has 53 cities with more than 1 million population and nearly 43 per cent of the urban population resides in these cities.

Naidu described his election to the world body a recognition of India's efforts in the field of inclusive urban development. "It is not that Venkaiah Naidu got recognition. It is recognition which has been given to the Indian Republic (for its efforts). So we, all Indians, should feel proud of it," he said.

Arvinn Eikeland Gadgil was the State Secretary or deputy foreign minister (International Development Affairs) of Norway from April 2012 until the general election of September 2013. His appointment was seen by the world as the first effort by the Norwegian government to reach out to the immigrant population in Norway after the Anders Breivik attack that killed 77 people in the twin attacks in Utoya and Oslo in 2011. A member of the Socialist Left Party of Norway, Gadgil sees his Indian background as one of the most influential factors.

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