India's clout in UN increasing: V K Singh

India's clout in the United Nations has been increasing in the last four and half years, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said Tuesday, citing examples of the adoption of International Yoga Day and the country's election to the UN's top human rights body.

Singh, while speaking at a function organised by the Indian Federation of United Nations Association here, said India has made a rich contribution to world peace.

India is one of the largest troop contributors to the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission and country's troops has done fantastic and disciplined work abroad to bring peace to conflict ridden countries, he said.

Under the Modi government's foreign policy, India's clout in the UN has been increasing in the last four and half years, Singh said.

"In the last four and half years, our ministers have visited all the 193 member countries of the UN. The effectiveness of this policy was visible when Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to UN member countries to support the declaration of the UN International Yoga Day and 170 countries immediately supported us," Singh said.

Citing another example of India's growing clout in the UN, he said India was elected to the UN's top human rights body, the UN Nations Human Rights Commission, for a period of three years beginning January 1 next year.

"We got 188 votes, the highest number of votes among all candidates," he said.

Singh also cited that Justice Dalveer Bhandari's re-election to the International Court of Justice as an example of India's growing stature in the UN, asserting that it was a big win for India.

The minister exuded confidence that India will achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the UN before the target year of 2030.

The SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, he said.