The UN system and its organs and agencies, the IMF, World Bank and WTO, and the regional and plurilateral groupings (SAARC, ASEAN, BIMSTEC, SCO, QUAD, BRICS, G20) with headquarters, founding years and India's role
International organisations are the single most rewarding current-events topic for CAPF, because the facts the exam tests (full form, headquarters, founding year, India's membership status, the body's mandate) are durable and do not move with the news cycle. The dated parts (the rotating chair or host, the latest member added, the current Secretary-General) change yearly, so verify those. This note groups the system into the UN, the Bretton Woods and trade trio, and the regional and plurilateral groupings, with India's role surfaced throughout. It complements international organisations and india with a wider grouping-by-grouping and India-role treatment. Sources: the UN Charter and agency websites, the Ministry of External Affairs, and Spectrum and Lucent for the static spine.
The UN was established in 1945 (the Charter was signed at San Francisco; it entered into force on 24 October 1945, marked as UN Day). India was a founding signatory.
| Principal organ | Seat | Key fact |
|---|---|---|
| General Assembly (UNGA) | New York | All member states; one state, one vote; deliberative |
| Security Council (UNSC) | New York | 15 members: 5 permanent (US, UK, France, Russia, China) with veto, plus 10 elected for two-year terms |
| Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) | New York | 54 members; coordinates economic, social and environmental work |
| Secretariat | New York | Administrative organ, headed by the Secretary-General (verify the current one) |
| International Court of Justice (ICJ) | The Hague, Netherlands | Principal judicial organ; 15 judges; settles disputes between states |
| Trusteeship Council | New York | Suspended operations in 1994; effectively dormant |
India's UN profile: a founding member, a recurring non-permanent member of the UNSC, a long-standing claimant for permanent membership and reform of the Council, and one of the largest cumulative contributors of UN peacekeeping troops (a CAPF and defence-relevant point). The G4 (India, Brazil, Germany, Japan) jointly back each other's UNSC permanent-seat bids.
| Body | Headquarters | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| WHO | Geneva | Health |
| ILO | Geneva | Labour standards (tripartite: governments, employers, workers) |
| WTO | Geneva | Trade rules (not a UN body, but seated in Geneva) |
| UNHCR | Geneva | Refugees |
| WMO | Geneva | Weather and climate |
| UNESCO | Paris | Education, science, culture, World Heritage |
| FAO | Rome | Food and agriculture |
| WFP | Rome | Food aid; 2020 Nobel Peace Prize |
| IFAD | Rome | Rural poverty and agricultural development |
| IAEA | Vienna | Nuclear safeguards and the peaceful use of atomic energy |
| UNIDO | Vienna | Industrial development |
| UNODC | Vienna | Drugs and crime |
| ICAO | Montreal | Civil aviation |
| IMO | London | Maritime shipping safety |
| UNDP | New York | Development; publishes the Human Development Index |
| UNICEF | New York | Children |
| UNEP | Nairobi | Environment (see durable environment and climate) |
| UPU | Bern | Postal union |
| ITU | Geneva | Telecommunications |
| WIPO | Geneva | Intellectual property; publishes the Global Innovation Index |
| Body | Founded | Headquarters | Mandate |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Monetary Fund (IMF) | 1944 (Bretton Woods), began 1945 | Washington, D.C. | Exchange-rate stability, balance-of-payments support; publishes the World Economic Outlook |
| World Bank Group | 1944 | Washington, D.C. | Development lending; the IBRD plus IDA, IFC, MIGA, ICSID |
| World Trade Organization (WTO) | 1995 (succeeded GATT, 1947) | Geneva | Multilateral trade rules and dispute settlement |
The IMF and the World Bank were both born at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. India is a founding member of both. The IMF's resource is the quota system, and its reserve asset is the Special Drawing Right (SDR), whose value is set by a basket (the US dollar, euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen and pound sterling). The WTO works by consensus; its top body is the Ministerial Conference. For India's external-sector treatment see external sector trade and bop.
| Grouping | Founded | Headquarters / secretariat | Members (verify additions) | India's role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAARC | 1985 | Kathmandu, Nepal | 8: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan | Founding member; summits stalled over India-Pakistan tensions |
| ASEAN | 1967 (Bangkok Declaration) | Jakarta, Indonesia | 10 Southeast Asian states | India is a dialogue partner; "Act East" anchor |
| BIMSTEC | 1997 | Dhaka, Bangladesh | 7: India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan | India is the largest member; Bay of Bengal connectivity and security |
| SCO | 2001 (from the Shanghai Five, 1996) | Beijing, China | India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017 | Counter-terror via RATS; the CAPF-relevant security grouping |
| QUAD | revived 2017 (origin 2007) | No fixed secretariat | India, US, Japan, Australia | Indo-Pacific; maritime security, supply chains, tech |
| BRICS | 2009 (first summit); "BRICS" 2010 with South Africa | No permanent secretariat; New Development Bank in Shanghai | Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, plus newer members (verify the latest) | Founding member; the New Development Bank's first president was Indian |
| G20 | 1999 (finance); leaders' summit from 2008 | Rotating presidency, no fixed secretariat | 19 countries plus the EU and the African Union | India held the G20 presidency in 2023 |
| Grouping | Note |
|---|---|
| NATO | Founded 1949; HQ Brussels; collective-defence military alliance; India is not a member |
| OPEC | Founded 1960; HQ Vienna; oil-exporting cartel; affects India's oil import bill |
| Commonwealth | Association of mainly former British territories; HQ London; India is a member |
| NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) | No fixed HQ; India was a co-founder (Bandung 1955, Belgrade 1961) |
| EU | Brussels-centred; a single market and partial political union |
| African Union | HQ Addis Ababa; admitted as a permanent G20 member |
| IBSA | India, Brazil, South Africa dialogue forum |
| Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) | HQ Ebene, Mauritius; Indian Ocean cooperation |