After intense negotiations stretching four years, the UN General Assembly has approved setting up of a single entity within the world body to promote equality for women at its plenary session chaired by India's Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur.
The establishment of this new composite UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, which is to be known as 'UN Women', brings together as many as four women-related agencies of the world body.
The move, which meets a longstanding demand, came Friday night after four years of intense and difficult political negotiations.
"The newest member of the UN family has been born," Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, told the Assembly after it passed the resolution establishing the new UN entity.
"This is truly a watershed day," he declared.
The new body will merge four of the world body's agencies and offices: UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the
Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW).
"By bringing together four parts of the UN system dedicated to women's issues, Member States have created a much stronger voice for women and for gender equality at the global level," said the Secretary General.
"It will now be much more difficult for the world to ignore the challenges facing women and girls - or to fail to take the necessary action," he added.
Kaur, who was honoured with the distinction of chairing the plenary session of the General Assembly that established 'UN women', said India has always been at the forefront of issues relating to gender equality, mainstreaming and
empowerment.
She recalled that Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman President of the UN General Assembly in 1953.
Noting that India is home to more than half a billion women, Kaur said India has taken major strides in the area of political empowerment of women.
Today, more than a million women elected representatives participate in political decision-making at the grassroots level, she said.
"A move to provide similar reservation of seats for women in the Indian Parliament is in advanced stage of the legislative process, already having received the approval of the Upper House of our Parliament," the minister said.
"India welcomes the creation of the UN Women as a significant victory for the cause of women worldwide. It is a reflection of our collective commitment to the pursuit of
gender equality and the empowerment of women."Representing the delicious blend of eastern and western music, the second generation
immigrants from South Asia have come together to form Desi Alternative Music Association (DAMA), which will hold its first annual concert in Manhattan coming weekend.
Debuting as a single concert, it will last four hours and feature eight talented up-and-coming South Asian bands and solo artists: Nita Chawla, Sanjay, Asif Hasan, Ehsaas, Adeel
Salman, Aashish Kumar, EvaEva and H2O Wata Flo.
Nita Chawla is an Indian-American musician with a captivating voice and can deliver flowing acoustic guitar or can switch to Southern US-influenced pop/rock songs.
'Ehsaas' is a Pakistani-American band in the emerging Pakistani rock tradition of 'Vital Signs' and 'Junoon'.
Asif Hasan from the band 'Dum' will offer punchy pop/rock infused with eastern melodies and Punjabi lyrics.
Adeel Salman is a multi-instrumentalist who heads the band 'Anesthezia' and play songs in both Urdu and English, ranging from light guitar instrumentals to screaming rock ballads.
The artist H2O Wata Flo will add a new dimension to the show with his infectious Indo-Guyanese reggae rhythms.
The founder of DAMA, Sanjay Gupta will end the show with his own blend of Hindi rock, frequently enlisting the aid of classical Spanish guitar or other exotic instruments.
Sanjay, who immigrated from Gloa, a town near Lucknow India, said, "I grew up loving South Asian rock and Bollywood music. After I moved here I realized that young South Asian musicians in the US who are heavily influenced by pop, rock,
R&B, and other genres, were neglected by the mainstream as well as by their own communities."
DAMA has been created to promote and spread awareness of the alternative music scene for artists living anywhere in the world who are first or second generation immigrants from South Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka, he said.
It aims to bring this alternative music to a wider, more mainstream audience while creating networking opportunities for the artists with record labels, managers and agents.