WHO, World Bank must work to stay relevant: PM Modi in UN speech

World institutions of global governance have "damaged their credibility" and must work towards staying relevant, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations (UN) on Saturday.

Alluding to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and an international economic report by the World Bank, PM Modi said the UN must work to better its "effectiveness and enhance its reliability" if it wants to "remain relevant."

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The prime minister was referring to the criticism of WHO, a UN agency, and the World Bank, which is a part of the UN system but retains its independence.

WHO has faced criticism since the COVID-19 outbreak first surfaced in China in December 2019. It was critiqued for its handling of the crisis.

The World Bank recently said it is discontinuing its flagship Doing Business publication, citing "data irregularities" in recent editions of the global business climate index. 

The decision was taken after a probe of data irregularities allegedly due to pressure by some top bank officials to boost China's ranking in 2017 came to light.

Also Read: UN must improve effectiveness, enhance its reliability to remain relevant: PM Narendra Modi

"With regard to the origin of COVID-19 and the ease of doing business rankings, institutions of global governance have damaged the credibility they had built after decades of hard work," PM Modi said while addressing the 76th UN General Assembly.

He added that the questions about the UN's work risk jeopardizing its credibility. We have seen such questions being raised, related to the climate crisis and during the Covid-19 pandemic," the prime minister said.