International Organisations, Sports Competitions & Chhattisgarh Sports — CGPSC GS Paper V, Part 2
Weightage: Part 2 of GS Paper V names the UN and its subsidiaries, international monetary bodies, regional organisations such as SAARC and BRICS, the effect of the WTO on India, and national and international sporting competitions. Membership counts and host cities change, so this chapter fixes the durable facts and gives dated figures with a year. Results of tournaments are current affairs and are not listed here. Confirm the latest before the exam.
1. The United Nations system
The UN was founded in 1945 and has 193 members. Its Charter came into force on 24 October 1945, its headquarters are in New York, and India is a founding member.
| Organ | Seat | Function |
|---|---|---|
| General Assembly | New York | All members; deliberates and recommends |
| Security Council | New York | 15 members; 5 permanent with a veto (China, France, Russia, the UK and the US) and 10 elected for two years |
| Economic and Social Council | New York | Coordinates economic and social work and the specialised agencies |
| Trusteeship Council | New York | Suspended operations in 1994 |
| International Court of Justice | The Hague | The principal judicial organ, with 15 judges |
| Secretariat | New York | Headed by the Secretary-General |
Specialised agencies and programmes. Agencies include the WHO (health), FAO (food and agriculture), UNESCO (education, science and culture), ILO (labour) and WIPO (intellectual property). UNICEF, UNDP, UNEP and UNHCR are programmes and funds. The IMF and World Bank Group are also specialised agencies.
2. The IMF, the World Bank and the WTO
The IMF and the World Bank were created at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944 and are based in Washington, D.C.
- The IMF promotes monetary cooperation and exchange-rate stability and lends to countries with balance-of-payments problems. It issues the Special Drawing Right (SDR). It has 191 members, after Liechtenstein joined in October 2024.
- The World Bank Group finances development. The IBRD and the IDA lend to governments, and the group also includes the IFC (private sector), MIGA (guarantees) and ICSID (investment disputes).
The WTO replaced the GATT and began on 1 January 1995, based in Geneva. It has 166 members since Timor-Leste joined in August 2024. It administers the trade agreements (goods, services and intellectual property), holds a Ministerial Conference every two years and runs a dispute-settlement system whose Appellate Body has not functioned since 2019 because appointments were blocked.
The WTO and India. India is a founding member. The effects most examined:
- Intellectual property. The TRIPS agreement led India to introduce product patents for drugs in 2005.
- Agriculture. India defends public stockholding for food security and minimum support prices against subsidy limits.
- Market opening. Tariffs and quantitative restrictions fell after 1995, raising both competition and export opportunity.
3. Regional groupings
| Grouping | Facts to remember |
|---|---|
| SAARC | Founded 1985 (Dhaka); secretariat at Kathmandu; eight members; no summit since 2016, so it is effectively dormant |
| BIMSTEC | Bay of Bengal grouping of seven members; secretariat at Dhaka; sixth summit at Bangkok in April 2025 |
| BRICS | Began with Brazil, Russia, India and China, and South Africa joined in 2010; expanded since 2024, with partner countries added; has the New Development Bank |
| G20 | India held the presidency in 2023; the African Union became a permanent member |
| ASEAN, SCO | Southeast Asian bloc (1967); the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (India a full member since 2017) |
BRICS in 2026. India holds the BRICS chair in 2026 and hosted the 18th summit in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September 2026. Membership has grown to about eleven full members, with a separate partner-country category, and the status of some invitees has been reported differently, so check the current list.
4. Sporting competitions
The Olympic Games. The modern Games began at Athens in 1896, and the IOC oversees them. They are held every four years, with recent and upcoming hosts at Paris (2024), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). India has expressed interest in hosting in 2036, and the decision is still to be taken.
India at the Olympics. India won six medals at Paris 2024 (one silver and five bronze), and its best total is seven at Tokyo 2020. Abhinav Bindra (Beijing 2008, shooting) and Neeraj Chopra (Tokyo 2020, javelin) are India's individual gold medallists, and hockey has eight golds.
Other multi-sport Games. The Commonwealth Games have run since 1930, with India hosting in 2010 at Delhi, and Ahmedabad awarded the 2030 edition. The Asian Games were first held at New Delhi in 1951.
5. Sports policy and honours in India
- Khelo India (2018) promotes grassroots talent, and the Khelo Bharat Niti (National Sports Policy) 2025 replaced the policy of 2001.
- The national honours are the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, the Arjuna Award, the Dronacharya Award (for coaches) and the Dhyan Chand Award (for lifetime achievement).
- National Sports Day is celebrated on 29 August, the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand.
6. Chhattisgarh sports
The state's Sports and Youth Welfare Department runs cash awards, scholarships and facilities. State sports honours, presented on National Sports Day, include the Shaheed Rajeev Pandey, Shaheed Kaushal Yadav, Shaheed Pankaj Vikram, Maharaja Praveer Chand Bhanjdev and Gundadhur awards, with the Veer Hanuman Singh award for coaches.
The Chhattisgarhiya Olympics is an annual event for traditional games such as kabaddi and kho-kho, meant to bring rural participants and women into sport. The 2026-27 budget announced a new sports policy and an excellence mission with a reported allocation of ₹100 crore.
Worked example 5.1 (an 8-mark answer, ~100 words). "Explain the effects of the WTO on the Indian economy."
Model answer. The WTO, in force from 1995, brought India into a rules-based trading system. It opened markets by lowering tariffs and removing quantitative restrictions, which increased competition and export opportunity, and helped services exports.
Its TRIPS agreement led India to introduce product patents for drugs in 2005, which raised concerns about medicine prices. In agriculture, India defends public stockholding and minimum support prices against subsidy limits, citing food security.
The effects are therefore mixed: gains in trade and services, and tension over farmers' protection and access to affordable medicines.
Common traps CGPSC sets here
- Placing the ICJ in New York. It sits at The Hague.
- Calling UNICEF or UNDP specialised agencies. They are programmes and funds.
- Saying SAARC is active. It has held no summit since 2016.
- Confusing the IMF and the World Bank. The IMF handles monetary and balance-of-payments stability, and the World Bank finances development projects.
- Giving a tournament winner in a factual list. Winners are current affairs. Learn the cycle and hosts, and verify results separately.
Memory aids
- "IMF 191, WTO 166, UN 193": the membership counts, with their years.
- "Bretton Woods 1944, WTO 1995, SAARC 1985": the founding years.
- "Athens 1896, Delhi 1951": first Olympics and first Asian Games.
Summary
The UN has six organs and a family of agencies, and India is a founding member. The IMF and World Bank date from Bretton Woods, and the WTO has governed trade since 1995 with mixed effects on India.
SAARC is dormant, BIMSTEC and BRICS are active, and India chairs BRICS in 2026. Sport runs on fixed cycles, supported by national policy and honours, and by Chhattisgarh's own awards, traditional-games events and a new sports policy.
Exam protocol
- Give every membership number with its year.
- Distinguish specialised agencies from programmes and funds.
- Learn sports cycles and hosts, and verify results from a live source.
