Page 121 - SST Class 05
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Unit VII : The World on March
19 The United Nations
The United Nations and I
We can almost daily hear that our soldiers have to sacrifice their lives so we can lead a happy, secure life.
But their deaths cause untold misery to their family members. If peace prevailed, this suffering could be
prevented. The United Nations makes a solemn effort so that peace prevails in the world.
A great number of wars have been fought during the course of human civilization
despite the fact that it causes terrible destruction of life and property. When a war is
not being fought, countries prepare it. This requires a lot of money and effort. Almost
all countries maintain large armed forces which consume a sizeable part of their
investment. This has adverse impact on their progress and development.
At present, the United Nations recognises 195 sovereign countries in the world, of
which 193 are its members. We can see that tension prevails between many countries
of the world; for example, India and Pakistan can go to war at any moment; so is the
case with Iran-Iraq, Israel-Lebanon, North Korea-South Korea, and many others.
Everybody is aware that war causes a large-scale destruction, yet a war-like situation
prevails between many countries of the world.
It is an irony that in many parts of the world, people die of hunger, yet a large amount
of money is wasted on war preparation. So, it is essential that peace prevails in the
world. There have been many people and organisations that have worked to save the
world from wars. The United Nations (UN) is one of them.
Formation of the United Nations
Wars have often been fought in the world, causing untold suffering to the people.
Some wars have been very terrible, one such war was the First World War (1914-18). In
it, many countries of the world participated and suffered immensely in terms of life
and property. About 1.6 crore people died; this number included both soldiers and
civilians. That is, even those people were killed who had nothing to do with the war.
Looking at such a large-scale destruction, an effort for peace was made. The world
leaders realized that some way had to be found to prevent such horrors. They felt the
The United Nations 121