Family watches PM delivering his 2nd address

The prime minister’s wife Gursharan Kaur, two of his daughters Upinder and Amrit and one of his grandsons were in the gallery as he delivered his second address to the UNGA. His son-in-law and Amrit’s husband Barton Beebe was also in the gallery.

Singh, who will turn 79 on Monday, had delivered his first address to the UNGA in 2008.
Indian Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao and Laxmi Puri, wife of India’s Permanent Representative to the UN H S Puri, were with Singh’s family all through the 21-minute speech of the prime minister.

Singh received applause from the delegates for stressing that the development agenda must be brought firmly back to the centre-stage of the UN’s priorities. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told journalists later that the prime minister’s address was well-received by the delegates of different countries at the UNGA auditorium.

Singh also received applause when he said that early reform of the Security Council must be pursued with renewed vigour and urgently enacted.

Upinder, a professor of Delhi University and an eminent historian, and her son traveled with the Prime Minister and his wife to New York.

Amrit lives in New York. She is a senior legal officer at New York National Security and Counterterrorism program at Open Society Justice Initiative, which is based in New York.
Her husband Barton is a professor at the School of Law at New York University. The Prime Minister however may not be able to spend the birthday with Amrit and Barton in New York. For, he is likely to board Air India One early on Monday to fly back to Frankfurt on his way to New Delhi.

Singh was born on September 26, 1932 at Gah, which is now in Punjab province of Pakistan. This is the second time the Prime Minister will be flying abroad on his birthday. He had celebrated his 77th birthday his 77th birthday in 2009 onboard the special aircraft, while returning from G20 Summit in Pittsburgh and heading to Geneva.