2009, International Day of Non-Violence
This US$ 1.00 definitive stamp with a colourful portrait of Mahatma Gandhi was issued by the UN Postal Administration (UNPA) on 2nd October, the third International Day of Non-Violence and the 140th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
The artist of Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait, Dr Ferdie Pacheco was a self-taught painter who is also remembered as the personal physician of the heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali.
In this special interview, Hardeep Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and former Permanent Representative to the UN 2009 - 2013, reminisces on the stamp and reflects on the meaning of Gandhi for the United Nations and the modern world.
Gandhi had envisioned the fundamental pillars of multilateralism, and the balance of sovereignty
with the need for international rulesetting as early as 1942, when he issued instructions to the
Indian delegation to the congress that would create the UN Charter:
“The future peace, security and ordered progress of the world demand a world federation of free
nations. An independent India would gladly join such a world federation . . . Thus the demand for
Indian independence is in no way selfish. Its nationalism spells internationalism.”
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