Former Indian envoy elected to UN panel

Dasgupta is currently with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) where he works on climate change and sustainable development issues.

Close on the heels of India's election to the UN Human Rights Council this week, an Indian has been elected to a crucial panel of the powerful Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

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Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, an expert on climate change and a former Indian ambassador to China and the European Union, was elected on Wednesday to the committee on economic, social and cultural rights, a vital organ of the 54-member ECOSOC, for the term 2007-2010.

The committee deals with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which India is a party.

"The members nominated to the committee are experts with recognised competence in the field of human rights, who serve in their personal capacity," said a statement by the External Affairs Ministry.

Dasgupta is currently with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) where he works on climate change and sustainable development issues. He is also the author of "War and Diplomacy in Kashmir, 1947-48."

Dasgupta retired from the Indian Foreign Service after a career spanning nearly four decades during which he also served as India's ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, and was India's high commissioner to Singapore and Tanzania.