Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch by Arindam Chaudhuri.
Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi. Pages xiii+192. Rs. 225.

This book too emphasises the importance of a positive outlook in life. Failure should not impel us to give up the quest for success. It is a rare person who has succeeded without tasting defeat.

Chaudhuri points out: "Success is a matter of attitude. It is a matter of what you think you are capable of. It is a matter of futuristic thinking and planning. It is about doing things carefully…" But this is all mundane, is it not? To succeed one has to think a few steps ahead of the competition. The strategy should be conceived after taking into account all the pros and cons. Its execution should be perfectly timed. So what is new?

Chaudhuri does have an ace up his sleeve. His mantra, "Count your chickens before they are hatched" certainly makes one sit up and take notice. But there is a thin line between optimism and fantasy. In response, the author underscores the need for hard work, to improve one’s skills, to persist in the face of adversity, to relentlessly toil for turning one’s vision into a concrete reality. So where a man lost in fantasies will cringe at the prospect of having to "put his shoulder to the wheel", an optimist will not back out of a tough situation.

The author points out that there are three dimensions to success — the attitude dimension, the skill dimension and the knowledge dimension. In the various chapters of the book he stresses upon the importance of cultivating a sense of humour and gives practical suggestions in the art of achieving success – to impress the people who matter, not only with your knowledge and skill but also your manners and behavior. You may not succeed always, but persistence pays.

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Basic Facts About the United Nations Published by the News and Media Division, United Nations Department of Public Information, New York.

The world wars of the 20th century were not unmixed tragedies. They led the world leaders to conclude that it was imperative to have some sort of a mechanism that would bring various nations to a common platform and forge a better understanding of each other. Thus, the first attempt in this direction was made in 1919 after World War I. The Treaty of Versailles helped establish the League of Nations "to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security". The League could not prevent the World War II and consequently died unceremoniously. However the Treaty of Versailles did give the world an enduring gift in the form of International Labour Organisation.

In 1945, after World War II, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organisation to draw up the United Nations Charter. The deliberations were conducted on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of what was then callen Nationalist China (now Taiwan), the Soviet Union, the UK and the USA. The representatives signed the Charter on June 26,1945. Later on Poland too signed the Charter to become one of the 51 original member states.

However, the United Nations Day is observed on October 24 every year because on this date in 1945 the UN officially came into existence after the Charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, the USA and a majority of other signatories.

As per the Charter the aims of establishing the UN were :

1.to maintain international peace and security;

2. to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples;

3. to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;

4. to be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations in attaining these common ends.

The working of the United Nations is based on the following principles :

1. sovereign equality of all its members;

2. all members are to fulfil in good faith their Charter obligations;

3. they are to settle their international disputes by peaceful means and without endangering international peace and security, and justice;

4. they are to refrain from the threat or use of force against any other state;

5. they are to give the UN every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the Charter;

6. nothing in the Charter is to authorise the UN to intervene in matters that are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.

This volume gives details of the composition and functioning of the various organisations affiliated to it or otherwise associated with it like UNESCO, WHO, ILO, UNFPA, DDA, ECOSOC, etc.

Often doubts are raised about the efficacy of the UNO in keeping international peace and understanding. While there have been several failures in the organisation’s working, its achievements are far more weighty. It is an effective instrument for building public opinion to ensure the protection of human rights on a global scale. Today, there is more cohesiveness in the activities of several developmental organisations – irrespective of the fact whether such developmental work is being carried on in Africa, Latin America or Asia. Though armed conflicts have not been completely resolved, at least these have not escalated into major or even global conflagrations.

As Kofi Annan says in the foreword, "Poverty and inequality are fertile ground for conflict. Wars between states have become less frequent, but in the past decade brutal internal wars have claimed more than five million lives, and driven many times that number of people from their homes. Weapons of mass destruction continue to cast their shadow of fear. We must think of security less as defending territory, and more in terms of protecting people. And whether we are talking of conflict prevention, peace-keeping, post-conflict peace-building or other peace-making tools at the disposal of the international community, we must be sure that when the United Nations is called upon to act, it is given the mandate and resources to do the job".

The above statement shows the helplessness of the world body in its quest for an effective role in maintaining international peace. Since it has no standing army of its own and it depends upon the rich nations for its economic viability, the UN remains more or less a toothless tiger.