The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee has called for dismantling weapons of mass destruction within a timeframe to rid the world of the threat of a nuclear holocaust.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights here today, the Prime Minister while reiterating India's commitment to them said that his Government has taken some path-breaking steps towards protection of these inalienable rights and empowerment of the unempowered.

He called for evolving an international mechanism to end the scourge of cross border terrorism. He said the world must work towards minimizing the sharp contours between the rich and the poor, the North and the South and between overabundance of wealth and heart-wrenching poverty. The Prime Minister also underlined the need for evolving and adopting a new international economic order if the goals the world set for itself 50 years ago were to be fulfilled.

The following is the text of the Prime Minister's speech on the occasion :

I greet you all, and every brother and sister around the world, on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This day, 50 years ago, the member states of the United Nations adopted what Eleanor Roosevelt so moving described as "the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere.

The immediate backdrop of the Declaration was the horrifying spectacle of man's brutality against man as witnessed during the Second World War. During those bleak years of this century, an individual's inalienable right to dignity and liberty were brutally trampled upon.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was supposed to be a safeguard against the repetition of the brutalities of World War-II and to establish the overriding supremacy of human rights. This noble purpose was underscored by the Vienna Declaration that asserted: "All human rights are universal, indivisible, inter-related and inter-dependent."

However, the existence of human rights, the very characteristic of these rights -- of being inalienable and indivisible -- was not discovered or forged in 1948. These rights have existed ever since the advent of man and woman. They have been in evidence ever since the quest for equality began, a quest that transcended race and religion. Indeed, human rights are intricately linked to the evolution of human society.

The sages of ancient India realized the import of human rights. Hence, the Rig Veda says, "May the members of our society have similar goals. May our hearts be full of love for each other, and may we be united in one thought. May the individual efforts be put together to achieve our common goal." In a sense, this is the core of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

And it is also the core of our Constitution that not only seeks to protect the political and civil liberties of every citizen of India, irrespective of her/his caste, creed or faith, but also celebrates the harmonious co-existence of diversity in thought and speech. Those who laid the foundations of our Republic had first-hand experience of oppression, segregation and denial of civil as well as political liberties. That experience could have only further strengthened their resolve to lay an unshakable foundation for a democratic social and political order. For, they believed, as we believe today, democracy is the best guarantor of human rights.

In recent years, we have taken the constitutional guarantees a step further by establishing the National Human Rights Commission. India is proud to be the only Asian nation with an active, empowered watchdog body to monitor human rights and their violations.

I must, however, add here that rights go hand in hand with duties. It is the state's duty to protect the citizens' human rights. Similarly, it is the duty of the citizens to ensure that these rights are not misused to the detriment of the state. Both the state and the individual have a sacred responsibility, a responsibility whose sanctity cannot be breached.

Nations faced with the spectre of terrorism find themselves in a difficult situation. They are weighed down by their responsibility towards the protection of human rights as well as the violation of human rights by terrorists. India has reported itself well in this tough situation.

But I would like to tell those who plead for terrorists that terrorism is the ultimate denial of human rights. There is little to distinguish between the blood lust of yesterday's tyrannical dictators and today's terrorists. Nations cannot act in isolation against terrorism. They have to evolve an international mechanism. Hence, India's urging for an international conference to work out the modalities of such a mechanism.

Friends, in another three weeks we will enter the last year of this millennium. We are about to close the chapter on a momentous century and a tumultuous millennium. Fifty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the time has come to take a fresh look at the situation that prevails today. Tyranny of deranged dictators may not be a real threat anymore, but there prevails an entirely different threat that could not have been perceived of 50 years ago.

If human rights are supposed to liberate human beings from the fear of subjugation, denial and death, then those rights are gravely imperiled today by the threat of weapons of mass destruction. We have been steadfast in our stand that these arsenals must go; that yesterday's swords should be turned into today's ploughshares.

Our cry, as also that of other nations who stand against weapons of mass destruction, has been lost in the wilderness of competing power blocs. But that has not weakened our resolve. Today, I once again reiterate India's position that weapons of mass destruction of should be dismantled. The universal destruction of these lethal arsenals brooks no further delay. Let us adopt a time-frame and let us rid the world of the threat of a nuclear holocaust.

Another point I would like to touch upon is the denial of the very right to be human to millions of people across the world due to unrelenting poverty and non-availability of basic necessities such as food, employment, shelter and education. When an infant dies, immediately on birth, or before reaching the age of five, the right of that infant to live is denied. When a child grows up in the dark world of illiteracy, the rights of that child are denied. When a person dies due to lack of basic health care, the rights of that person are denied.

We have to dedicate ourselves to protecting the infant, the child and the person. My Government has taken some path-breaking steps towards protection of these inalienable rights and empowerment of the unempowered. More needs to be done. It is my firm resolve that it shall be done.

A last point. Fifty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world today is divided in sharp contours between the rich and the poor, the North and the South, between overabundance of wealth and heart-wrenching poverty. If the spirit of the Declaration is to be upheld and its noble mission fulfilled, these distinctions have to be minimized. We have to evolve and adopt a new international economic order if the goals the world set for itself 50 years ago are to be fulfilled in their totality.

Let us collectively look forward to the next 50 years and work towards avoiding the failures of the last 50 years. Let the "international Magna Carta of all men everywhere" be implemented in letter and spirit.