Indian diplomat Shivani Gupta elected to UN's ACABQ for 2027-2029
Indian diplomat Shivani Gupta has been chosen for the 2027-2029 term of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), the 21-member expert body that examines the United Nations budget for the General Assembly. India's Permanent Mission to the UN announced her election and thanked member states. Her three-year term begins in January 2027.
Syllabus: Prelims · Current Affairs & IR; GS2 · Groupings & Agreements; GS2 · International Institutions
Why this matters for UPSC
GS2 international institutions: the UN General Assembly's budget machinery and India's place in it. Prelims can ask the ACABQ's size, terms and tasks; Mains, oversight of UN spending.
Why it matters
In October 2026 this Committee reported on building projects at the UN offices in Geneva and Nairobi and on the budgets of special political missions. Member states fund the UN through their contributions, and the Fifth Committee works from the Committee's expert reports when it takes up spending. An Indian on the panel means an Indian voice inside that review of how the money is used. Because members sit in their individual capacities, the seat rests on the trust other member states placed in one expert, which India's Mission acknowledged when it announced the result.
Prelims pointers
- The ACABQ is a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly; its own members, not the Assembly, elect its Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
- Under the General Assembly's rules of procedure, the ACABQ must include at least three financial experts of recognised standing, who may not retire simultaneously.
- No two ACABQ members may be nationals of the same State; members serve three calendar years, retire by rotation and may be reappointed.
- ACABQ membership rose from 13 to 16 from 1978 and from 16 to 21 from 1 January 2021, each time by a General Assembly resolution.
- ACABQ seats since 2021: African group five, Asia-Pacific five, Latin American and Caribbean four, Western European and other States four, Eastern European three.
- The ACABQ is a 21-member expert body; the Administrative and Budgetary Committee, called the Fifth Committee, is the Assembly committee it assists and reports to.
- Besides the UN programme budget, the ACABQ reports on UN accounts and examines the administrative budgets of the specialised agencies on the Assembly's behalf.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), consider the following statements:
1. The ACABQ is a principal organ of the United Nations under the UN Charter.
2. The Chairman of the ACABQ is appointed by the UN Secretary-General from among its members.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer
Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2. Both statements misstate the ACABQ's status and how its Chair is chosen.
Statement 1: incorrect. The ACABQ is a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly, set up under it, not a principal organ.
Statement 2: incorrect. The members of the ACABQ elect its Chairman and Vice-Chairman themselves.
Eliminate: statement 2 is wrong, as the members elect the Chair. Out: (b), (c).
Eliminate: statement 1 is wrong too, as the ACABQ is a subsidiary organ. Out: (a).
Trap: Wrong scope. Statement 1 raises a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly to the rank of a principal organ of the United Nations.
Remember: The ACABQ is a General Assembly subsidiary organ whose members elect its Chair.