India has strongly raised the issue of the wrong depiction of the map of India on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) website, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, informed Rajya Sabha, adding that the Indian government’s position on correct portrayal of its boundaries has been “unambiguously reiterated”.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Muraleedharan said that the WHO has informed the Indian Permanent Mission in Geneva that they have put a disclaimer on the portal specifying that “designations employed and presentation of these materials do not imply the expression of any opinion on part of the WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area”. Last month, it was reported that the map of India on WHO’s website was not correctly depicted.
The map on the WHO’s COVID-19 situation dashboard showed Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were marked in grey colour, while the rest of India was in navy blue.
“The issue of wrong depiction of the map of India on the WHO’s website has been raised strongly with the WHO. In response the WHO has informed Permanent Mission of India in Geneva that they have put a disclaimer on the portal,” Muraleedharan said.
“The disclaimer says ‘designations employed and presentation of these materials do not imply the expression of any opinion on part of the WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area or of its authorities or concerning legal status of any country, territory or area of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries dotted/dashed lines on maps represent approx border lines for which there may not be full agreement’.
Nevertheless, the GoI’s position on the right depiction of boundaries is unambiguously reiterated,” he added.