On this day: October 30 — India’s UN Charter ratification and the signing of GATT
On 30 October 1945 India deposited its UN Charter ratification; on the same date in 1947, India joined 22 other countries in signing GATT.
Contextual photograph; not an image of the 30 October 1945 event. Photo: LPulecio-WMF, 20 September 2024, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Changes: only automatic WordPress resizing/compression.
30 October 2026 — A priority search across the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu and Kerala did not produce a major regional anniversary that could be verified for this exact date. Rather than invent a local connection, this edition selects two India-linked events confirmed in official records; it is not an exhaustive list.
1945 — India deposited its ratification of the UN Charter
India signed the United Nations Charter at San Francisco on 26 June 1945. Six days after the Charter entered into force on 24 October, India deposited its instrument of ratification on 30 October 1945. UN records list India as a founding member and show 30 October as its membership/ratification date. This was therefore neither the Charter-signing date nor the date on which the UN formally came into existence.
Official sources: United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library; United Nations Treaty Collection; UN Member States.
1947 — GATT was signed in Geneva
On 30 October 1947, 23 countries signed the Final Act of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) at the Palais des Nations in Geneva; India was among the original participants. The signing and formal conclusion of the negotiations took place on 30 October, but provisional application began on 1 January 1948. This should not be described as the founding day of the WTO, which was established in 1995.
Official sources: World Trade Organization — chronology; United Nations Treaty Collection — Final Act; UN Audiovisual Library of International Law.
