Is Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani qualified to be on the board of a key advocacy group on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? Some civil society groups in India have questioned his appointment a month ago, while a UN official has refused to comment.

“In this country we all know and nobody would feel Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani represents symbol of people’s aspiration or equitable growth,” Amitabh Behar, convener of Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), a civil society effort to track government performance in alleviating poverty, told Governance Now.

Behar asked if Ambani had served Indian society which was seriously lagging behind on eight MDG commitments. “As to why did the UN do this, we are clueless and civil society groups are very disappointed,” he said. 

Minar Pimple, regional director, Asia and Pacific, UN Millennium Campaign, told Governance Now: “At this point of time, I can’t make a comment as I don’t know in what circumstances he was taken on the board of the MDG advocacy group.

“I will try and locate this information because the UN secretary general’s office announces a number of committees and groups where several people are taken on board,” Pimple added.

Ambani is the only Indian among the 19 members of the board of the MDG Advocacy Group, which is co-chaired by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, prime minister of Spain, and Paul Kagame, president of Rawanda. Key members in the group include Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, philanthropist Ted Turner and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

The UN had said in a press note, “The wide range of these Advocates’ backgrounds and expertise is indicative that the preparatory process for the MDG Summit in September needs to engage all stakeholders.”

This year's MDG summit, to be held during September 20-22 in New York, will look at the accelerated achievement of MDGs and accountability mechanism. The advocacy group will support UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in mobilising global action and building political will.

As a member of the advocacy group, Ambani is in charge of Focus on MDG 8 (global partnership for development) which will include formulation of an open, rule bases, non discriminatory and predictable financial and trading system.