New Delhi: V. Siddhartha, formerly of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has been appointed by the United Nations as a member of the committee constituted to report on the implementation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540 by the Member-states.

UNSCR 1540 concerns the measures to be taken by Member-states towards non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and the means for their delivery, in particular to non-state actors and agents of terrorism. The Resolution also requires that states enact appropriate domestic laws and establish domestic controls to realise these objectives. The new U.N. Committee, which begins its task from next month, will report to the Security Council on the progress made by the States. Till April 2007, Dr. Siddhartha was a consultant to the Disarmament and International Security Affairs (D&ISA) Division of the Ministry of External Affairs on S&T issues in international security, arms control, implementation of the Indian WMD legislation and export controls in compliance with the UNSCR 1540.

For 10 years prior to that, he was with the Secretariat of the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister in the DRDO.

Dr. Siddhartha was largely responsible for drafting the Indian WMD legislation, `The Weapons of Mass Destruction and Their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005' as well as the appropriate export control regulations.

Earlier, Dr. Siddhartha was associated with the Systems, Planning and Analysis Group of the ISRO.

Dr. Siddhartha is the son of H. Venkatasubbiah, former deputy editor of The Hindu .

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