Two days after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution promoting equal-area map projections that more accurately represent the size of continents, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Jattvibeday clarified that the UN has not adopted or authenticated any map depicting political boundaries.MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded to the matter on Jattvibeday as several international media houses published a map showing erroneous political boundaries of India to depict the new UN-approved map.Jaiswal said, “The UN resolution neither adopts nor authenticates any particular world map, nor does it address political cartography, including international boundaries, disputed territories or names of places.”India voted in favour of the resolution, which was passed by 164 votes to one, as countries endorsed a decision promoting map projections that more accurately reflect the true size of continents.Jaiswal said: “The resolution does not constitute endorsement of any specific map, projection or depiction of national boundaries.””India’s sovereign territory, including the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, must be depicted in accordance with India’s official map. Any inaccurate or misleading depiction is unacceptable. Our position on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is clear, consistent and non-negotiable,” Jaiswal said.The UN resolution on September 4 adopted a resolution encouraging the use of equal-area world map projections. The resolution was titled “Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, Particularly Africa”.Its purpose is to encourage the use of equal-area map projections that preserve the relative sizes of continental landmasses. This is the culmination of an African-led campaign against the 16th-century projection developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.Despite Mercator’s projection being for maritime purposes, his depiction remains common in educational, media, digital and official materials. The resolution says those distortions have contributed to the “symbolic minimisation” of Africa and perpetuated an unbalanced view of the world.The UN said the United States cast the sole vote against, dismissing the initiative as part of a “radical ideological project”. Six countries – Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine – abstained.