New Delhi:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in New Delhi today to meet with government officials and business leaders.
He is scheduled to meet with Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad later in the day. On Friday, he is to hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Foreign Minister SM Krishna and others.
On Saturday, the UN chief is to fly to Mumbai.
No details of Ban's agenda were immediately available, but he is expected to discuss regional and global issues.
A New York-based rights group said it hopes Ban will also discuss India's own human rights record. Human Rights Watch accused India of abuses including extrajudicial killings and widespread torture by troops and police.
Ban "should not gloss over the serious domestic violations and routine impunity that affect millions of Indians, and hold back the country's development," Meenakshi Ganguly, the group's South Asia director, said in a statement.
It said Ban should press the government to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives the military sweeping powers to act in troubled and insurgency-wracked areas, including Kashmir and the states of Manipur and Nagaland.
Under the law, troops have the right to shoot anyone suspected of being a rebel and to arrest suspected militants without a warrant.