New Delhi: India should become an active member the International Arms Trade Treaty to put a check on the illegal trade of weapons which is helping in fuelling armed violence that takes around 3,50,000 lives across the world, an International Affairs expert said today.

"India should sign the ''United Nations global Arms Trade Treaty' and become its active member to create a legally binding agreement to regularise arms trade," said Anuradha Chenoy, an expert on International Relations from JawaharLal Nehru University while addressing the inaugural session of the two-day conference on "India, Sustainable Development and Arms Trade Treaty".

The two-day conference has been organised by the Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI) here.

India has abstained from voting for an Arms Trade Treaty in October 2006, she said, adding as sustainable development is only possible when both arms importers and exporters ensure that arms transfer do not undermine economic growth and social progress.

Calling for a join effort to check the illegal arms trade, she said "every year India's military budget increases to protect our borders from outside forces, but illicit arms trade is a big problem within country itself and no concrete efforts have been made to check the menace." According to a UN report, 80 per cent of the world's arms spending is on conventional weapons.

Armed violence kills more than 3,50,000 people a year, and injures more than a million. The movement of small arms across the world is huge with around eight million new small arms are manufactured every year, with no check on the movement of second-hand guns from one user to another.