THAT as many as 55 member-nations of the United Nations (UN) have supported India’s candidature as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) once again, is a happy endorsement of India’s growing international clout and acceptance of its global stature. In fact, India has been looking for an entry into the Security Council as a permanent member for the past several years as a matter of right in accordance with its growing importance on the global scene. That effort was stalled often by some member-nations. Now, the effort seems to have come a full circle and India may become a non-permanent member for a new two-year term along with four other nations.

 

 

This situation, however, does not actually do justice to India in a strict sense. On the contrary, India will have to depend on such an endorsement every two years to continue to be a member of the UNSC. To the current arrangement, India will not say ‘no’, but will not cease asking for broader reforms in the UN to make the organisation more accommodative of diverse global interests at all levels.

 

 

Realising that they cannot stop India’s onward march, most members of the UNSC now agree to think of reforms, but actually do not move the matter in the right direction. Countries like China are stoutly opposed to India’s entry to higher echelons of the UN ecosystem. However, at least for now, China has supported the Indian bid, thus making things slightly easier for India. Notwithstanding that, it is obvious that India will have to prove itself to be a member with substance at the UNSC whenever its fresh two-year term begins. During its non-permanent membership in the past, India did prove itself as a good addition to the collective diplomacy.

 

 

India is fully aware that diplomacy at that level is quite complicated, and has charted its own course of actions accordingly. A good proof of this comes from the fact that over the past five years in particular, India’s stature has grown in gravitas and countries like the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France have begun listening to India more seriously. The fact that on the sidelines of G-20 Summit, India, China, and Russia will discuss the current trade war issues, shows how seriously other countries take India as an influential member of the international community.

 

 

There is no doubt that India’s demand for broader UN reforms cannot be sidetracked by the United Nations and other members that have ruled the roost at the world body. India’s insistence on broader reforms does not relate only to its own permanent membership of the Security Council, but also to cater to the changing needs of the global activity. No matter the tensions among some nations owing to various reasons including trade wars, most countries of the world are looking for a world order with harmony as its essential attribute. They look to the United Nations with such expectations. India’s insistence upon broader UN reforms is also from this standpoint.

 

 

Diplomacy is never an instant fix of issues and problems. It is a slow process and has to be carried out with patience and persistence over time. The success in diplomacy is also directly corresponding to the country’s economic prowess and its military capabilities. Such is the hard world of diplomacy where national interests jostle for superior slots. Philosophically, India has often asked for a world order in which musclemen would not be able to bully weaker and smaller nations. Nobody, of course, opposes such a stance, but nobody also agrees to allow philosophy to dabble in diplomatic calculations of gains and losses of respective nations. It is this point at which India will have to make itself stronger and smarter.