INDIA has launched its campaign for a non--permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with a clear intent of pushing many legitimate issues that the world cannot afford to ignore -- such as safety and security of countless thousands of Indian seafarers around the world’s oceans, and a resolute action against any type of terror funding. These were also the issues Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi had raised with much vehemence during his recent meeting with United States President M r. Donald Trump. In other words, these issues are central to India’s diplomatic philosophy for a long time, and it will push the same as it campaigns to get into the UNSC via a non-permanent seat -- that it has occupied for as many as eight times so far. By now, the world knows that India has been trying its level best to achieve better reforms at the United Nations so that the world body becomes far more inclusive than it has ever been.

 

India has insisted often than the UN cannot be allowed to act as a hand-maiden of a few powerful countries -- such as those who occupy permanent seats at the UNSC and those who often threaten to pull out of the UN every now and then often for flimsy reasons. In every likelihood, the Indian campaign will result into winning it the non-permanent seat at the UNSC for another term. There also is no doubt that India will never remain satisfied with a non-permanent seat on the UNSC. It insists that its size, its importance in economic and diplomatic matters, its ever-growing military and strategic capabilities must be recognised by way of a permanent seat on the UNSC. Over time, more and more countries have expressed support to India’s demand for Permanent UNSC membership. Over time, thus, an impression has gained ground that a strong push may take India to its UN destination in a desired manner. The world has often appreciated India’s stand on various international issues.

 

Even at the UN, India has never issued any threats of withdrawal from the world body or refusal to pay its due. Much to the contrary, it has insisted that the UN needs to be made future-ready so that every member-nation gets its legitimate respect at the haloed forum -- not in terms of verbal appreciation, but also in terms of actual benevolence. India’s insistence on safety and security of countless thousands of Indian seafarers around the world also highlights another positive reality -- that Indian work-force is spreading all over the world for professional reasons. It is only natural that the Indian leadership is eternally concerned about the safety and security of all those people spread all over the world in different countries, in different geographies and sociologies. On different world platforms, Prim e Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has made it clear to the world that India’s belief on multi-lateralism and accommodative international ethos stems from its ancient culture highlighted beautifully by the idea of one-world-one-family -- Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Mr. Modi is never tired of telling the world that sharing of common resources by the entire humanity has been India’s core philosophy as espoused by the Upanishadas.

 

“For us, globalisation is not a political move, but a belief in shared values. India does not treat the world as a Bazaar but considers the world as one family”, he had said at the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland soon after he took over as Prime Minister. Indian value-system, thus, is very clear -- in favour of a rule-based world order in which sharing of common resources equitably is the core value. Even as India launches its campaign for UNSC’s non-permanent seat, its sights are set on the future Permanent Seat. The world cannot afford to continue with a sectarian United Nations, India has often said. As its current campaign gains momentum, India will earn more friends for its long-term campaign as well. There should be no doubt that in the next few years, India will be seated at the United Nations Security Council as a Permanent Member.