INDIA’S DEMAND FOR UNSC PERMANENT MEMBER
India along with several other developing and developed countries is demanding for reforms in the UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL including the demand for provision of permanent membership to India. UNSC was last reformed in 1971 which then increased the number of permanent members from 4 to 5 by adding China. UNSC has to be reformed to maintain its relevance and to give equal representation to all the continents.
India wanted reforms mainly in UNSC’s composition and functions. India argues for the following reasons –
1.India says that the composition is biased and is in favour of developed countries as none in the permanent members are from developing countries
2.The way the membership has given just because they are the powerful nations immediately after the world war 2 i.e, US, France, UK, Russia and China (which was added later) is no more relevant today as there are many other countries which are more developed and progressive
3.India even asking for equal representation from all continents by rearranging the membership and by increasing the number of permanent and non permanent member countries
4.The functioning of UNSC has to be reformed as in many cases it failed to stop western hegemony on countries like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Syria where Russia and US has involved in their internal affairs by sending military troops which is a basic principle on which it is created
India strengthens its demands by placing the requirements given by UN Resolution 1992 and Kofi Annan(secretary) in 1997. India says that it has all the requirements as stated by the above resolutions –
1.Permanent member must be a major economic and military power – India is the fifth largest economy in the world, comprises on of the strong military strength being a 4th highest country to contribute more for defence expenditure along with nuclear technology
2.Must be a contributor to the UN budget – India contributes around 6-8% to it
3.The Country must be a democratic country and must give due attention to human rights – india is the largest democracy in the world and has given respect to human rights by coming up with various laws and regulations
4.The country must have large population – India is the 2nd populous country comprising to 1/5th of the total population
5.More representative in the international level- India is a member of several regional and international bodies including UN,SAARC,BRICS,PARIS AGREEMENT…
6.Must maintain peace with the neighbouring countries – India’s NEIGHBORHOOD FIRST POLICY,LOOK EAST POLICY,PEACE AGREEMENTS WITH CHINA AND PAKISTAN,NO FIRST USE POLICY OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS etc all indicates it’s interest towards peace maintainance and by sending troops to help srilanka in stopping the LTTE movement clearly shows its contribution towards peace keeping
Other than these France and Russia also proposed resolutions to make India a permanent member but was not agreed by China and US. Though India is demanding there are several obstacles to achieve it as many other developed countries like Japan, Brazil, pakistan,etc, are also demanding for their permanent membership. And there is a greater opposition from Pakistan and China to India’s demand. The recent happenings in India like the abrogation of article 370 and introduction of Citizenship Amendment Act are also causing greater concern in the global forum as they resulted in greater Human Rights violation.
India to make its demand happen has to maintain its peace keeping measures and politically active in the global forum and by assisting countries that need assistance . India’s concern is mainly bcz the present functioning of UNSC does not allow any resolution to pass if any one country opposes it which had made several issues go unchecked. Terrorism is not yet included in its list as major global problem which is affecting many nations across the world.
Any organisation or a body needs reforms in order to meet the changing global needs. Like wise UNSC must also be reformed to make it more relevant in its functioning. India demand for permanent membership is worthy and can be achieved only with the help of global nations and the present UNSC permanent members . And hence India has to change its policies to get their vito power and by joining other countries in its demand for reforms.
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