India and the United Nations-A Complex Relationship!!!!

The world is more globalized today than ever in human history and the United Nations and its affiliated organizations have transformed themselves into global institutions involved with nearly every aspect of our daily life. How has this come about? Can the United Nations claim credit for it? What is its relevance in today’s world? How much has India contributed to its growth? How does India view the organization and what expectations does it have of it?  

An India that leads the way on human rights, climate control, and the fight against poverty and injustice, that assumes greater responsibility in and for the United Nations, that partners with the United States even as it partners with other countries around the world, and that tirelessly works to reform the UN will be an India that the world admires and respects. It will be at the forefront of the creation of a better tomorrow for all of earth's children. Nehru's words echo across the decades: "All this may seem fantastic and impractical in the modern world .... And yet we have seen the repeated failure of other methods and nothing can be less practical than to pursue a method that has failed again and again. Terrorism has become an important concern of the United Nations and India is in the forefront of this activity. India has been pressing for the adoption of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that can increase international cooperation and the effectiveness of the UN in combating cross-border terrorism. 

Is the strongest symbol of that action under the United Nations umbrella14? 

Regardless of whether or not India gets a permanent seat on the Council, and indeed especially if it does, India must simultaneously work towards reforming the United Nations. The United Nations must have an efficient and capable bureaucracy, it must have the resources to carry on its work, and it must get past members pushing agendas solely on the basis of state interest. India can actively take the lead on the first two problems. It must commit to sending its best and brightest to serve in the international institution. And it must increase dramatically the amount of money it sends to support UN activities, must send forces and supporting materials to support UN missions, and must in other ways step up to assume a much greater share of the burden of carrying this important international body altering the nature of representation at the UN is by far the trickiest element of change, but it is also the most critical. There needs to be, as David Held has recently argued, "layered cosmopolitan perspectives" that account for local, regional, and national formations. Thomas Weiss, the scholarly authority on the UN, has awaited that global government, as opposed to global governance, is the only way forward. And so, we come full circle and return to the wise foresight of Gandhi and Nehru. How precisely one might build up a global government in reforming the United Nations is not surprisingly a matter of some debate.  

Currently, only specific acts of terrorism, such as hijacking and taking of hostages, are prohibited by separate international agreements. India is also keen on the UN exercising responsibility in meeting the global challenges of development, especially poverty eradication and climate change. India is supportive of the UN efforts to promote the Sustainable Development Goals, as it was of the Millennium Development Goals earlier. India is an ardent advocate of UN reform, particularly of the Security Council. It initially eschewed any ambition of becoming a permanent member of the Council. However, when UN reform was taken up by the General Assembly in 1992, Germany and Japan sought permanent membership. India also soon staked a claim. India eventually joined hands with Germany, Japan, and Brazil to form the G - 4, which seeks expansion in both permanent and non - permanent categories. India maintains that the aim of the reform should be to increase the effectiveness of the UN in dealing with: international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction including nuclear disarmament, and transnational organized crime including the trafficking in narcotic drugs, humans, and arms. India's claim to permanent membership is based as much on the size of the country. Its population and economy as it is on its firm commitment to the principles of the UN: peace, democracy, human rights, international cooperation, development assistance India was also one of the first countries to take an international dispute to the Security Council.  

What does the future look like for the United Nations? 

The UN survived the Cold War mainly because neither the United States nor the Soviet Union wanted to walk out of it. They instead blocked each other's initiatives to the detriment of international peace and security. The permanent members 8 continue to treat the UN with disdain. Their main effort is to prevent it from taking any action against their own strategic interests. The UN's security-related activities are thus confined to gentle actions like peacekeeping and sanctions. How long can this continue? Can the UN survive the new East-West confrontation? This question is not difficult to answer. The permanent five have no reason to disturb the current global power structure and as long as it has their support there is no possibility of any change in it. But the fear for the UN is not its extinction but irrelevance. The UN must be the organization for smaller powers to turn to for their security and the protection of their rights. 

Its inability to address their security concerns makes them indifferent to it and turn to the big powers instead. A UN that is deadlocked by the veto of the permanent members in the Security Council is of little use to the rest of the world. A more representative and democratic Security Council will be a more boisterous and cumbersome body but it would be a more meaningful forum for diffusing global security tensions. Reform of the Security Council and of the UN is essential for stemming the continued irrelevance of the organization in its primary role of providing international peace and security. For India, sustained efforts for its reform, no matter how frustrating futile, will be more rewarding than the two - year non - permanent membership it gets periodically in the Security Council.