India’s pursuit for permanent membership of the UNSC is evidence of its global ambitions. India deserves it on the account of being a major economic power, having a highly capable military, and contributing to UN peacekeeping forces. Other factors like contribution of funds to the UN budget, population size, being the world’s largest democracy, and a leader of the developing nations also help India solidify its claim.

New Delhi hopes that its eighth stint at the UNSC would help move the organisation towards the ultimate reform of increasing the permanent seats at the high table. The permanent seat will give India enough power to influence global decision-making to further its national interests, and would add an unparalleled bargaining chip in its arsenal of international negotiation.

Last September, PM Modi complained in the UN General Assembly that his country has not been adequately rewarded for its participation in UN peacekeeping. “Till when do we have to wait?” he asked.

India will have the opportunity to shape the discourse, and take decisions on most pressing global peace & security challenges in the UNSC. It will have a say in issues like the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, Iran nuclear deal, the COVID-19 pandemic, and threats posed by climate change.

India has been the passive voice in the Security Council during its previous terms, and has abstained from voting on critical resolutions, showing the indecisive nature of India’s foreign policy. This has made it difficult for the international countries to take New Delhi seriously for global leadership.

In 2011, during India’s seventh rotation on the UNSC, India abstained on the Resolution 1973, which authorised the international intervention in Libya. India claimed that it respects other nations sovereignty during the Nehru’s Panchsheel Era, and on the other hand, New Delhi has not stood up for countries which are victim of aggression from foreign power. India was the first major country to legitimise the Russian illegal annexation of Crimea, and abstained on the resolution, representing the poor qualities of an aspiring global leader.

India have to make itself more relevant to international security, and integral to the decision making on tough issues. New Delhi needs to dirty its hands by choosing sides, taking tough stances, and sending clear signals to countries threatening the international peace. It also has to maintain itself relevant to the UNSC business which is to make difficult and politically sensitive decisions on matters of international security.

Africa is the most dominant item on the agenda. In 2018, for instance, over 50 percent of UNSC meetings, 60 percent of its outcome documents, and 70 percent of its resolutions with enforcement mandates concerned African peace and security issues, according to the Institute for Security Studies Africa. Even in 2020, amidst the pandemic, most UNSC meetings dealt with conflicts in various parts of Africa – from Somalia to Sudan, and from Mali to Guinea-Bissau.

India will have to push for the Security Council reforms so the global institution can better reflect contemporary global realities. Apart from claiming for permanent seat for India, New Delhi will have to bring focus of global fraternity towards the Indo-pacific which is driving the global economic and political agenda; just like managing the divided and ruined Europe was the focus of United Nations in the immediate aftermath of World War II, and security dynamics demanded the attention towards safeguarding its peripheries from the Soviet Bloc.

The global institutional framework should acknowledge this shift, and reflect it in proceedings and debates, especially when the UN is weakening leading to a proliferation of the numerous plurilateral and minilateral forums emerging out in the past decades. Definitions of security have changed considerably, and the Security Council is yet to adapt to the new reality. Failure of the UN to rise to the occasion during the COVID-19 crisis will have significant bearing on its global influence.

The UN reforms are not plausible without ensuring proper resourcing to the United Nations as budget crunch and inadequate resourcing are the major factors restricting the assembly to discuss reforms. Moreover, channelling more resources in the absence of genuine reforms will lead nowhere, and only will perpetuate the status quo.

Lack of reforms compelled some countries to gradually de-emphasise the United Nations in favour of new frameworks to address their most pressing challenges. Other nations have been gaming the UN system to further their narrow interests, for example, the danger in having UN officials and agencies champion China’s Belt and Road Initiative is immense.

For India, this eighth term has brought a number of opportunities along with mounted challenges, and the status quo is no longer a viable option for New Delhi. If UN reforms fail, New Delhi’s approach to the United Nations could significantly get altered in the coming years as India would feel the necessity to look elsewhere for solutions.

India is entering into UNSC temporarily at the moment filled with both peril and opportunity, and this critical juncture of international system where the world is exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic, rising illiberalism, and deepening income inequality. On the top of it, China’s unconventional threatening rise, and the consequences of Trump’s feckless actions are not helping the global community.

The world needs leaders who can counter these malign undemocratic forces, and provide a compelling and countervailing narrative to growing uncertainties in international security system.

Biden administration needs partners like India which can help articulate and implement a global vision predicated on human dignity and international peace. India has a clear choice. It can continue on its current trajectory of domestic bluster and international passivity, and cede this opportunity to others; or it can speak up on international crises, and recommit itself to the remarkable vision of inclusivity and openness which are articulated in India’s Constitution.

India can definitely emerge as the leader the world needs. Now is the time for India to stop simply saying it deserves to be a global power, and start acting like one instead.