India demands UNSC overhaul as S Jaishankar champions expanding global diplomacy

India has warned that the United Nations Security Council faces a deepening crisis of legitimacy, arguing that a governing structure frozen in 1945 cannot resolve the world's most severe modern conflicts.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly during a debate on equitable representation, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, said authority drawn from a victory eight decades ago cannot compensate for a council that excludes the modern world. An organisation crafted by and for the victors of the Second World War, he argued, continues to leave vast populations without a voice.

"The cost is already visible. Eighty years on, the Organisation is struggling to deliver peace and reconciliation in some of the gravest conflicts before the Council," Parvathaneni said. "No war, especially one that took place over 80 years ago, should determine today’s state of the world."

The imbalance at the high table

New Delhi highlighted the persistent geographical disparity inside the 15-member council, which retains five veto-wielding permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — alongside 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.

The Asia-Pacific region represents more than 60% of the world's population, yet commands only one permanent seat and one or two elected seats each year. Africa and Latin America remain completely unrepresented among permanent members, while Europe holds two permanent seats and three elected positions.

Parvathaneni noted that around 2.5 million Indians served in the Second World War, with 90,000 dying in uniform, while over four million perished in the Bengal famine under wartime colonial policies. Despite those sacrifices, the post-war setup excluded the victims.

India rejected proposals that limit reform purely to non-permanent seats, calling such compromises an entrenchment of the status quo. On the veto, India maintained that so long as the mechanism exists, it must be extended to all permanent members equally to avoid institutionalising a two-tier hierarchy.

Rising stature and global outreach

The push for structural reform reflects India's rapidly growing international weight. As External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has emphasised, New Delhi has steadily expanded its diplomatic reach by offering global public goods and humanitarian leadership.

Through initiatives spanning worldwide vaccine distribution during health emergencies, promoting sustainable agriculture through the international year of millets, and fostering international wellness partnerships through International Yoga Day, India has built deep goodwill across the Global South. This constructive engagement stands in stark contrast to the institutional gridlock paralyzing traditional multilateral forums.

India is actively campaigning for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2028-29 term. It has also criticised the Intergovernmental Negotiations framework for operating for over fifteen years without a negotiating text, a defined timeline, or clear milestones, urging the assembly to move past hollow consensus and adopt authentic structural change.