Context: Recently, PM Modi on Friday virtually delivered the keynote address at this year’s High-Level Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The annual Segment convenes a diverse group of high-level representatives from government, private sector, civil society and academia. 

• This was the first opportunity for the PM to address the broader UN membership since India’s overwhelming election as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. 
• The theme of this year’s High-level Segment is 'Multilateralism after Covid-19: What kind of UN do we need at the 75th anniversary'.

Key Points
Covid-19 and Current Indian Scenario

• India has crossed the 1 million mark for Covid-19 cases recently, making it the third highest incidence in the world.
• India also has the third highest recoveries at about 644,000, after the USA and Brazil.
• However, its recovery rate is about 63%, which ranks India at number 42 in the world.

India’s Efforts Against Covid-19

• India has extended assistance to more than 150 countries.
• For example, assistance in materials and services to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives (Operation Sanjeevani), Nepal and Sri Lanka.
• India set up a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Covid-19 Emergency Fund in the South Asian neighbourhood.
• PM Cares Fund to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation like posed by the current pandemic.
• Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with various economic stimulus packages worth Rs. 20 lakh crore aimed towards achieving the mission of self reliance.

Multilateralism

• It is the process of organizing relations between groups of three or more states.

It generally comprises certain qualitative elements or principles that shape the character of the arrangement or institution. These principles are:

• Indivisibility of interests among participants.
• India’s objective will be the achievement of N.O.R.M.S: a New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System.
• Commitment to diffuse reciprocity, i.e. not an equivalence of obligations or concessions in any one exchange but a balance in an ongoing, potentially indefinite, series of exchanges with a group of partners instead of expectations of direct obligations or concessions by a particular member.
• System of dispute settlement intended to enforce a particular mode of behaviour.
• Multilateralism has a long history but it is principally associated with the era after World War II, during which there was a rapid growth of multilateral agreements.
• The organizations most strongly embodying the principle of multilateralism are to be found in trade like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and security like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
• Multilateral institutions have played a significant role in postwar global governance and are arguably more stable than other forms of organization because the principles underlying them appear to be more durable and more able to adapt to external changes.

Benefits of India’s Membership at UNSC

• India’s presence in the UNSC will ensure that the voice of the largest democracy in the world (with strong multilateral credentials) will be heard in an important organ of the United Nations.
• India has always had a global voice and this will give India a greater opportunity to participate actively and shape the Covid-19 and post-Covid scenario.
• Its presence in the UNSC will help bring to the world its ethos of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’-the world is one family.
• The Global South has its development and security aspirations and India will help articulate these aspirations in the Council across different issues.

About Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

• It is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. It is the main body responsible for coordination, policy dialogue, policy review and recommendations on social, economic and environmental issues, and also the implementation of internationally agreed development goals.
• It functions as the central mechanism for all the activities within the UN and also its specialised agencies in the social, environmental and economic domains.
• It is the main arena in the UN for encouraging debate and innovative thinking, forming consensus on future courses of action, and coordinating efforts to attain globally agreed goals. 
• It is also responsible for the follow-up to United Nations summits and conferences.
• It was established as one of the principal organs of the UN by the UN Charter in 1945.
• It is headquartered in New York.
• It has 54 members that are elected by the UNGA. India is currently a member and its term expires in December 2020. Each member has one vote and voting is done by a simple majority. ECOSOC Presidency is for a one-year term. 

ECOSOC Role

• It plays a very important role in the UN system.
• It plays the important role of acting as a link between the diverse body of agencies, conventions and organizations within the UN.
• It plays a leading role in identifying emerging challenges, encouraging innovation, and attaining a balanced integration of the three pillars of sustainable development—economic, social and environmental.
• It acts as a gateway for UN partnership & participation by the rest of the world.
• It is an international meeting point for governments, leaders, academicians, policymakers, parliamentarians, NGOs, etc.

High-Level Political Forum (HLPF)

• The UN HLPF on Sustainable Development is held under the auspices of the ECOSOC.
• The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) meets once every year in July to review the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
• It acts as the central UN platform on sustainable development.
• The Forum first met in 2013 when it replaced the Commission on Sustainable Development.
• It also encourages member states to conduct regular reviews of their progress on achieving the SDGs

Road Ahead

• India called on the UN members to pledge for reform within the world body and held that the multilateral system needs to be more representative.
• The United Nations was originally born from the furies of World War II and the current fury of the pandemic provides the context for its rebirth and reform.
• India has been at the forefront to reform the UNSC, saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the UNSC, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st century.
• At this pivotal moment, with Covid-19 still spreading, geopolitical tensions rising and the cry for racial justice, social justice and climate justice ever more urgent, the UN and world leaders have a responsibility to respond to the anxieties, fears and hopes of the people.