Context: With the start of the New Year, India officially began its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The country’s flag will be installed at the UNSC stakeout on Monday, which is the first working day of 2021. India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador T S Tirumurti will install the tricolor. He is also expected to make brief remarks at the special ceremony. India will sit in the 15-nation United Nations Security Council for the 2021-22 term as a non-permanent member. This is the eighth time that the country has had a seat on the powerful horseshoe table. Later, in August this year India will be the UNSC President, and will preside over the Council again for a month in 2022.

India’s Commitment at UNSC: In its campaign brochure, India had highlighted:

• Its commitment to multilateralism.
• India’s objective will be the achievement of N.O.R.M.S: a New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System.
• A reformed multilateralism and multilateral system is essential to ensure that the international system is inclusive and caters to the requirements of all countries.
• Demand for transparency in mandates for UN peacekeeping missions.

Push for the Indian-led Comprehensive Convention for International Terrorism (CCIT). CCIT includes the following major objectives:

• To have a universal definition of terrorism that all 193-members of the UNGA will adopt into their own criminal law.
• To ban all terror groups and shut down terror camps.
• To prosecute all terrorists under special laws.
• To make cross-border terrorism an extraditable offense worldwide.
• Joint efforts for UN reform and the expansion of the UNSC.
• 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.

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.

Issues Involved
Winning the maximum votes at the General Assembly this time will be a little hard for India due to:

• Rising tensions in relations with both Pakistan and China.
• Criticism from Turkey, Malaysia and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over the government’s decision on scrapping Article 370 as well as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019.

India’s overall objective ahead in its two year term

• Ahead of the vote, India had launched a campaign brochure which highlighted its demand for transparency in mandates for UN peacekeeping missions and push for the India-led Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, and called for joint efforts for UN reform and expansion of the Security Council.
• A “new orientation for a reformed multilateral system” (NORMS), as laid out by External Affairs Minister, would be India’s overall objective during the two-year tenure that will begin next year.
• Achieving this would depend on how India will conduct diplomacy in the global body, build alliances and raise issues that go beyond the interests of the big five.
• India has long been of the view that the structure of the UN Security Council doesn’t reflect the realities of the 21st century.
• It has also got increasing support from member countries for its push for reforms. But the five permanent members of the Security Council have resisted these attempts.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has already shaken up the global order and sharpened the rivalry between the U.S. and China. It has also opened up fresh debates on strengthening multilateralism and multilateral institutions.

About UNSC Elections

• The UNSC elections to elect the five non-permanent members of the 15-member Security Council for the 2021-22 term will be held on June 17. The dates were announced on June 1, 2020 as France took over the Presidency of the 15-nation Council for the month of June.
• India is the sole candidate for the non-permanent seat from the Asia-Pacific seat for the 2021-22 term.
• Canada, Ireland and Norway will contest elections for the two seats in the Western Europe and Other countries category.
• Mexico is the sole candidate from the Latin America and Caribbean seat.
• Kenya and Djibouti will be contesting for one non-permanent seat of the African group of countries.
• India has been elected as the non-permanent member of UNSC several times previously, 1950 - 1951, 1967 - 1968, 1972 - 1973, 1977 - 1978, 1984 - 1985, 1991- 1992. Its most recent term was from 2011- 2012.
• The UN General Assembly had decided last week to conduct the UNSC elections under new voting arrangements, taking into account restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

 About UNSC:

• The UNSC currently has just five permanent veto-welding members including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China and France. 
• The council also has 10 non-permanent members and every year the UN General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term.

The 10 non-permanent seats are divided on regional basis-

• Five seats for African and Asian States
• Two seats for the Latin American and the Caribbean States
• Two seats for Western European and other States, One seat for the Eastern European States.
• Earlier this month, five nations including Vietnam, Niger, Estonia, Tunisia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines were elected to the UNSC for a two-year term beginning January 2020. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the smallest-ever nation to secure a UNSC seat.
• Currently, the 10 non-permanent members in the UNSC include Germany,  Belgium, Cote d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa,  Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru and Poland.