Page 389 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

Pakistan opposes India, and Mexico and Argentina oppose Brazil. All these
countries have traditionally grouped themselves in the so-called Coffee Club;
officially uniting for consensus. Most of the leading candidates for permanent
membership are regularly elected onto the Security Council by their

respective groups: Japan and Brazil were elected for nine two-year terms
each, and Germany for three terms. India has been elected to the council

seven times in total, with the most recent successful bid being in 2010 after a
gap of almost 20 years since 1991–92.

India joined the UN in 1945 and is the third-largest and a constant

contributor of troops to United Nations Peacekeeping missions. Foreign
Policy Magazine states, “India’s international identity has long been shaped
by its role in UN peacekeeping, with more than 1,00,000 Indian troops
having served in UN missions during the past 50 years. Today, India has over

8,500 peacekeepers in the field, more than twice as many as the UN’s five
big powers combined. In supporting India’s bid for a permanent seat on an

enlarged Security Council, President Barack Obama cited “India’s long
history as a leading contributor to United Nations peacekeeping mission.”
India was elected to serve in the UNSC from 2011 to 2012 as it had received

187 of the 190 total votes. India is one of the main contributors to the UN
regular budget.

The country currently has the world’s second-largest population and is the

world’s largest liberal democracy. It is also the world’s tenth-largest
economy and third-largest in terms of purchasing power parity. Currently,
India maintains the world’s third-largest active armed force and is a nuclear

weapon state. India is perhaps the only candidate whose bid has been openly
backed by all the P5 nations, with China, Russia, United States of America,
United Kingdom and France, along with various other nations endorsing the

country’s aspirations. India was elected to the Security Council as a non-
permanent member in 2011, with an overwhelming majority of 98% and only
3 out of the 190 countries voting did not vote for India, Egypt being one of

them, though this has been denied by the ambassador of Egypt to India.

NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY