Page 272 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

The proposed terms of agreement will be for 25 years which can be renewed for a further period
of five years. India will save US$ 2 billion while Pakistan will get about US$ 400 to US$ 600
million as transit fee. Diplomats and experts call the gas pipeline as the pipeline of peace. USA is
convincing India not to go for the gas pipeline as America has promised nuclear energy to India. India

has to keep in mind the aspect of Pakistan sponsored sabotage which cannot be ruled out.

SEAT FOR INDIA IN UN SECURITY COUNCIL

UNO was formed in 1945 at the end of the Second World War. The strength of the UNO was only 51
members at that time. The membership has now increased to 191. During last 60 years, it has
contributed a lot to the world peace. But with the passage of time equations are changing in the world
politics. USA is the only superpower which is taking unilateral decisions some of which are not liked
by other nations. One such decision was to attack Iraq without the sanction of the UN Security

Council which has prompted the world body to reform the UN Security Council which should have a
balanced representation.

The present setup has five permanent members and ten temporary members who are selected for a
term of two years only. The five permanent members are USA, Russia, China, France and Japan. The
present setup does not give true representation of the world, for instance there are three members
from Europe (Britain, France and Russia) but none from African Continent. Similarly, there is only
one representative from the biggest continent, Asia, which represents 1/3rd of the population of the

world i.e. China.

A committee was appointed by the Secretary General of the UN in 2003 for recommending reforms
in the UN. The committee gave its report in December 2004. It has given two models for expanding
UN Security Council. These are:

Model A Increase the strength of the permanent members by 6, two each from Asia and Africa, one
each from South America and Europe. The strength of temporary members can be increased by 3.
Thus, there will be 11 permanent members and 13 temporary members.

Model B Increase the strength by two each from Asia, Africa, Europe and Americas. But these

members will have a renewable term of 4 years. The temporary membership can be increased by one.

One proposed change is to admit more members: the candidates usually mentioned are Japan,
Germany, India and Brazil (the G4 nations). Britain, France and Russia support G4 membership in the
UN Security Council. Italy has always opposed this kind of reform, and has submitted since 1992
another proposal, together with other countries, based on the introduction of semi-permanent
membership. In addition South Korea opposed Japan; 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 twenty years since 1991–92.