‘The long-sustained image of India as a leader of the oppressed and marginalised nations has disappeared on account of its new found role in the emerging global order.’ Elaborate.
Approach · directive: “elaborate”
What it asks · Evaluate the claim: trace India's earlier role as a voice of the colonised and the Global South, show how new alignments and economic interests have altered its image, and judge whether the image has really disappeared.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Elaborate India's earlier image as a leader of the oppressed and marginalised nations
- Elaborate how India's new role in the emerging global order has altered that image
- Judge whether the image has really disappeared: continuities and the balance
Open with · Nehru's India spoke for the colonised and the non-aligned, from Bandung (1955) to the NAM (1961), while today's India is also a large market, a nuclear power and a partner of major powers.
Cover
- Past role: India opposed colonialism and apartheid, took South Africa's treatment of Indians to the UN (1946), and helped shape the NAM and the G-77.
- Post-1991 shift: liberalisation, new strategic partnerships, the Quad and the bid for a Security Council seat moved priorities from solidarity to interests.
- Perceived retreat: on trade, nuclear and security questions India now weighs national interest as much as Global South solidarity, and major powers court it.
- Continuities: India still champions developing-country interests at the WTO (the 2003 G-20 bloc, food security), on climate justice and through the International Solar Alliance (2015).
- Development partnership: lines of credit, capacity building and disaster relief in Africa, Asia and the neighbourhood sustain goodwill, though asymmetry breeds suspicion in some neighbours.
- Emerging order: in a multipolar contest India balances the US, Russia and China through the Quad, BRICS and SCO, acting as a swing power.
- Assessment: the image has changed rather than vanished; credibility as a Global South voice depends on consistent stands, development finance and reform of multilateral bodies.
Close with · India now speaks for the developing world from a position of interest and influence, not of solidarity alone; the older image survives only if action matches rhetoric.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 298 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Nehru's India spoke for the colonised: it raised South Africa's treatment of Indians at the UN in 1946, helped shape the Bandung conference (1955), the Non-Aligned Movement (1961) and the G-77 (1964); today's India is also a large economy, a nuclear power and a partner of the major powers.
The older image
- India led opposition to colonialism and apartheid and pressed for a fairer economic order through the G-77 and the NAM, giving it moral standing far beyond its material power.
How the new role has changed it
- Post-1991 liberalisation and new strategic partnerships shifted priorities from solidarity to interests; the Quad and the bid for a permanent Security Council seat mark a great-power orientation.
- On trade, nuclear and security questions India now weighs national interest as much as Global South solidarity, and it is courted by major powers rather than leading the marginalised against them.
- In a multipolar contest India balances the US, Russia and China through the Quad, BRICS and the SCO, acting as a swing power rather than a bloc leader.
- Asymmetry with smaller neighbours breeds suspicion, weakening its claim to speak for them.
What remains
- India still defends developing-country interests at the WTO (the G-20 bloc of 2003, food security) and on climate justice, and founded the International Solar Alliance (2015).
- Development partnership through lines of credit, capacity building and disaster relief in Africa, Asia and the neighbourhood sustains goodwill.
Assessment
- The image has changed rather than vanished: India now speaks for the Global South from a position of influence, but its credibility depends on consistent stands, development finance and pressing for reform of multilateral bodies.
India's voice for the marginalised survives, but it is now one of interest and capacity rather than solidarity alone; the older image endures only where action matches rhetoric.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.