9 India and Multilateralism India and Multilateralism The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the necessity and urgency of collective global leadership and greater international cooperation. However, international institutions in their current format are in no position to spearhead this charge. The failure of the international community to mount a coordinated response or to even hold a serious discussion regarding the pandemic’s origins have raised questions about the relevance of such institutions. Even pre-Covid, the multilateral order was strained due to insuf cient nancial support and political guidance, and the increasing politicization of international institutions by the great powers. 57 The existing system is crying for change, and the pandemic may have provided that opportunity. This is the narrative prevalent in India. While remaining cognizant of the failure of the current global system, multilateralism is still seen as the way forward to deal with the current and post-COVID challenges. The pursuit of multilateralism has been a key aspect of Indian foreign policy since independence and will continue to remain a future priority. 58 Modi, for instance, while acknowledging the limitations of the international institutions exposed by the pandemic, also asserted India’s rm belief that the“path to achieve sustainable peace and prosperity is through multilateralism”. S. Jaishankar similarly noted that while multilateralism did not rise to the occasion, the pandemic underlines the need for the international community to work together much more sincerely in search of collective solutions. 59 Despite India’s growing engagement with minilaterals and plurilaterals, none of them are meant to replace the existing global multilateral order, which alone can be inclusive enough to establish global norms. 60 India, however, is not blind to the need for reform. It has been pushing for reforms in the UN Security Council and Bretton Woods Institutes, even pre-COVID. 61 The pandemic has provided New Delhi with an opportunity to pursue this agenda with renewed vigour and play a leading role in shaping the new emerging global order. Reformed multilateralism has become the mantra for the Indian government, something that it has consistently advocated at different multilateral fora. It wants reforms to focus on making global institutions more inclusive, transparent, and representative of the needs of the Global South rather than remain focused on the agenda of the developed countries. Many believe that given India’s growing clout in the international system, it is well-placed to effect this change. It can help shape the discourse and new agenda while simultaneously serving as the bridge between the developed and developing countries. This is a test of India’s credentials and ambitions to be a major global player. The urgency for India to assume a leadership role and work with like-minded countries to reshape the multilateral system is compounded by the need to balance China’s growing in uence over these international institutions. India, like many other countries, is concerned that China is staking a claim to either revamp the existing order or emerge as its new defendant. In either scenario, a China-dominated multilateral order is not in India’s interests. The World Health Organization(WHO) presents an ideal case study to understand India’s views on multilateralism. Despite the global outrage against WHO, including in India, New Delhi continues to endorse its importance and the need to strengthen it. A weakened WHO has strategic implications. 62 The US decision to withdraw from the WHO in mid-2020 gave China the chance to ll the void, by pledging 2 billion US dollars and to send doctors and medical supplies to developing countries. 63 India has been against the idea of any one country – be it the US or China – dominating the agenda of international institutions. However, at present, the possibility of China dominating the global order is a far more consuming concern. The pandemic already made the danger of such Chinese in uence abundantly clear as China led the WHO to mischaracterize the severity of the health crisis in the initial stages and subsequently delay endorsing the necessary protocols. 64 The possibility of China using a weak and discredited India and the Geopolitics of COVID-19