Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj addresses the UN General Assembly on Monday.

On the floor of the United Nations General Assembly, Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj today made a push for an expanded permanent Security Council, saying it was time the apex world body got in step with the modern era and took into account the new geopolitical realities.At present, the Security Council has only five permanent members - China, France, United Kingdom, Russia and the United States of America - and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.But the current structure of the UN, Ms Swaraj said, reflects an older world order."The vast majority of nations share the belief that the UN should not remain frozen in 1945, just to serve the interests of a few," she said.An "expansion in the Permanent and non-Permanent membership of the Council to reflect contemporary realities is therefore, an urgent necessity," she said.India is actively engaged in negotiations for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council that will reflect its importance as a trillion dollar economy and a major South Asian power.Its efforts, however, failed this year, with a discussions between countries unable to reach a breakthrough.

Besides India, Brazil, Germany and Japan are the three nations that are working together to push for expansion of Security Council's permanent membership and mutually support each other for permanent seats and are known as G4.They also support comprehensive reforms of the Security Council, including equitable regional representation and adequate representation of small and medium sized UN member states.