External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday, 27 September warned the United Nations General Assembly that the Global South is confronting an acute '4F crisis' — a simultaneous squeeze on food, fuel, fertiliser, and finance security — that is threatening to reverse hard-won development gains. Speaking in New York, he called the predicament of developing nations 'particularly acute' as shortages and trade barriers compound existing vulnerabilities.

The 4F Crisis Defined

'The predicament of the Global South is particularly acute,' Jaishankar said. 'It faces a 4F crisis of the security of food, fuel, fertiliser, and finance.' He cited a super El Niño, worsening fertiliser shortages, and obstacles to grain movements as immediate causes for alarm. Progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — covering poverty, health, education, and clean energy — was also under strain, he warned.

Non-market practices and restricted market access, he argued, were making it increasingly difficult for developing nations to industrialise on their own terms. Technology, once viewed as a vehicle of opportunity, was now generating fresh anxiety: he said the misuse of artificial intelligence was sharpening bias and eroding mutual respect between nations.

Eroding Trust and Supply Chain Fragmentation

The minister linked these sectoral pressures to a broader deterioration of inter-state trust. Countries were, he said, actively working to reduce exposure to risk and diversify economic partnerships as intensifying geopolitical competition disrupted global supply chains and access to critical technology. This comes amid a period of heightened volatility in commodity markets and escalating economic nationalism across major trading blocs.

India's Development Record as a Global Template

Jaishankar presented India's domestic progress as evidence that large-scale public delivery is achievable. Improvements in healthcare, nutrition, education, drinking water, electricity, roads, and housing had, he said, 'improved the prospects of one-sixth of humanity.' India's digital public infrastructure — encompassing platforms for direct benefit transfers and identity verification — had helped translate those investments into measurable social and economic outcomes.

'Even as India progresses, we are conscious of our global responsibilities,' he said. 'We know that many of our experiences and achievements are replicable elsewhere.' He pointed to 600 major Indian development projects across 78 countries, spanning infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, information technology, and vocational training.

India's Outreach: Climate, Disaster Relief, and Multilateral Alliances

On climate action, Jaishankar cited the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, and the Global Biofuels Alliance as multilateral initiatives gaining traction. African nations and small island developing states had been prioritised as partners in clean energy, sustainable agriculture, and technology-sharing programmes.

He also highlighted India's humanitarian footprint, noting that the country had supplied medical materials to conflict zones and disaster-affected areas. India responded early to flash floods in Nepal and an earthquake in Venezuela, he said, and had helped address shortages of food, medicine, energy, and fertiliser in partner nations across the Global South.

The Larger Demand: A Greater Voice for Developing Nations

India has consistently used multilateral forums, including the UN, to push for greater representation for developing countries in decisions on international finance, technology governance, and development architecture. Jaishankar's speech at the UNGA wove that long-standing demand into the immediate, practical pressures he described — making the case that structural reform of global institutions is not an abstract goal but an urgent necessity for the world's most vulnerable economies. With the international climate becoming 'less predictable' by his own assessment, the pressure on the Global South to meet its development targets is only set to intensify.