India supports move for fairer global cartography but makes clear that its sovereign territory must be shown strictly as per official Indian map
NEW DELHI: A seemingly technical change in the way the world is drawn on maps has acquired a distinctly geopolitical dimension for India, with New Delhi backing a United Nations move to promote more accurate representations of the size of continents while making it unequivocally clear that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh must be depicted according to India’s official map.
The United Nations General Assembly on September 4 adopted the resolution “Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, Particularly Africa”, with an overwhelming 164 countries voting in favour, one against and six abstaining. The resolution seeks to encourage wider consideration and use of equal-area map projections, which represent the relative size of landmasses more accurately than the widely used Mercator projection.
For India, however, the significance of the vote extends beyond the question of whether Africa, Europe, Asia or other regions appear larger or smaller on a conventional flat map. Explaining India’s vote, the Ministry of External Affairs made clear that support for more accurate cartography does not amount to acceptance of any particular world map, projection or political depiction of India’s territory.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India’s sovereign territory, including the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, must be depicted in accordance with India’s official map, and that any inaccurate or misleading representation would be unacceptable. He stressed that India’s position on sovereignty and territorial integrity was “clear, consistent and non-negotiable.”
The clarification is particularly significant because the UN resolution itself is primarily about geographical representation rather than territorial disputes. Jaiswal said the resolution neither adopts nor authenticates a particular world map and does not address political cartography, international boundaries, disputed territories or place names.
The traditional Mercator projection, developed in the 16th century, was designed principally for navigation. Its method of projecting the spherical Earth onto a flat surface causes areas farther from the Equator to appear disproportionately large. As a result, Greenland and parts of northern Europe and North America can appear much larger than their actual areas, while Africa and other regions closer to the Equator appear relatively smaller.
The UN-backed initiative, spearheaded by Togo with support from African countries, argues that the distortion has consequences beyond geography textbooks because maps influence how societies perceive the relative scale and importance of different regions. The UN says commonly used maps have particularly understated Africa’s true size.
The Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018, is one of the equal-area projections that seeks to preserve the relative sizes of continents and countries more accurately. Unlike the Mercator projection, it does not dramatically enlarge landmasses as they approach the poles.
For India, this means the country will appear somewhat larger relative to many northern-hemisphere countries on an equal-area representation—not because India’s territory has increased, but because the distortion inherent in conventional maps is reduced.
New Delhi has also taken care to distinguish between supporting the principle of equal-area representation and endorsing the Equal Earth projection specifically.
India’s representative at the UN, First Secretary Raghoo Puri, said India welcomed the intention to promote more accurate and representative cartographic practices but stressed that the resolution should be understood as supporting broader use and consideration of equal-area projections, rather than endorsing the Equal Earth projection or any single map system.
This distinction is important because there is no single flat map capable of representing the Earth’s shape, area, distance and direction without some distortion. Different projections serve different purposes. The Mercator projection, for instance, remains useful for navigation even though it is unsuitable for comparing the true size of continents.
India’s intervention underlines why cartography remains politically sensitive even in an era of digital maps, satellite imagery and interactive globes.
For New Delhi, the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is not merely a question of cartographic technique. India regards the two Union Territories as integral parts of the country and has consistently objected to international maps that portray its territory in ways it considers inaccurate or misleading.
The latest assertion comes against the backdrop of continuing sensitivities surrounding India’s territorial claims and borders. By linking its support for a fairer representation of the world’s physical geography with an explicit caveat on its own territorial depiction, India has sought to ensure that the UN’s cartographic initiative is not interpreted as altering or adjudicating political boundaries.
The UN itself has clarified that its mapping activities encompass a variety of projections and that there is no single prescribed projection for all UN maps.
The Survey of India, meanwhile, continues to publish India’s official political map. Its 2026 13th edition depicts India’s states and Union Territories and provides the government’s authoritative cartographic framework. Thus, while the world’s visual geography may be moving away from a centuries-old projection, India’s message at the UN is that changing the way the world is drawn must not change the way India’s sovereign territory is represented. The development therefore carries a message that goes well beyond cartography: India is willing to support a global effort to correct geographical distortions, but not at the cost of ambiguity over its territorial integrity.
