At G-20, India can play a pivotal role for global good, world welfare

Duina Barbaruah

(dwinakashyap@gmail.com)

One of the epoch-making international events India is hosting is the G20 Summit, the presidency of which it formally took over on December 1. The taking over the G20 presidency by India is yet another feather in the cap of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his growing stature as a world leader be it the United Nations, G-7, World Trade Organization, Quad, Shanghai Cooperation Organization or Brics.

India has taken over the presidency of the most significant international event more so at a challenging time for the global community vis-a-vis given the strong geopolitical polarisations. It is against this backdrop, the challenges and expectations from India's presidency will be onerous.

Hemmed in by the debilitating effect of the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war on the other leading to spiralling costs of food and energy imports, the eyes of the world are now riveted on India to provide the much-needed impetus to wriggle out of this predicament and to lend voice to their hopes and aspirations to pave the way for greater macroeconomic and financial stability to the world order. As the country is firmly entrenched in providing an inclusive and accelerated pace of development to its people, it is well-placed to provide solutions to these looming global challenges.

With the downhill slide in the global economy hit hard by the pandemic with a warning from the International Monetary Fund of a "broad-based slowdown" for the economy at large in 2023 and that "the worst is yet to come", India has an uphill task to arrest the slump through concerted moves in terms of monetary, fiscal and trade policies.

With a relatively higher gross domestic product (GDP) growth, stronger public finances and booming exports (according to IMF, India's economy is poised to remain as fastest growing among major economies in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024) the country is at an advantageous position among G-20 comity of nations to push for a consensus for drastic policy changes aimed at tackling inflation, debt or deficits by powerful and developed countries. Prime Minister Modi's undertaking that "there should be no first world or third world, but only one world" can catapult a G-20-all comprehensive macro-economic agreement.

Added to it is Prime Minister Modi's promise that India's G-20 presidency will be "ambitious, decisive and action-oriented" is primarily based on the interconnectedness of the global economy and international geopolitics. With India's close ties with Russia, it can play a pivotal role during its G-20 presidency tenure to prevail upon President Vladimir Putin to put a halt to the war in Ukraine for global good and world welfare. And what better opportune moment India has got to douse the flames when winter has set in with both warring sides showing signs of fatigue and exhaustion? Also India, in its capacity as the G-20 chair, must team up with G-20 countries to have leverage over the warring parties to bring the war to an end and to usher in global economic stability. Prime Minister Modi's assertion "today's era must not be of war" that resonated in the G-20 joint declaration at the Bali Summit of the G-20 in Indonesia must be the guiding force for the G-20 leaders to act upon with tenacious endeavour. After all, India's crucial intervention, after 15 rounds of ministerial-level meetings failed, eventually culminating in driving consensus at Bali has been acknowledged the world over. Paragraph 3 of the Bali declaration - on the Russian aggression in Ukraine - was an outcome of the intervention. That is not all. The G-20 Declaration, 2022, drafted by the Indian Sherpa, and adopted at Bali last month was copied in ditto by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders on their stand on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The event is a window of opportunity for India to drive home the message to the non-G-20 member-States and their people that their well-being is being safeguarded with the country's G-20 presidency motto, "One Earth, One Family, One Future" (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam). In this context, India and other emerging nations within the G-20 have to work avowedly for the interests of the least developed countries (LDCs) while it goes about setting the G-20 agenda and negotiating pacts on a gamut of specific issues.

Moreover, keeping in view the politics that surfaced during the recent COP27 climate conference in Egypt to drive a wedge between the emerging countries and the LDCs to dismember the Global South, India is at the helm of G-20 affairs, has to come out with a comprehensive G-20 development deal that addresses the growing concerns of economically weak and poor nations with no seat at the global high table.

The international event gives a whole world of opportunity for India to demonstrate its strengths in the digital space and as a hub of innovation. The Modi Government plans to position the Indian model of development and the country's unique and significant achievements such as its public digital infrastructure, its generics industry's role as the pharmacy of the world and its robust financial inclusion model for the potential solution of issues and development. It will also be an opportunity for the Modi-led NDA Government to push its agenda on lifestyle for the environment (LiFe, first stated by Prime Minister Modi at the climate conference in 2021, and launched by him and the UN Chief this year), climate financing, energy transition and women-led development.

With its best digital public infrastructure models in place including the Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile phone trinity, UPI, CoWIN, Ayushman Bharat and FASTag, India can certainly show the world that digital technologies, if put to proper use, can bring about socio-economic transformation and can become a force multiplier in the war against poverty. Digital India must be showcased to the entire world. And why not, as we are fast emerging as a global fintech leader and boast the world's third-largest start-up ecosystem?

In the global health scenario, India has emerged as a key player with its robust, diverse, innovative, low-cost, inclusive slew of initiatives like Ayushman Bharat, CoWIN, Vaccine Maitri, and the National Digital Health Mission together with its holistic approach to health and well-being through ayurveda and yoga. Towards this end, India will have to take the lead in forging partnerships with other G-20 countries to devise mechanisms that augment the capacity of developing countries to tackle health crises such as Covid-19 and to create a holistic, global health architecture that can respond effectively to impending health crises.

With India setting the global agenda with 200-plus G-20 meetings and programmes going to be organized across 56 cities over the next year (Assam also getting the opportunity to host five such programmes), it will indeed be a great opportunity for the states to showcase their diverse and distinctive cultural mosaic, a taste of local cuisine and places of historical interest to the world. The G-2O Secretariat that has come up in the Sushma Swaraj Bhawan in South Delhi tasked with preparing issue notes that translate into outcome documents to form the basis of G-20 negotiations, has planned outreach activities that include "beach and coastal cleaning, showcasing green buildings, cultural exhibition, waste recycling, health camps with a focus on ayurveda and traditional medicine, technology hackathon, showcasing millets and food and promoting Rupay cards among the diaspora.

Be that as it may, India has assumed the G-20 presidency at a time when it is celebrating the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Kaal', and this makes the occasion even more special. To the clarion call of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, let us all join hands to make this G-20 event a roaring success.