By Rajneesh De, APAC News Network
India assuming G20 presidency in 2023 will culminate, in the normal course of time, in the country hosting its maiden G20 Summit by the year end. More critically, though the G20 presidency offers India the appropriate platform to reinforce itself as the harbinger of strategic autonomy in an increasingly geopolitically polarized world. The G20 leadership offers the country the opportunity to showcase the “India story” to the world countering multiple contingencies including global warming, food and energy shortage, terrorism, geopolitical conflict, and bridging the digital divide.
PM Narendra Modi feels “today, the greatest challenges we face – climate change, terrorism, and pandemics – can be solved not by fighting each other, but only by acting together” and India’s G20 presidency under his pro-active, decisive and action-oriented leadership will enable the country to walk the talk on this global platform.
India’s Three Digital Universal Cornerstones for the World – e-payments, access, health
‘Data for Development’ will be an integral part of the overall theme of India’s G20 presidency. This is particularly synchronous with what India as a nation has accomplished when it comes to digital access for its citizens. India leads by example with respect to e-payments and UPI. The digital payments volume has increased at an average rate of 50% over the last five years; digital identities for citizens under UIDAI too has increased manifold. Now India as the G-20 leader is poised to replicate this experience on a global stage as it drives the reforms of multilateral financial institutions.
Bridging the digital divide through replication on a wider global platform will be a force multiplier, especially in combating global poverty. Most of these benefits can only come when digital access becomes inclusive. Health is another pertinent domain for digital inclusion and there too India expects to replicate its success with the completion of the world’s largest vaccination drive during the COVID pandemic.
India, with the second largest population in the world, inoculated the majority of its senior citizens as well as its adolescent population between 15 and 18 years of age. Vaccines prepared in India and exported the world over helped many countries to combat COVID globally. The G20 presidency is the time for India to replicate this exemplary management of the pandemic.
Another impact of the pandemic globally was how it affected supply chains across the world. India at the helm of G20 can show a digital mirror to the world here especially the way it revolutionized the logistics sector with the National Logistics Policy, even as supply chains got impacted during the pandemic. The sector has been modernized and simultaneously integrated through a unified digital platform.
Taking World Towards Sustainable Climate and Environment Goals
Universal e-Payments, universal access and universal health would perhaps be the top three, but definitely not the ‘only Indian’ contributions to the world while being at the helm of the G20 hierarchy. After all India ranks among the top 5 nations worldwide in addressing climate change and is the best G20 nation, according to the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI, 2023) released during COP 27.
The country has also made remarkable progress in speeding renewable. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has recently been looking at ideas from India to accelerate decarbonisation worldwide including how the demand for energy has been decoupled from demand for coal and the innovative work being done on green hydrogen. No wonder, therefore that building on PM Modi’s on Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), India will work closely on critical enablers for climate action that the G20 leaders agreed at the Rome Summit. These include affordable financing, technology transfer and action on SDG12- that is sustainable consumption and production.
India’s Advocacy for Strategic Autonomy Amidst Geopolitical Turbulence
India’s G20 presidency will offer another sterling opportunity to rectify the long standing anomalies afflicting developing countries especially in agriculture and food subsidies. India already has shared priorities with both the developed and developing world on climate action, climate finance and technology collaboration, clean, sustainable, affordable and inclusive energy transition as well as accelerated progress on sustainable development goals. As India ascends to its G20 presidency, the world will benefit from the country’s experience in etting sustainable climate and environment goals subsequently creating economic prosperity for its citizens.
While India will definitely showcase its power for digital inclusion and climatic inclusivity for the world to emulate, the country also expects to set up an effective agenda for a turbulent world beset by challenges of terrorism, global warfare, conflicts, debt crisis, post-COVID economic recoveries and possibilities of a recession looming in the near future. The G20 theme of this year “One Earth, One Family, One Future” perfectly captures India’s underlying philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the world is one family), which will guide India’s G20 leadership. Geopolitics and global economic currents are after all inextricably linked and under PM Modi’s dynamic leadership, India’s G20 leadership is expected to create the global roadmap.
Being one of the top five economies of the world, India is expected to give direction to the world to counter terrorism, geo-political conflicts, geo-economical disparities and lead towards creating and nurturing a post-pandemic resilient society. As the global advocate for peace, security and prosperity, India has the prospect to steer and prepare the world for the future by formulating solutions and initiating dialogues for both ge-political and geo-economical issues.
