G20 Presidency of India – Voice for developing world

In News: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the logo, website and theme for India’s presidency of the G20, setting the tone for the country’s G20 presidency, beginning December 1 2022.

Context:

• With the global population expected to cross eight billion this year, one is reminded of Gandhi’s caution, that the world has enough for everybody’s needs but not for everyone’s greed.
• India’s G20 presidency coincides with its growing confidence, matched by its rising stature and high economic growth rate.
• It must nonetheless countenance a complex geopolitical moment, with tensions between G7 nations and Russia over the war in Ukraine, and growing friction between the US and China.

Significance:

• Geopolitics:
• During its G20 presidency, India can be a voice for developing world.
• India’s commitment to advancing South-South cooperation is well acknowledged.
• It can lead towards new multilateralism and reassessment of the Global Financial Order to ensure adequate credit enhancement and blended finance for sustainable green transitions.
• PM Modi’s recent advice to President Putin that “now is not the time for war” is anchored in the ethos of peace and non-violence, the legacy of Buddha and Gandhi.
• Climate Change:
• At the COP26 in Glasgow, Modi proposed Mission LiFE, which places individual behaviour at the centre of the global climate action narrative.
• The Mission intends to establish and nurture a global network of individuals known as Pro-Planet People (P3), committed to adopting and promoting environmentally friendly lifestyles. This is based on the idea that responsible individual behaviour can undo the damage wrought upon nature.
• India’s global initiatives in recent years such as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in The Region), “blue economy”, “clean oceans”, and disaster-resilient infrastructure have the potential to gain traction in the G20.
• PM Modi’s “Panchamrit” announcements at COP26 — net zero by 2070, non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, 50 per cent of energy requirement through renewables by 2030, reduction of carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, and reduction of carbon intensity in the Indian economy to less than 45 per cent by 2030 — established India as a climate leader.
• The G20 presidency will provide India with an opportunity to give impetus to several of its initiatives for clean energy partnerships — especially in solar, wind and hydrogen — with the EU, Japan and the US.
• It will provide a platform to give a fillip to the idea of, “One Sun, One World, One Grid”, first mooted by Modi at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in 2018.
• Economy:
• India has the scale and capacity to set a shining example of rapid and decarbonised economic growth to help realise the G20’s global net zero ambitions.
• India’s commitment to digital transformation will be a key element in forging an accessible and inclusive digital public architecture.
• Success with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Direct Benefits Transfer and Aadhaar authentication in welfare schemes
• Use of the CoWIN platform enhanced vaccine accessibility and equity.
• Covid-19:
• India has made a strong pitch for a TRIPS waiver to ensure equitable access to vaccine production.
• At the height of the pandemic, India provided 250 million vaccine doses to 101 countries, apart from other medical assistance.

Challenges:

• Multilateral institutions are perceived today as unrepresentative, ineffective, or worse still, both.
• Disruption of supply chains due to the Ukraine crisis and unprecedented energy and food crises (PM citing at the SCO Summit).
• There are emerging challenges in energy transition, trade and technology.
• Stagflation in the US, China and Europe affects global economic outlook.

Suggestions:

• At the “Global Supply Chain Resilience” meeting in 2021, Modi advocated cooperation on three critical aspects — trusted source, transparency and time frame — to improve global supply chains.
• Focus attention on climate finance, beyond the existing annual $100 billion pledge by Advanced Economies (AEs) to assist developing nations in climate change adaptation and mitigation from 2020 to 2025.
• Digitalisation of economies and to develop a consensus on an open source, open application programming interface (API) and an interoperable framework for public digital platforms on which the private sector can freely innovate.
• This would help maximise the impact of the digital transformation for the global public good, including new data, measurement tools, indicators of economic growth and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Key for a green economy is a viable international framework for development and international trade in GH2, together with green ammonia and green shipping.
• The climate challenge is sure to be one of the significant themes for India’s presidency.
• Green hydrogen can replace fossil fuels on an industrial scale, including in hard-to-abate sectors such as refineries, fertilisers, transport and cement.
• Reliable supplies of critical minerals and technological collaborations for energy storage, including a global battery coalition, could provide answers.
• G20 could work toward an expanded and robust civilian nuclear energy cooperation framework, including for small modular reactors.

Way forward:

• India’s presidency should represent the widest and most vulnerable constituencies. It can also advance intra-South Asian economic integration which is essential for India’s rise.
• It is truly India’s moment, to infuse new hope and point the world towards a values-based future, beyond mercantilism, the blight of the pandemic, war and ideological chafing.

Source Indian Express