India’s presidency comes at a time when the world is grappling with the lengthening shadow of 3Cs – Covid, climate and conflict. The pandemic has not only led to a tragic loss of human life worldwide but it has also taken a heavy toll on public health systems, education and the global economy. The climate crisis continues unabated, with floods, hurricanes, wildfires and extreme weather continuing to affect everyday lives. The Russia-Ukraine war has sent shock waves through the world, led to a massive humanitarian crisis, driven food and energy prices to record levels, and caused global inflation to increase.
Against this backdrop, and at a time of rising tensions between the West and Russia, and the US and China, the UN Security Council, the world body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, is becoming increasingly gridlocked and dysfunctional. G7 is seen as a rich countries’ club and too elitist.
Which is why the world looks to G20 as the most promising forum for dealing with current upheavals, just as it succeeded in stabilising the financial system during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Since it brings together the most important industrialised and developing economies, it is also seen as far more representative of the current international balance of power.
G20 has also reinvented itself of late by widening its agenda to include issues like climate change, health, jobs and social security, inequality, agriculture, migration, corruption, terror financing, drug trafficking, etc. It is also a house divided because of the geopolitical tensions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. This was shown up at the Bali Summit with President Vladimir Putin refusing to attend.
In a splintering world, ‘we need to create mechanisms of dialogue to heal divides’, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said recently to the UN General Assembly. And the one country that is well positioned to do so is India. As the world’s largest democracy and fifth-largest economy, it has the global heft to take on a coordinating role. And as a major player with the USP of being able to talk to everyone, it has the credibility to act as a bridge-builder and create consensus.
But India brings a lot more to the G20 table. It is the only member country well on track to achieve its nationally determined contributions (NDC) under the Paris climate accords. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for the Environment) contains the seeds of a global mass movement that can connect the power of the people for the protection of Earth.
As the world’s largest producer of vaccines, India has a critical role to play in ensuring global health security. It has already exemplified this through its proposal with South Africa for a World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver from intellectual property (IP) protections for Covid-19-related medical technologies.
Having faced the scourge of cross-border terrorism for decades, India has been proactive on the menace of terror financing. India is a global leader in building population-scale, open-source digital public goods ranging from Aadhaar to India Stack to CoWin. So, the G20 presidency is a chance for it to leverage its strengths for solutions that can benefit the entire world.
At a time when the developing world is hit hardest by inflationary pressures arising from soaring food and fuel prices, India can act as the voice of the developing world, particularly on the issues of food security, climate finance and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
It helps that the new troika (current, previous and incoming G20 presidencies) consists of Indonesia, India and Brazil, the first time three developing economies are leading G20. The range of countries India would be inviting to the G20 Summit as its guests – Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman and the UAE, among others – also reflects an emphasis on hearing the concerns of the developing world.
The theme India has chosen for its presidency is the Vedantic doctrine of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: The World is One Family, as reflected in India’s G20 mantra of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’. As G20 president, India has a unique opportunity to shape that future on all the critical issues facing the world by offering practical support, sharing the unique Indian model of development with the rest of the world, and demonstrating how our ancient wisdom can be a panacea for the fractious geopolitics of our time.
