Explained: Why India at the helm of G20 is a historic moment

India has taken over the presidency of G20 from Indonesia after the successful completion of this year's Summit in Bali. The leaders of 20 major world economies deliberated on food security, climate issues, and poverty alleviation. It should be noted that India is the fifth developing economy to head the G20. Though the grouping was formed in 1999, the need arose to elevate it in 2008 after the world economies went into recession. 

Asianet News English spoke to Dr Swasti Rao, Associate Fellow at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, to understand the significance of New Delhi assuming the presidency of the G20. 

According to Dr Rao, "The G20 leaders summit in Bali is obviously garnering a lot of attention across the globe. The baton of the G20 presidency has been passed to India. These are important for a couple of reasons. Ever since the G20 came into prominence in 2008, during the global financial and economic crisis, you would be surprised to know if you see the pattern of the presidency; the developing countries have chaired the G20 only on four occasions. Mexico did it in 2012, China in 2016, Argentina in 2018, and now Indonesia is doing it in 2022. India's presidency will be the fifth such occasion.

'It would be a historic moment for India'

Dr Rao said that the developing nations have only recently become more prominent in the G20 agenda. This year, specifically, when India takes the presidency, it would be a historic moment for the global south because the troika will be formed to set the agenda. The troika consists of three countries -- President (India), the previous president (Indonesia) and the next president (Brazil will be taking over the presidency in 2024).

"India taking the presidency is also coming at a historic moment for the global south. The first thing that will be very relevant for India is to basically further the agenda of the global south and become the voice of the global south. That is something which India has to pitch," she said.

"Second thing, if you look at the slogan and logo that India has given, it actually indicates the commonality of the problems that we are facing today. The problems we face today are not the kind of problems that can be solved by one country alone, and that is what is shown through the logo -- one world, one earth -- one future. It means that we are living in an era where the kind of problems, whether it is related to climate or pandemic or various repercussions of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the food crisis. All these crises cannot be tackled by one country," Dr Rao added.

The expert believes that to deal with such a crisis, there has to be coordinated and consistent action. 

"India could play a role. India is one country which has equally good relations with the global north, which is advanced countries, and G7 nations, and on the other hand, it also has good relations with countries like Russia and the rest of the global south and the middle-east. So, India can really operate from that particular point of view, and it can try and deliver," she said, adding that the coordination action is going to be India's mainstay

Multilateral forums turn out to be ineffective

Dr Swasti Rao further underlined that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his statements at the Bali summit, spoke about the escalation of Russia Ukraine war, food security, climate and the ineffectiveness of the existing multilateral forums like the United Nations and attempts to reform them. "In the current scenario, there are much more expectations from the G20 because other mechanisms are not looking very constructive or different to current world problems," she said.

India's solution to the food crisis

"India is very consistent when it comes to food security. The G20 2021 Summit held in Italy, which is called Matera Declarations, talked about sustainable farming, food security, alleviating hunger, eradication of poverty, etc. India has really welcomed it. This time, if you see, the prime minister talked of millet. He said if we focus on the production of millet, it can really solve the global hunger problem. For that, India has really lobbied very hard. Since 2018, India has been lobbying at the UN that 2023 be declared the international year for millets. It sounds like probably a small thing, but if you look at concrete steps are to be taken to solve the global hunger which is so aggravated," Dr Rao said.

"The grain and food security is so aggravated due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. You will see a concrete step India is trying to take, which is very realistic. Because millet is much more drought-friendly, they are much more pest resilient and much more environmentally friendly," she said, adding, "India has great potential to produce millet, but all focus is on wheat and rice. So these are the futuristic things that the prime minister has given to the world. That is India's commitment to food security."

India's commitment to climate goals

"It is extremely serious about it as well. But at the same time, India's image is really at stake. So India is saying that the developed world or western power cannot tell us to stop using coal because they have already reached a point where they can make the transition to renewals while we cannot be making the transition so easily. We do not have the level of industrial modernisation, and then we have a far bigger population to cater to," Dr Rao said.

"At the same time, India has consistently met the climate goals. India is saying by 2030, we will use at least 50 per cent of our energy requirements from renewals. So these are extremely huge things." she added.

Digital public goods

"Thirdly, India will definitely look at digital public goods, and the G20 is going to be a major platform for that. India has had hard-grade success with things like UPI, Rupay, Aadhar identification etc., so these kinds of technologies have good markets in developed countries. Many countries, like France, Japan, UAE, etc., have shown interest in it. Most of the countries are part of the G20 and India can really use this space to push its agenda to actually get better trade results," the expert said.

TRIPS waiver for vaccine production 

"Fourthly, India can use its leverage and try to get the TRIPS waiver on Covid vaccines since it is distributed the vaccines world over. But the capacity is hindered by the trade-related intellectual property rights that control it. The global north, especially the EU, does not want that waiver for profit-related reasons, but India has to lobby to get this waiver so that vaccine production can get more equitable. The doses can reach developing countries and those who need it," she noted.