India’s agenda during G20 Presidency

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On December 1, 2022, India commenced its G20 Presidency.

• India holds the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023.

About India’s G-20 Presidency Agenda

• India’s G20 agenda will be inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive.
  • India’s G20 presidency will work to promote this universal sense of oneness, and hence India’s theme is One Earth, One Family, One Future.
• During the G20 presidency, India shall present its experiences, learnings, and models as possible templates for others, particularly the developing world. 
• India will encourage sustainable and environment-friendly lifestyles, based on its tradition of trusteeship towards nature for a healing planet.
• Highlighting the issue of geopolitics, for promoting harmony within the human family, India will seek to depoliticise the global supply of food, fertilisers, and medical products so that geopolitical tensions do not lead to humanitarian crises. 
• India will encourage an honest conversation among the most powerful countries on mitigating risks posed by weapons of mass destruction and enhancing global security.
•  India’s G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also our fellow travellers in the global South, whose voice often goes unheard. 
• G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also our fellow travelers in the Global South, whose voice often goes unheard.
• India is keen to take its digitised public goods architecture to developing countries, and the mission is to find funding for it.
• India will work with other G20 members to address serious issues of debt, of economic growth, food and energy security, and particularly, of environment.
  • The reform of the governance of multilateral financial institutions will continue to be one of our core priorities

Challenges 

• India is taking charge of the G20 at a time when the world is simultaneously grappling with geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown, rising food and energy prices, and the long-term ill-effects of the pandemic.
• Problems of “food and energy security” that have particularly arisen due to the war in Ukraine.
• Dealing with China would be a “challenge” for India during its G20 presidency.

Suggestions and conclusion 

• India should leverage the G20 to re-imagine the shareholding structures of the IMF and World Bank. 
•  India could use the platform to push its own agenda and South Asia’s agenda on a global scale — for example, by coming up with an alternative financial mechanism to SWIFT, which is a U.S. monopoly; and taking baby steps for making the rupee more international.
• India, like the European Union, represents a multicultural and multi-religious quasi-federal structure. There are different States, or Europe-like countries, within India’s border. India has a rich culture. 
• The G20 would be a good platform for India to showcase the multiple and myriad aspects of its composite culture so that the world begins to appreciate the richness and cultural tenacity of the country.

• This is a big moment for India to showcase and influence soft power abroad, as the brilliant and powerful diaspora is doing right now.
  •  This can be a great moment to bring together the power of the diaspora and the power of Indian culture on a single platform.