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Round The World
New Delhi, 13 September 2023
Beyond G-20 Summit
BUILDING ON 5Ds
By Prof. D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Assn for
Democratic Socialism)
In popular perception, across
the Globe, the G-20 Summit last weekend in Delhi came up roses. Overseas
observers are lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team for the ‘grand successes’
of the mega world event as the Indian commentators are counting the take-aways
from it for the country’s global engagement beyond the Summit.
Admittedly, one could use
several parameters to measure the success of the Summit, such as the
history-making initiatives like the integration of the African Union to make it
G-21, a Bio-Fuel Alliance, the consensus-declaration issued by the leaders,
fringe bilateral meetings, assertion of multilateralism and so on.
To be sure, what stands out as
the India moment of G-20 is the inclusion of the African Union, at least for
two reasons. One, the global politics got restructured in Delhi. The European
Union representing the North and the African Union of the South sit at the same
table to discuss and decide the issues of the World. Second, the voice of the
Global South reflected through the 55-countries AU and others got formally
registered.
There are other feathers in the
cap of G-20 added in Delhi Summit. Although other countries would have
cooperated and contributed to the success, the negotiating and leadership
skills will redound to the credit of the presidency, that was held by India
since November 22; organisingabout 200 meetings across the country attended by
100,000 delegates, in the run-up to the Summit. A virtual Reflection Meet in
November next has been proposed by Modi.
Let us look at the Summit and
beyond with the lenses of 5Ds Prime Minister Modi used to build the Global
future. Modi, as his wont, coins appropriate words and acronyms to capture the
concepts in currency and formulate strategies for national and global politics.
In his inaugural remarks, he talked about the unseemly global trust deficit prevailing
in the world. That must end. He invoked his national strategy based on four vocative
slogans- sabka saath (being inclusive), sabka vikas (welfare of
all), sabka prayas (efforts by all) and sabka vishwas (mutual
trust). He linked the last one to rebuild the Global trust.
At the international level, Modi
coined 5Ds that should shape the Global future; recall the theme of the Summit,
One Family, One Earth, One Future. These are: Democracy, Demography, Development,
Dialogue and Diplomacy. In Delhi Summit, Modi sought to promote these as
abiding Credos for Global politics and economy.
It will be worth our whileto
reflect on the year of India’s leadership of G-20 culminating in the mega event.
Arguably, the G-20 is the biggest world stage at present, given the ineffectiveness
of the United Nations controlled by P-5 and the arbitrary use of the veto by
any of them to block any decision on world issues.
At any rate, taking one D, not
in any order, how important is dialogue? Evidently, over the year, New Delhi
excelled in dialogue and diplomacy. Dialogueis essential for peaceful and amicable
settlement of differences. India has been emphasising on dialogue and diplomacy,
that go together, on the Ukrainian war. Modi said more than once, “it is no
time for war,” resort to dialogue and diplomacy. Truly, the saying goes, “all
war represents a failure of diplomacy.” Some may argue, toexpect a dialogue
when someone’s head is inside the mouth of predator is ludicrous.
Narendra Modi, on the other
hand, used diplomacy to its fullest. A day before the start of the Summit in
Delhi, he dashed for half-a-day to Indonesia for the ASEAN-India and the East
Asian Summits held back-to-back. His presence lent the importance India
accorded to those summits and earned the goodwill of the leaders Modi needed
for the G-20 event in Delhi.
Secondly, the Indian
negotiating team took the pacts and declarationsto be made one at a time. The
inclusion of AU was on the cards as no member country had any active opposition
to it. But no one had taken the proactive step to make it happen. India did it.
Modi wrote to the leaders of G-20 much before the Summit if anyone had reservations
on including AU as the permanent member. So, he had their buy-ins.
Similarly, on other pacts like
the revival of Black Sea Grain Corridor, Food Security, the DPI, SDGs, Reform
of MDBs, the political space for the Global South, the consensus was hammered
out step-by-step, layer by layer. The sherpas and the concerned ministers had
their dialogues and the Prime Minister stepped in as and when needed.
Development is an everlasting
exercise. It is also a relative concept; some counties are less developed in comparison
to others. Development also has differentiated meanings. Some measure it by
GDP, others call for GDH -- Gross Domestic Happiness. Modi gave a call for human-centric
approach in place of the GDP-based measurement of development. He underlined
that the pathetic pandemic had necessitated this shift. However, development
should be driven by a few global organising principles-- participatory,
inclusive, just, and universal.
Demography has become an
important input into growth and development. China’s miracle growth is
attributed to its ‘captive and cheap’ labour. But the demography has changed.
China now has an aging population, and the labour cost has gone up. On the
other hand, India, the most populous country in the world, has nearly 65 per
cent of its population in the working-age. However, for India to harness its demographic
dividend, its labour force needs to be imparted with appropriate skills for the
modern economy. Demography in any country must be made productive with right
skills and decent working conditions.
All the foregoing 4 Ds are
contingent upon the 5th D, that is Democracy. The G-7, the
forerunner of G-20 comprised all industrialised democracies. China’s growth
story confuses some countries, if the Chinese model conduces wealth-creation. That
is far from the truth. But the Chinese economy, as said before, was spurred by
the Western countries that were searching for cheap labour with ‘strict regulations.’Now,
as China challenges the western supremacy, they have begun to recoil and are
turning to India and other democracies. Democracy is indispensable for
stability, peace, and prosperity.
I would like to end the
assessment by simply quoting former PM, Manmohan Singh’s confirmatory as well
as cautionary remarks, “I am not worried, am rather optimistic about India’s
future, it is on the right path on the world stage. But it will prosper only if
it remains a harmonious society.” It goes without saying that foreign policy
and the international image of any country is a function of what happens within
its borders, inside its territory. One only hopes that Prime Minister Modi and
his team should hardly be oblivious to this existential reality. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News &
Feature Alliance)
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