The successful organisation of the G20 Summit in India is undoubtedly an achievement for the country. But it would be erroneous to say, as some claim, that the G20 presidency came to India due to the stature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
For those not familiar with the way G20 works, it should be mentioned that the presidency is given to each member country by rotation among five groups of member countries. Each country from a group becomes eligible for the presidency when it is the turn of the group. The eligible countries negotiate and determine the group’s presidency. The previous presidency was with Indonesia and the next goes to Brazil. This time it was India’s turn for the presidency and Modi, being the head of the government, has the privilege to hold the office till November this year.
Since the presidency gets the honour to set the agenda, Modi got the opportunity of doing so and holding as he does the dream of making Indiaa Hindu rashtra, he declared “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” as the theme of the summit. The concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family) has been adopted from the Upanishads and the theme was accepted by the G20 member countries.
Ironically, though PM Modi spoke of the world as a family, there are many in the country itself who do not seem to be treated as members of the family that is India. A case in point is that of Manipur. Even as the summit was being held in Delhi, ethnic violence in Manipur continued. One can understand Modi’s silence on Manipur while he was hosting heads of governments of participating countries and other dignitaries during the summit. However, even before that, but for a passing reference to the situation on a couple of occasions, Modi has been silent about the Northeast state. So, for him the world may be a family, but with the exclusion of Manipur.
That is not all, he has often failed to give the support, expected from the head of the family, to the farmers who protested for over a year in support of their demands, or the women wrestlers who were seeking action on their complaints of sexual harassment by the then president of the Wrestling Federation of India. This either means that some people in India are not part of the family or that the head of the family has failed them.
There are some other ironies in the G20 Summit declaration, as regards India. The declaration speaks of inclusive development, which is essential, particularly for India. According to the last report of the World Bank, India ranked lower than its neighbours Pakistan and China on the inclusive development index.
Our ranking on the hunger index is also 102, something to be ashamed of as a nation. A UNICEF report of 2019 had stated that 47% of the youth in the country is not on track to have education and skills necessary for employment in 2030. Instead of preparing the youth for better employment, there are numerous organisations, supportive of Modi, which keep the youth busy with hatred and violence in the name of religion and in non-productive activities; on the contrary the youth are kept involved in counter-productive activities, which includes being glued to social media platforms to either consume false information or to spread it.
Modi came to power in 2014, with a promise, among other promises, that he would bring back the black money stacked in banks in Switzerland, on coming to power. That has not happened even as his second term of office is coming to an end, but the summit declaration mentions strengthening of asset recovery management to fight corruption. Switzerland is not part of G20, but has been an invitee in the past.
The G20 summit declaration mentions the need to ensure reduction of food wastage, but the host country is guilty of wasting around 50 kg of food per head annually, according to 2021 Food Waste Index Report of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). There have been repeated reports of wastage of food stocks in India due to non-availability of proper storage facilities.
India has to take immediate measures to ensure that what it drafted in the declaration is implemented in our country too — that being to address food security challenges and enable access to affordable, safe, nutritious and healthy diets, “to foster the progressive realisation of the right to adequate food”. It cannot be denied that millions in the country are deprived of affordable and nutritious food and a large number of people do not get a square meal.
It is ironical that while the declaration speaks of development with protection of the environment, we have been causing great irreparable damage to the environment, by ruthlessly chopping trees and cutting hills, in the name of development. The environmental havoc in Joshi Math is one example of the damage caused by the aggressive attack on ecosystems.
India must come out with its plan to fulfil the declaration commitment to restore at least 30% of all degraded ecosystems and scale up efforts to achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030.
Two points in the declaration take the cake, one on support to refugees and the other about religious tolerance, which need to be seen in the light of the government’s stand on Rohingya and the spread of religious hatred, by many members of the ruling party.
Yet another irony is that the BJP was showering flowers on Modi at the party headquarters in Delhi on Wednesday, at a time when near and dear ones were placing wreaths on the bodies of four officers of the uniformed services who died in an encounter with terrorists in Anantnag district of Kashmir. So much for the party’s talk on patriotism.
The author is a senior journalist and media trainer. He tweets at @a_mokashi
