With the economic reforms initiated by the Centre in place, the stars are aligned in the favour of India, says the G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant.
Speaking at a function organised by Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) in New Delhi, Kant said that now is the time to ensure high growth rates continue and it’s also an opportunity for a dozen states or so to become “champions’’.
Delivering the annual lecture, he said that as India holds the G20 presidency this is the time to look at sunrise areas including development of green hydrogen, and manufacturing of mobile phones. According to him the dozen odd states should become more business friendly as that will help to make the next decade India’s decade.
The G20 Summit is set to take place in New Delhi in the month of September and for India this is an opportunity to become a major power—hard and soft power. Adding, India has an advantage in terms of decarbonisation, deglobalisation, demographics, and digitalisation.
According to Kant it is not just about industrial growth, but it is also about tourism and travel, popularising local handicrafts, and also cultural diversity. In his lecture he said India had to interact with the other G-20 countries and to become a voice of the global South.
In this era of international political crises, post-Covid economic crisis, climate change, recession, war, and more G-20 should go ahead with digitalisation among other issues.
Also it is incumbent for the G20 member countries to help in ending malnutrition, making things easy for pregnant women, malnourished children and the way out is women led development.
India’s G20 Presidency
It comes at a time when the world is dealing with multiple crises and it is against this backdrop that India during its presidency has to focus on addressing critical issues including COVID-19 global debt, ensuing food and energy crisis, geopolitical threats, climate crisis, slow Sustainable Development Goals. Financial express Online has reported earlier that during its presidency India will be hosting almost 200 plus meetings at 55 identified locations across the country. The idea behind this is to showcase the different sides of India, develop infrastructure, and tourism.