The Union Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India’s ongoing presidency of the G-20 grouping is a unique opportunity to strengthen the country’s role in the world economic order when countries across the globe are facing various challenges.
Presenting the budget for the fiscal year 2023–24 in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said India is steering an ambitious, people-centric agenda to address global challenges and facilitate sustainable economic development.
“In these times of global challenges, the G-20 presidency gives us a unique opportunity to strengthen India’s role in the world economic order,” she said.
“With the theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), we are steering an ambitious, people-centric agenda to address global challenges and facilitate sustainable economic development,” Sitharaman said.
India assumed the presidency of the influential bloc G-20 at its annual summit in Bali in November with a promise of striving to ensure that the grouping acts as a global prime mover to envision novel ideas and accelerate collective action to deal with pressing challenges.
India is hosting a series of events and meetings ahead of the G-20 summit later this year.
Prime Minister Modi, addressing the Bali summit in Indonesia, said “India is taking charge of the G-20 at a time when the world is simultaneously grappling with geopolitical tensions, an economic slowdown, rising food and energy prices, and the long-term ill-effects of the pandemic.”
“At such a time, the world is looking at the G-20 with hope.” “Today, I want to assure you that India’s G-20 presidency will be inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and action-oriented,” he said.
India officially assumed the G-20 presidency on December 1.
Cryptographic laws
Meanwhile, India has welcomed the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) aid in its quest to formulate cryptographic laws that would work on an international level. The development was confirmed by Ajay Seth, Secretary of India’s Department of Economic Affairs.
India took over the presidency of the G20 group of nations in December last year. The countries involved in this planning under India’s leadership include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Russia, among others.
Drafting detailed laws to govern the crypto sector has been named among India’s primary agendas during its year-long G20 presidency. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, shared India’s crypto-related intentions with the G20 group last December.
The IMF, which has previously voiced its concerns about spreading the use of these volatile crypto assets, would be preparing a draft work for potential crypto laws.
“The IIMF is working on a paper in consultation with us (India) that will focus on aspects of monetary policy and the policy approach to crypto assets. “There’s going to be a 135-minute seminar on crypto assets on the policy response (during a G20 meeting later this month), and for that again, the IMF is preparing the finalised paper that will form the basis,” a Coin Desk report Seth said.
Despite India’s silence around its stance on the crypto sector, Seth has reiterated that the crypto industry is not illegal in India.
While crypto holding and trading are allowed in India, some businesses have also been experimenting with accepting crypto payments. Unlike El Salvador, India does not equate any cryptocurrency with its fiat currency.
Speaking to Gadgets 360, representatives from crypto firms such as WazirX and CoinSwitch said that it has been less than a year since crypto tax laws took effect in India and that the government is taking its time to analyze crypto-related trading and industrial patterns thriving in the nation.
For now, the IMF’s opinion on the virtual digital asset industry remains unknown.
Crucial projects
Aside from its G20 presidency, India has launched numerous other crucial projects that address global issues to make its G20 presidency more meaningful for the entire world population.
Key environmental issues that concern the world will take centre stage during India’s G20 presidency, according to the Union environment ministry. As such, land degradation, biodiversity loss, marine pollution, the need for the protection of mangroves and coral reefs, resource overconsumption, and a lack of waste absorption are the key environmental concerns that will be addressed during India’s G20 presidency.
The issue of climate finance will also be factored into the discussions.
Accordingly, the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group, one of the 13 working groups under the Sherpa track, will meet four times between February and May.
The first meeting is scheduled to be held in Bengaluru (February 9–11), the second in Gandhinagar (March 27–29), the third in Mumbai (May 22–23), and the fourth in Chennai (May 26–27).
In the meantime, the ministerial meeting of the group will be held as planned on July 28 in Chennai.
“There is an urgent need to arrest land degradation, prevent biodiversity loss, and restore ecosystems as 23 per cent of the global land area is no longer productive for agricultural use because of resource extraction and waste,” Additional Secretary Ministry of Environment and Forests Richa Sharma has pointed out.
Blue economy policy
According to the WWF’s Living Planet Report, which was published in September 2020, the population of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish has decreased by an average of 68% since 1970.
The second priority is to promote a sustainable and climate-resilient blue economy. In this context, India is in the final stages of developing a blue economy policy.
“This is an ongoing issue that we would like to continue under the Indonesian presidency. So, marine pollution and the need for protection of mangroves and coral reefs are issues that will be discussed during the Indian presidency of the G20,” Sharma said.
India also wants to draw attention to the specific issue of marine litter. It will organize a coordinated beach cleaning drive that will cover all the G20 members and the guest countries on May 21.
The third priority is to encourage resource efficiency and a circular economy, another very big policy priority of the Indian government.
It will also leverage Mission LIFE to collectively define a holistic, sustainable, and resilient development paradigm for the G20 countries.
Under India’s presidency, the Environment, Climate, and Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meetings will focus on bringing an integrated, comprehensive, and consensus-driven approach to address climate change and pursue sustainable growth.
“Our goal was to ensure that the key concerns being addressed in the three Rio conventions found a reflection... So, you will find issues of land degradation, climate change, and biodiversity conservation reflected in the priorities of the Indian presidency,” Sharma said.
We also wanted to take an integrated approach. “And we wanted to address climate change as impacting biodiversity and leading to land degradation, not in silos,” she said.
“Typically, countries have addressed environmental issues through an environment deputies’ meeting and climate issues through a climate sustainability working group meeting. We have tried to bring it together,” she said.
The Indian Presidency seeks to encourage discussions, inputs, and reflections from all the G20 countries to arrive at its outcomes.
Asked if issues related to climate finance will be part of discussions, Leela Nandan, secretary in the environment ministry, said: “There has to be some discussion, understanding, and deeper resolve to address climate finance requirements, and there is a dedicated (sustainable) finance working group for that.” “Climate finance is a very significant aspect that is being deliberated (in that group).”
“Certainly, in our working group as well, the issues of climate finance... will be factored into our discussions,” she said.
While crypto holding and trading are allowed in India, some businesses have also been experimenting with accepting crypto payments. Unlike El Salvador, India does not equate any cryptocurrency with its fiat currency.
Industry insiders in India recently expressed disappointment after Finance Minister Sitharaman maintained a stark silence around anything related to cryptocurrency.
Speaking to Gadgets 360, representatives from crypto firms like WazirX and CoinSwitch said that it has been less than a year since crypto tax laws were brought into effect in India and that the government is taking its time to analyze crypto-related trading and industrial patterns thriving in the nation.
The IMF’s opinion on the virtual digital asset industry remains unknown for now. - Agencies