📰 Great G20 power, great responsibility
India will have the opportunity to assume centre stage in setting the global agenda
•September is a hectic month in India’s diplomatic calendar. On September 5-6 in New Delhi, a ‘Senior Officers Meeting’ was held of the Quad, which comprises India, Australia, Japan, and the U.S. On September 8, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and their Japanese counterparts held the second India-Japan ‘2+2’ Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo to take forward strategic cooperation in areas such as joint exercises, defence manufacturing and emerging technologies.
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 15-16. This will be the first in-person summit of the SCO since the COVID-19 pandemic. This visit will be watched closely by the West and by India’s Quad partners for India’s engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the Russian war in Ukraine has completed more than six months. This will also be the first time that Mr. Modi will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping face to face, since the transgressions of the People’s Liberation Army at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) began in April 2020. The Indian government has said India and China will take up remaining issues along the LAC when the disengagement at Patrolling Point 15 in Gogra-Hot Springs is completed; therefore, any contact with the Chinese leader will be significant. India will be assuming rotational presidency of the SCO at the end of the Samarkand summit and will hold it for a year until September 2023. It will host the SCO summit next year.
•It will also preside as President of the United Nations Security Council for December 2022.
Presidency of G20
•But before that, in November, the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place in Bali. After Indonesia, India will assume the presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023. It is slated to host several ministerial meetings, working groups, and events before the G20 Head of State summit next year.
•By hosting the summit of the G20, the world’s most influential economic multilateral forum, India will have the opportunity to assume centre stage in proposing and setting the global agenda and discourse. The G20 holds a strategic role in securing global economic growth and prosperity. Together, its members represent more than 80% of the world’s GDP, 75% of international trade and 60% of the world’s population. It will arguably be the most high-profile event ever hosted by India. The country’s leadership potential and diplomatic foresight in organising such a big-ticket event and in arriving at meaningful outcomes will be tested.
•In a world affected by the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict, the rise of an assertive China, economic challenges such as stagflation, terrorism, and climate change, to name a few, it needs to be seen what role India can play under its watch as President of the G20. To begin with, India can take cues from Indonesia’s presidency and observe how it is managing the group which is deeply divided on various issues. Indonesia has focused on three key pillars: global health architecture, sustainable energy transition, and digital transformation. This template could be useful for India in forging a comprehensive agenda.
•India can assert its political, economic and intellectual leadership while hosting the G20 presidency. But it will have to perform a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, we have the West, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and G7 partner nations setting the agenda. And on the other, we have an emerging nexus between China and Russia, which are taking divergent views from the first group. India might be caught in the middle as it is part of both the Quad and the SCO which somewhat lie on the opposing sides of the geopolitical spectrum. So, India might have to address issues that help in bridging the emerging divide in the world order.
•Notwithstanding the noise and opposing views at this forum, India can find a common ground for setting its G20 agenda by addressing issues of global concern. Simultaneously, it needs to promote its specific priorities related to domestic and regional issues such as economic recovery, trade and investment, unemployment, patent waivers on diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines to tackle COVID-19 and terrorism. More specifically, India could forge greater cooperation with many G20 members such as the European Union, the U.K., and Canada, thereby accelerating their coordination on realising free trade agreements. The overarching issues could be related to charting a road map for quick global economic recovery, focusing on the supply chain resilience mechanism and stressing on green and digital transformations in the economy and its impact on societal well-being. This would ensure a sustainable and inclusive growth for the global economy.
•G20 is a unique global institution, where developed and developing countries have equal stature. It offers India an opportunity to also champion the causes of developing and least developed countries so as to ensure that this summit does not turn out to be a western-dominated high table gathering or one where large economies impose their aspirations on the world. India could invite and engage countries from Africa and South America to ensure better and more balanced representation at the G20. Areas such as technology transfer, assistance towards green economy, greater access to trade for developing countries, addressing debt distress of countries by offering sustainable aid and loan programmes, tackling food and energy prices/security for vulnerable economies etc. could be relevant. As Harsh V. Shringla, India’s chief G20 coordinator and former Foreign Secretary, recently said, “Our G20 Presidency would place India on the global stage, and provide an opportunity for India to place its priorities and narratives on the global agenda.”
A testing time
•The coming months will be a testing time for Indian foreign policy and diplomacy as the country prepares to host the G20 and SCO summits next year. India will be central in outlining key priority areas and in ensuring that the forum does not remain just a ‘talk shop’ but translates into a ‘walk shop’ in terms of meaningful actions and outcomes. Only this will give credibility to India’s pivotal role in the international community.
•On its 75th year of independence, India could start charting a meaningful agenda and contribute towards the international community. Its role towards either brokering or breaking deals could define the coming years and decades of global discourse and avenues of cooperation.
It voices concern over lack of ‘measurable progress’ on Colombo’s commitments of a political solution
•India on Monday voiced concern over the “lack of measurable progress” in Sri Lanka’s promised political solution to the long-pending Tamil national question, while making an unusual reference to the crisis-hit island nation’s “debt-driven” economy in the context of its current crisis.
•In its statement at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, India said it has “always believed in the responsibility of states for promotion and protection of human rights and constructive international dialogue and cooperation” guided by the UN Charter. “In this regard, the Indian delegation notes with concern the lack of measurable progress by Government of Sri Lanka on their commitments of a political solution to the ethnic issue — through full implementation of the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, delegation of powers to Provincial Councils and holding of Provincial Council elections at the earliest,” India said. The terms of Sri Lanka’s nine provincial councils expired about three years ago, and they have remained defunct since.
•India’s statement comes ahead of a resolution on Sri Lanka that will likely face a vote at the Council. Since 2009, India has voted thrice in favour of the UN resolution on Sri Lanka — two were critical — and abstained twice, in 2014 and 2021. Irrespective of its vote, India has consistently underscored the need for a political settlement “within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, ensuring justice, peace, equality and dignity for the Tamils of Sri Lanka,” as it reiterated on Monday as well.
•Over 13 years since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed and disappeared, survivors continue demanding justice and accountability for war-time crimes. In the post-war years, Sri Lanka’s human rights defenders have frequently flagged concerns over persisting militarisation, especially in the Tamil-majority north and east; repression, and the shrinking space for dissent.
•In her latest report on Sri Lanka, the UN Human Rights chief said “embedded impunity for past and present human rights abuses, economic crimes and corruption” were among the “underlying factors” that led to the country’s “devastating” economic crisis.
•India has extended nearly $4 billion crucial assistance to Sri Lanka this year but has not made any public remark on the island’s economic choices so far. However, at the ‘Interactive Dialogue’ segment of the ongoing Council session, India said Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis “demonstrated the limitations of debt driven economy and the impact it has on the standard of living”. China, Japan, and India are Sri Lanka’s three main bilateral creditors, while the island nation owes the biggest chunk of its foreign debt to International Sovereign Bond holders.
•“It is in Sri Lanka’s best interests to build capacity of its citizens and work towards their empowerment, for which devolution of power to the grass roots level is a pre-requisite,” the Indian delegation said, apparently connecting the long-pending promise of power devolution to citizens’ empowerment in the context of the economic recovery. “In this connection, operationalisation of Provincial Councils through early conduct of elections will enable all citizens of Sri Lanka to achieve their aspirations for a prosperous future. We therefore urge Sri Lanka to take immediate and credible action in this regard,” the delegation said.
•Making a statement at the session, China said it “firmly supported” Sri Lanka to “safeguard its sovereignty and independence”, maintain social stability and achieve economic recovery.
📰 Three to tangle
The Pakistan factor should not undermine India’s close security ties with the U.S.
•India is understandably upset with the U.S.’s decision to refurbish the F-16 fighter fleet of Pakistan. The fleet has been the backbone of the Pakistan Air Force since the early 1980s, upgraded, and replenished periodically. As the partnership between the two countries grew over the years, including and particularly in the defence sector, India continuously raised its concerns on this account with U.S. interlocutors. Successive U.S. administrations have maintained that the defence partnership with Pakistan, which is a major non-NATO ally, is a critical component of its global war on terror — a point contested by India. In 2016, the U.S. Congress stalled the Obama administration’s move to give more F-16 fighters to Pakistan. New Delhi’s apprehensions came true in February 2019, a day after the Balakot air strike by the Indian Air Force, when Pakistan deployed its F-16s to target Indian military bases close to the Line of Control. The Indian Army recovered debris of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile fired by the F-16s. On September 7, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified a possible Foreign Military Sales worth $450 million for engine, electronic warfare and other hardware and software upgrades and spares for Pakistan’s F-16s. Though it said that the proposed sale does not include any new capabilities, weapons, or munitions, the move clearly marks a thaw in the U.S.’s attitude towards Pakistan.
•The External Affairs Ministry has chosen to maintain its silence on the issue, unlike its public expression of summoning the U.S. Ambassador in 2016. The U.S. move strains its relationship with India which has been making great strides, though it is not without obstacles. New Delhi and Washington have been skilfully managing their differences over Afghanistan, the crisis in Ukraine, and the lingering threat of U.S. sanctions under its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Washington’s new warmth with Islamabad also comes amid a flurry of India-U.S. diplomatic and military engagements. India and the U.S. have committed to deepening defence and security cooperation, but the indulgence of Pakistan dampens that spirit. The Trump administration had tried to hold Pakistan accountable for duplicity in its approach towards terrorist groups operating from its territory, which amounts to running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. To stay in Afghanistan, the U.S. needed Pakistan; now to stay away from Afghanistan it needs Pakistan even more. While the U.S. may have its reasons to keep Pakistan humoured and incentivised, India’s concerns are immediate and real. Terrorism against India has been Pakistan’s state policy for decades. Far from seeking accountability, the U.S. is rewarding Pakistan, and more on the same lines may in the offing. India and the U.S. need to work to ensure that the spectacular gains made in bilateral ties are preserved and nourished.
📰 India has lost its way in the use of international law
Unlike in the West, its generalist diplomats and policy-makers rarely employ the international law vocabulary extensively
•Seventy-five years of India’s Independence is an occasion to not just rejoice in our accomplishments but also to introspect on our failings. While a wide variety of issues have been discussed from this vantage point, an analysis of India’s tryst with international law has not been undertaken.
•Despite international law being ruler’s law and its euro-centric character, India did not jettison it at the time of its independence. India’s Constitution makers saw the value of international law and thus provided in Article 51 that the state shall foster respect for international law. At the same time, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, India made it abundantly clear that the emergence of post-colonial States has transmuted the ‘geography’ of international law. India asserted its sovereignty and championed the principle of self-determination in international law including by playing a key role in organising the first Asian-African Conference at Bandung in 1955, proclaiming that colonialism should “speedily be brought to an end”.
•Since those days, India has remained steadfastly committed to the UN Charter and has always advocated the peaceful settlement of international disputes. Over the years, India’s engagement with international law norms in multiple fields such as human rights, trade, investment, environment, ocean, space, etc. has expanded vastly. India has played an active role in shaping international law on terrorism by proposing a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), and recently initiated the International Solar Alliance (ISA), a bold attempt to influence international environmental law.
Absence of lawfare
•Notwithstanding these achievements, India’s engagement with international law has been marginal, especially in articulating its national interests internationally. Unlike their western counterparts who justify the conduct of international relations by embedding it in the language of international law to gain legitimacy for their actions, India’s generalist diplomats and policy-makers rarely employ the international law vocabulary extensively. The most obvious example of this is India’s failure to use the international law vocabulary to call out Chinese transgressions of India’s sovereignty.
•A similar pattern emerges in India’s dealing with Pakistan. An important example is India’s statement as part of the right of reply in September 2021 in the United Nations. In this statement, India rightly rubbished Pakistan’s falsehoods against India on the issue of Kashmir and made a case of Pakistan sponsoring terrorism. Strangely, the Indian statement did not once mention ‘international law’, forget citing Pakistan’s specific breaches of the treaty and customary international law. Barring a few instances such as suing Pakistan at the International Court of Justice in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, India has not used international courts to hold Pakistan accountable for its breach of international law. The most striking example is India’s failure to legally challenge Pakistan’s denial of most favoured nation status to India at the World Trade Organization.
•This failure to mainstream the lexicon of international law in the diplomatic toolkit has resulted in India’s failure to develop and contribute new international law doctrines, interpretations, and principles that suit its national interests, barring a few initiatives such as the CCIT and ISA.
Institutional bottlenecks
•A major reason for India’s failure to effectively employ the international law vocabulary is that its foreign service is heavily populated by generalist diplomats who are wedded to the theories of international relations. The only section in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that looks at international law is the legal and treaties (L&T) division. But this division is grossly understaffed. As in a 2021 report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, the L&T division has a strength of 13 offices as opposed to an approved strength of 23. Furthermore, one is unsure of the quality of talent that the L&T division is able to attract because there are far greater incentives for an international lawyer to join the government as a generalist diplomat than as a technocrat. Adding insult to injury is the fragmentation of decision-making in international law with the involvement of several Ministries such as finance, commerce, law, environment, etc. dealing with different facets of international law. To overcome the fragmentation-related problems, a parliamentary committee report in 2016 recommended the creation of a ‘department of international law’ under the Law Ministry. But precious little has been done so far.
Academic obstructions
•Academically, international law has largely remained a neglected discipline in the last 75 years, which explains poor state-capacity in this area. Notwithstanding the presence of a few outstanding international law professors, our universities have not invested much in the development of the discipline. The Government has failed to fund research in international law. Realising India’s abysmal capacity in international law, the report of the parliamentary committee in 2021 recommended that the MEA establish chairs for research in international law in universities. The MEA funds research centres such as the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). But the ICWA focuses largely on the study of international relations, not international law. China, on the other hand, has poured in massive resources to build the capacity of its universities in international law, which has benefited the Chinese government as well.
•The Indian Society of International Law (ISIL), established in 1959, was supposed to become a centre of excellence for research in international law. However, ISIL has failed in producing worthwhile research in international law. Its flagship journal, the Indian Journal of International Law (IJIL), is nowhere close to the top international law journals in the world despite being over 60 years old. In contrast, the Chinese Journal of International Law launched just two decades back, is one of the top-ranked journals in the world. While ISIL organises events on international law, there is a conspicuous drop in quality and rigour.
•Unlike in other countries, there is hardly any truck between the international law professors and the Government on pressing international law challenges. International law academicians, on their part, have failed to popularise international law. This is in stark contrast to academicians in international relations and social sciences who write for the masses, not just for specialised audiences.
•India’s ambition of punching above its weight in international affairs cannot be accomplished without its investing in international law. Let us hope that those who sit in South Block act expeditiously.
📰 Centre is trying to curb lumpy skin disease: PM
Modi was inaugurating the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit in Greater Noida
•Inaugurating the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit in Greater Noida on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Centre has made all efforts to keep a track of the movement of livestock in the wake of the spread of lumpy skin disease (LSD).
•Mr. Modi said there has been a loss of livestock in many States due to the disease in the recent past and assured everyone that the Centre and the State Governments are trying their level best to keep a check on it.
•“Our scientists have also prepared indigenous vaccine for lumpy skin disease,” he said.
•He added the movement of animals are being monitored to keep the outbreak under control.
•“Be it vaccination of animals or any other modern technology, India is always eager to contribute to the field of dairy while striving to learn from its partner nations. India has acted swiftly on its food safety standards,” Mr. Modi said.
•The Prime Minister highlighted the centrality of Pashu Dhan and milk-related business in the cultural landscape of India.
•He said the driving force of the dairy sector in India is small farmers and added that the country’s dairy sector is characterised by “production by masses” more than “mass production”.
•“India is the largest milk-producing country on the basis of the efforts of these small farmers who have one or two cattle. The dairy sector provides employment to more than eight crore families in the country,” he said.
•He said the huge network of dairy cooperatives in India is a unique example and these dairy cooperatives collect milk twice a day from about two crore farmers in more than two lakh villages in the country and deliver it to the customers.
•Pointing out the importance of indigenous breeds, he said such varieties of cattle can withstand many adverse circumstances.
•He said women have a 70% representation in the workforce in India’s dairy sector.
•“Women are the real leaders of India’s dairy sector. Not only this, more than a third of the members of dairy cooperatives in India are women,” he said, adding that with a value of ₹8.5 lakh crore, the dairy sector is more than the combined value of wheat and rice.
