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The Big Picture: G7 And India

Context

Background

• India was chosen alongside South Korea and Australia as guest countries of the multilateral summit. 
• Prime Minister of United Kingdom also reiterated his plan to visit India ahead of the G7 summit, after a scheduled visit for Republic Day 2021 was called off due to the coronavirus crisis.

Summary of The Debate

About G7 Countries

• The G-7 or ‘Group of Seven’ are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• It is an intergovernmental organisation formed in 1975 by the top economies of the time as an informal forum to discuss pressing world issues.
• Canada joined the group in 1976, and the European Union began attending in 1977.
• Initially it was formed as an effort by the US and its allies to discuss economic issues but the G-7 forum has deliberated about several challenges over the decades, such as the oil crashes of the 1970s, the economic changeover of ex-Soviet bloc nations, and many pressing issues such as financial crises, terrorism, arms control, and drug trafficking.
• The G-7 was known as the ‘G-8’ for several years after the original seven were joined by Russia in 1997. The Group returned to being called G-7 after Russia was expelled as a member in 2014 following the latter’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.
• The G-7 nations meet at annual summits that are presided over by leaders of member countries on a rotational basis.
• The groundwork for the summit, including matters to be discussed and follow-up meetings, is done by the “sherpas”, who are generally personal representatives or members of diplomatic staff such as ambassadors.

Significance of G7 Summit

• It is a continuation of Covid 19 diplomacy, which is very important at the moment. 
• The UK proposes to use the G7 Presidency to unite leading democracies to help the world build back better from Covid toward a greener and more prosperous future.
• The G7 has long been the catalyst for decisive international action to tackle the greatest challenges because it is the most prominent grouping of democratic countries.
• It aims to address shared challenges, from beating coronavirus and tackling climate change, to ensuring that people everywhere can benefit from open trade, technological change and scientific discovery.
• The cooperation between the U.K. and India is significant as India is a non-permanent member at the UN Security Council, where the United Kingdom will take over the presidency.
• India will play a key role driving in multilateral cooperation helping to build back better around the world as current president of Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) and G20 president in 2023.
• More countries are coming towards India and believing on its capabilities in Technology and Pharmacy sector. 
• For India: It would be in India's interests to adopt a foreign policy stance premised on multilateralism over isolation, to counter-balance the military power-divide between itself and China.
  • India could view a greater strategic alliance with the world's most economically prominent democracies as a key opportunity to fuel further growth, especially at the current juncture.
  • It could turn out to be a useful platform for India to further intensify its links with these countries to revive its economic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic and lessen economic dependence on China.

Importance of India For G7

• India’s GDP (in PPP terms) is more than the member nations of G-7 like Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and France and the expansion of the group is necessary to be called for.
• There is large percentage of India’s diaspora that lives in the member nations of G-7 and provides significant contribution towards the economic activity around the globe.
• The last two decades has experienced a dramatic shift in the economic fulcrum from the Atlantic to the Pacific, characterised by the rise of India and China.
• Although India has much to do with regard to improving its performance across numerous Human Development Index metrics, it is worth noting that it has managed to drag approximately 160 million people out of the grips of poverty over the last decade.
• Ranking ninth among the world's top economies in 2010, India is now firmly planted in fifth ahead of five G-7 members in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Italy.
• India's economy is also going down due to the effects of the pandemic but the government has introduced a series of measures which are geared towards making India a lucrative and safe proposition for foreign investors.
• India has proved its potential during corona period and is ready to act as engine of the world. 
• China has become an arch-rival of United States and many other countries, especially after the coronavirus outbreak. Having India and others in the G7 is a way of countering the rising influence of China on the world stage. 

D 10 Grouping

• It was proposed by the Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 
• The proposed D 10 grouping would recognize India’s place among the strong democratic nations in the world and recognize its global voice.
• Britain has planned to club India, South Korea and Australia along with G7 countries – UK, US, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Canada – to create alternative suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies to avoid dependence on China for vital technologies.
• It can also be seen as involving more Indo-Pacific countries with G7 countries, where only Japan was a member earlier. 

Conclusion

The invitation to join G7 is a continuation of Covid 19 diplomacy and India had shown the way as far as the fighting the pandemic is concerned and democracies around the world want to ensure that they can take India’s technical capabilities as far as manufacturing vaccines are concerned forward, that’s why we are seeing more countries coming towards India. G7 or D10 should keep Indo Pacific at the centre and ensure that they work on connectivity and infrastructure project and ensure that the best comes out of that’s too. This should not be seen as a confrontation to take on china but like minded countries coming together to bring about the best.