G-20 countries need to create and adopt open source and inter-operable platforms like UPI and aadhaar to promote inclusive digitisation across the world, a top government official said on Monday.
Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Anurag Jain said knowledge, innovation, and sustainability have emerged as the new age drivers of economic growth. India has created a host of open source public digital infrastructure such as CoWIN platform, aadhaar, financial inclusion programmes, and UPI interface. “G-20 should work towards creating and adopting guiding principles for such open source and inter-operable platforms and standards to promote inclusive digitisation across the world,” he said.
Jain was addressing B20 Indonesia Global Dialogue, organised by industry chamber CII here. Indonesia assumed the presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) this year. It also chairs the Business 20 or B20 forum. It is G-20’s primary engagement group comprising business sectors from around the member countries. India will hold the presidency of the G20 in 2023. Jain added that India has created GIS (geographic information system)based PM GatiShakti planning and decision support system for integrated infrastructure development.
“This has more than 1,500 layers providing details of land, forest, mines and existing and planned infrastructure like roads. This has completely changed the way the infrastructure projects are planned and implemented in India,” he said. Further, he said the growth of startups globally is curtailed by several challenges with respect to access to finance, proper guidance, and policy support. “To deliberate on such issues, India has proposed a new engagement group…Startup-20 under India’s G-20 presidency,” he said.
Speaking at the event, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said the forum should drive economic growth and financial progress across the world. The world is facing several challenges due the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and it has deep implications on food and energy security, he said adding the G-20 members must discuss all these issues irrespective of the conflict and arrive at certain principles to take the world forward. “It is important because by the time India takes over the presidency of G-20, global growth will be impacted and there is no other forum other than G-20 to drive the global growth,” Kant said.
G-20 is a grouping of developed and developing nations which accounts for 85 per cent of global GDP, 78 per cent of global trade, and two-thirds of global population. “So to my mind, there is no other grouping in the world other than G-20 which can actually take on progressive decision making for the global economy and for the crisis that we are in,” he said. He added that the grouping needs to talk about sustainable growth for all.
Kant also regretted that the developed world is not living up to its commitment of providing climate finance. Timely, fair and adequate finance by the developed world is key and commitments made by them should be fulfilled, he added. Further, Kant advocated for reforms in global institutions like the World Bank and IMF. Such institutions “need to be the institutions for climate finance…They do not provide blended finance,” he said adding “they need to be restructured”.
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