India took on the leadership of the G20 to improve international cooperation and development. That is why its motto was “,� a classical Sanskrit phrase that means the world is one family. It evokes the spirit that not only human beings but also all living beings and nature are interconnected. This phrase implies that we have to be mindful of the interconnectedness of cause and consequence.

The was held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 this year, after months of meetings and events in various Indian cities. There were fears that the Russia-Ukraine War had proved so decisive that the customary joint statement at the end of the summit might prove elusive. Countries would not be able to agree upon it. However, India proved its mettle as a consensus builder. Furthermore, it championed the voices of the marginalized and welcomed the African Union (AU) as the 21st member of the G20. India’s focus on the challenges of the future and developmental diplomacy were a triumph in a trying year for the world.

India’s success in developmental diplomacy 

India’s presidency of the G20 proved to be the most ambitious and action-oriented leadership of this young grouping of nations and supranational organizations. With , India has more than doubled the substantive work from previous presidencies. Thanks to deft diplomacy, the was unanimously adopted on the inaugural day.

The World Now Needs the India-Led G20 to Succeed

This 83-paragraph declaration proposes to scale up inclusive action against climate change with a green development pact and sustainable development goals. It also admits the AU, puts crypto-asset regulation on the global agenda, and commits to reforming multilateral development banks (MDBs). Given the massive developmental challenge facing African countries, reforming the MDBs is a top global priority and India, to its credit, has put it on the global agenda.

The declaration also emphasizes counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering efforts because security is a prerequisite for development. To a limited degree, the declaration overcame the trust deficit that has emerged after the Russia-Ukraine War. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message — “today’s era must not be of war” — resonated strongly with almost everyone who attended the G20 Summit.

India’s use of human-centric approach

Modi also called for a human-centric approach to address global challenges. What does this really mean? Simply put, the prime minister believes that we must put the common man’s needs of food, water, shelter, clothing, clean air, jobs and basics at the center of all developmental action.

This approach led to major outcomes such as the Green Development Pact and the Action Plan on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). India also promoted its plan for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a technological solution for financial inclusion. This DPI plan could help millions of people in developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia.

To improve food security, this summit agreed upon research cooperation on climate-friendly nutritious millets. The Modi government has single-handedly introduced the millets initiative, which has now gained acceptance worldwide. Clearly, India’s developmental diplomacy is bearing fruits.

The Delhi Declaration was forward-looking and launched two landmark initiatives. Both the Global Biofuel Alliance and the India-Middle East-European Union Economic Corridor (IMEC) might prove to be historic. The former addresses the critical challenge of lessening reliance on fossil fuels and thereby cutting down on toxic emissions destroying the planet. The latter could connect the EU, the Middle East and India in a closer economic relationship, creating millions of jobs and boosting economic growth in all three regions.

Modi deserves credit for providing a new vision and clear direction for the G20. As retired CIA officer Glenn Carle has said, India is now growing confident in its new role as a powerful nation. As per Carle, “India has become one of the world’s three great powers. It ranks next only to the US and China in global significance.�

The G20 Summit demonstrates that a new great power is on the rise. With its new developmental agenda and leadership of the Global South, India is a force to reckon with. Modi has emerged as a global leader and India will play a consequential role in making the world a better place.
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The distinction between the real world and the digital world is getting blurrier by the day, especially in technologically advanced societies. India is no exception. Today, 840 million Indians are online and another 400 million Indians will enter the digital world by 2025.

Adoption of digital technology is accelerating in India

India being India, some of the numbers are truly mind-boggling. Internet connections have increased by 250% in the last nine years. The cost per gigabyte of data has dropped by a dramatic 96%. Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana financial inclusion campaign, Indian banks have opened 500 million new accounts and issued 330 million debit cards powered by India’s financial services and payment system, RuPay.

Today, India is the world leader in global digital payments with 90 million transactions in 2022. The Unified Payments Interface, an instant payment system, has taken off with transactions worth 35 trillion rupees ($430 billion) to date. A striking 46% of global digital payments are made in India.

India has issued 1.38 billion Aadhaar national identity cards, creating the world’s largest digital identity system. This allowed for the vaccination of 2.2 billion people during the COVID pandemic.

Not only the scale, but the pace of digitalization has been breathtaking. Transaction volume has increased by 50 times in the last five years. With over 600,000 km of fiber optic cables already laid, India has become a digital nation overnight. It has also been unique in setting up a public-private partnership to create an open-access digital public infrastructure for its people. Pioneers of the internet in the US have lauded India’s approach.

India Boldly Asserts Independence with New Technology

Global risks in the digital world

New technologies create new opportunities for crime.

The 2022 Interpol Global Crime Trend Summary declares “very high expectations of future escalation� for ransomware, phishing, online scams, hacking and online child sexual abuse. Terrorists now use the dark web to hide their identities and spread radical material. They use cryptocurrencies to move money around. The metaverse, too, is creating new opportunities for propaganda, recruitment and training. AI is making deep fakes ever more difficult to identify.

Cyberattacks, notably ransomware and distributed denial of service attacks, are leading to “disruption, data breaches, and financial loss,� according to Interpol. Digital extortion has become the newest form of blackmail. Critical information and financial systems are at grave risk. Given how much of our lives is now digital, the disruption of an online network—banking, airlines, identity systems et al.—could bring nations to a standstill. The worst scenarios of digital disruption could include crashing planes, setting off missiles or worse.

A much-cited 2019 by Accenture estimated that cybercrime could cost the world $5.2 trillion over the next five years.

In a nutshell, the risks are immediate, serious and rising.

We must establish basic rules of internet governance and public digital infrastructure security. Governments will need to more precisely define digital ownership, monitor the dark web and provide guidelines for responsible AI use. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has outlined a uniform cyber strategy for the country. This involves building capacity, systems and expertise throughout the country to deal with cyber threats. Detection and prevention is the name of the game instead of chasing the horse after it has bolted from the gate.

But no nation can control cybercrime alone. The international community must work together to formulate uniform legal standards and best practices. We need global cooperation, not unilaterality, on cyber security benchmarks. This will increase interoperability, trust and reduce the agency protocol and resources gaps. Real-time cyber threat intelligence sharing between governments is indispensable. In fact, governments alone will not be able to achieve cyber security. We need the active involvement of corporations too.

Together, we must create a cyber success world, not a cyber failure world. The promise of new technologies must outweigh the peril. Let us come together in the spirit of Vasudhaiv Kutumbukam—the world as one family—to create a secure and prosperous digital future for all.

[This piece is based on a speech given by Home Minister Amit Shah at the G20 conference on “Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs, AI and the Metaverse� on July 13, 2023, in Gurugram, India.]

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The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51³Ô¹Ï’s editorial policy.

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