Relevance: GS-2: India and its Foreign Relations, Important International institutions, agencis and fora- their structure, mandate.
Key phrases: WEF, Davos summit, covid 19, global climate risk, multiculturalism, democracy.
Why in News?
- India has given the world a bouquet of democracy and multiculturalism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Special Address to the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda on Monday. In the virtual address, PM Modi zeroed on to the consumerist tendency of "use and dispose" and argued for changing this trend by launching a global people’s movement.
What is WEF’s Davos Agenda ’22?
- The theme-setting World Economic Forum (WEF) Agenda on the ‘State of the World: Climate change and the shape of the post-covid-19 world’.
- Global challenges from the coronavirus pandemic, which has slowed international economic recovery and highlighted vaccine inequities, will be a key issue.
- However, the larger, more pressing concerns around environmental risks from climate change will likely be the centre of discussions.
- Climate change risks dominate the WEF’s Global Risks Report 2022 issued earlier this month. The report points to climate action failure, extreme weather events, and biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as the top three global risks.
World Economic Forum
- World Economic Forum (WEF) is a non-profit organisation that was founded in January 1971. WEF is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and was formed with an initiative to improve the states of the world. This organisation was formerly known as the European Management Forum.
- The WEF summit brings together the peoples from the political and corporate world, including heads of state, policymakers, top executives, industrialists, media personalities, and technocrats.
- WEF influences public sector and corporate decision-making, especially on the issues of global importance such as poverty, social challenges, climate change, and global economic recovery.
What are the main initiatives?
- Agenda 2022 will see the launch of other WEF initiatives meant for accelerating the mission to net-zero emissions, on the economic opportunity of nature-positive solutions, and on cyber resilience.
- Bridging the vaccine gap, strengthening the resilience of global value chains besides building economies in fragile markets through humanitarian investing will also be among the discussion topics over the next few days.
- How to use data solutions to prepare for the next pandemic will feature in the discussions as well.
Key points of PM Modi Speech
- India has gifted a beautiful bouquet to the world. This bouquet contains the unbreakable trust of the Indians in democracy. This also contains the temperament and talent of Indians. The multilingual and multicultural environment of India is a great strength of the world. This strength teaches India to work for the world whenever it’s facing a crisis.
- India as a country that is supporting the world to deal with the pandemic. The doctors and health professionals of India are winning the confidence of the world with their professional excellence.
- Today, India is the third largest pharma producer in the world. In COVID times, we have seen how India following the vision of ‘One Earth, One Health’ is saving crores of lives by giving essential medicines and vaccines to many countries,” he said, adding that India has utilised the period of the pandemic for introducing “reforms”. He said India's actions have placed a major example before the world.
- The digital infrastructure that India developed and adopted in the last few years has turned out to be a major strength for India. The Arogya Setu app used for the tracking of corona infection and the Co-Win portal which is used for vaccination are technological solutions that India is proud of. Bigger countries have taken note of these developments.
- India had about 100 registered startups in 2014 but their numbers have been boosted with the participation of the young entrepreneurs and added, “Today there are more than 60,000 startups in India.
- India is committed to reducing interference by the government in business and new areas are emerging for investment. “India has deregulated several sectors like drones, space, geospatial mapping. India has carried out big reforms in the outdated telecom sector,”
Way Forward:
- Going forward, nations need to explore concrete opportunities to integrate green, inclusive and resilient Covid-19 recovery packages into national development plans.
- However, key reforms will be critical for countries to pursue a green recovery and growth future, including access to clean energy, green infrastructure and green financing, fossil fuel subsidy reform and pricing, risk-informed urban planning, sustainable infrastructure and transport systems, and local community participation.
- By working with and supporting each other, countries can enhance global progress on climate action while unlocking new investments and partnerships for their own green transition.
- Countries has a rare opportunity to not only address the short-term public health challenge but also become an important axis of power and influence in the new global order.
- The World Economic Forum stands to partner with the countries to help shape the contours of a new world order with a better, brighter and more sustainable future for all.
Source: The Hindu
Mains Question:
Q. Discuss the socio-economic significance of World economic forum in improving the policy of world related to climate change. What are the Key points of PM Modi Speech in WEF’s Davos summit ’22? Critically Examine.
