The India Global Forum 2021 kickstarted on 30 July with an engaging conversation on a topic of radical actions for the post-pandemic area. The discussion was carried out on issues ranging from global health to global leadership, which also included tourism and big tech and democracy.
UK-India bilateral relationship and vaccine hesitancy
World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed the need for vaccination and the disparity between high-income countries and lower-income countries.
Speaking at the conference, he raised a concern over many countries failing to vaccinate people. He said that by September, at least 10 per cent of the population of every country should be vaccinated. "Until we end the pandemic everywhere, we will not end it anywhere,” he added.
Among many other topics, vaccine hesitancy was given utmost importance. Speaking on the same, Dr Ram Sewak Sharma, the CEO of India's National Health Authority said that in India, vaccine hesitancy has reduced drastically. He further added that the country was able to vaccinate the highest number of people in a day. It reduced post-second wave, said Sharma.
Along with vaccine hesitancy, the availability of vaccines and the importance of vaccination was also touched upon. The National Health Service (NHS) is planning to launch booster jabs alongside the annual flu vaccination programme from September.
One jab in each arm will be promoted as a way of protecting against not only Covid-19 variants but also the seasonal flu. Nadhim Zahawi, the minister in charge of the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine deployment said that this booster jab will protect the most vulnerable from variants and flu ahead of the winter.
“Vaccines are the best way to stay on top of this virus and I urge everybody to take up the offer as soon as possible,” he added.
Moving on from vaccine, the discussion was also done on existing geopolitical trend and how it has changed. Tom Tugendhat, Chair, Foreign Affairs Select Committee, UK said that he thinks it has deep repercussions. He emphasised the dearth of PPE kits, and how many countries were struggling for the same. He also mentioned the closure of the Suez Canal. He stressed that these events made us realise the interdependence of the supply chain and it was like a wake-up call for a lot of people.
Meanwhile, Ashok Malik, Policy Advisor, Ministry of External Affairs, India somewhat second Tom and added that along with PPE kits, N95 masks, and various basic pharmaceutical ingredients were hard to find in the early months of the pandemic. He added that as the world rebuilt post-pandemic it does need to diversify its sources of critical supplies but overall, the trend is more towards the diversified and more reliable globalisation.
Amongst the dignitaries, former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor was called upon to speak on 'Global Leadership - The Future of Multilateralism' at the India Global Forum session. He commented on China President Xi Jinping’s controversial remarks who stated that the era of China being bullied is gone forever. According to Tharoor, China has transformed itself and India should be careful while dealing with China as is it is its biggest trading partner.
“So, the wolf-warrior diplomacy in the Indian experience has gone beyond Chinese rhetoric and sabre-rattling to actual sabre-thrusting and that is not something we can afford to take lightly," said Tharoor.
Meanwhile, while addressing the India Global Forum, UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab highlighted the importance of the UK-India bilateral partnership. While addressing the session, he informed that India deemed the UK as its comprehensive strategic partner, which makes Britain the first European country to be designated as such. He further added that India and UK are committed to a 2030 roadmap that will focus on delivering shared priorities and shared values across trade, defence, security, health and immigration. He said that PM Modi and Boris Johnson have signed an enhanced trade partnership which will create thousands of new jobs and investments as well.
Electric vehicles- Made in India
On the second day of the India Global Forum, Nitin Gadkari, India’s Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, was addressing ‘Climate Action – Electric Mobility Now’ session where he said that his goal is to make India the No.1 manufacturing hub for electric vehicles and said that the country can be a successful example to the world.
“India has been importing petroleum products and we are spending 800,000 crores. And because of that air pollution has become a huge problem in the country. So, we want to make India the No.1 manufacturing hub of electric cars, electric buses, electric bikes, electric auto-rickshaws and even electric trucks,” Gadkari said at the India Global Forum on Thursday.
“There is a huge market potential for EVs. India’s e-vehicle sector has been rapidly growing over the last three years as both the centre and the state governments have taken the initiative to promote the adoption of EVs. Many start-ups are providing e-bikes on rent to public and logistic companies. Amazon India has completely changed their fleet to electric. The government is planning to set up a financial institution to fund business with a focus on EVs and facilitate a new financial instrument for lending to public transport and commercial vehicle segments. We are very positive, supportive, flexible, time-bound and transparent towards ease of doing business in the EV ecosystem,” he added.
Investments and solutions to avoid future crisis
India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke on the traps that lie ahead in terms of huge investments done during a pandemic and exactly what solutions will it need to save off the risk of future crisis.
Sitharaman stressed that despite the challenges India is well prepared for the third wave and has upped its medical infrastructure. She added that enhanced revenue collection would help in meeting the challenges.
Speaking at the India Global Forum, she mentioned about government’s planned CPSE privatisation drive and said that it is on course.
"... No one wishes the third wave but, on the infrastructure, medical infrastructure, I think we have given that kind of attention... we have announced different measures to improve on the medical infrastructure, in tier II, tier III cities and not just those in metropolitan towns”, said India’s Finance Minister.
“The ramping up of medical infrastructure, looking at different segments of the population, looking at children, is happening at a good speed. God forbid, if there is a third wave, we are medical infrastructure wise well prepared," she said.
In addition to this, paediatric care and beds will be set up in hospitals, for which additional funding of £22,49,385.49 would be given to states, said Sitharaman.
Meanwhile, Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal spoke on the need to explore the key areas where attention needs to be drawn for India to build a strong capital base domestically.
While speaking at the India Global Forum, he said that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, he is very positive that India will see close to double-digit GDP growth in FY22. He mentioned that as number of cases are falling, the economy is slowly getting back to normal.
“We are probably going to see close to double-digit, if not double-digit in this financial year,” he said at the event.
Addressing the ‘Digital Future- Creating an Equitable Revolution’ session Salesforce India CEO Arundhati Bhattacharya said that it is because of the pandemic, digitalisation in the country has picked up a pace.
“India was already on a digital journey, but what could have taken 2-3 years longer, has actually been compressed into a matter of one year... subsequent to the pandemic... companies — 100 per cent of them — realise digital has become a must-have, it’s not something that’s just good to have,” she said.
