Is India the leader of developing countries……?
India, the seventh-largest country of the world is the member of nearly seventy-four international organisations and the reason behind this is her superpotential and capability to grow on her own and support others too. India has the prerequisite for growth and development such as the world’s largest demographic dividend, natural resources, nuclear power, sources of research and development that allure the other countries to make associations with India. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the G20 (or Group of Twenty) and the BRICS are the three international organisations in which India plays a prominent role.
SAARC was established in 1985 with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka. India is among the seven founding countries and Afghanistan is the eight and the newest member of SAARC. This association is formed to tackle the common problems like poverty, illiteracy, natural disasters, technological backwardness and other socio-economic issues that are prevalent in South-Asian countries. As per the estimation of 2019, the SAARC comprises 3% of the world’s area, 21% of the world’s population and 4.21% of the global economy. India is the most powerful and wealthy nation among the eight countries and hence plays the most important role. India is working to make the member countries terrorism free and self-reliant. The major objective is to realise its own potentials and then reduce the dependency on other countries. The association is working towards this and India is playing the most important role.
The G20 is an international organisation composed of nineteen countries and the European Union. It was established in 1999 to promote international financial stability via policy intervention. India is one of the founding members of this organisation. India has emerged as an important member of G20 by contributing to the upliftment of global economic and financial condition. India has proposed various initiatives for infrastructural development, inclusive development, and efficient energy utilisation and to reduce global terrorism problems. These efforts of India always include the concerns of other developing countries and try to build a respectful place for the other developing nations amidst the global platform.
The group of five emerging developing nations known as BRICS was formed in 2009. It includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is established to promote cooperation between member nations for development, financial assistance, to support various projects and infrastructural development. India has played a vital role in the fulfilment of the objectives of this organisation. India introduced the BRICS portal, intra-BRICS trade, BRICS credit rating and invested nearly $4 billion in South Africa to train the labour there. BRICS portal is helpful to maintain the transparency by digitalising the steps taken by each member regarding EXIM policies, anti-dumping rules etc. BRICS credit rating agency helps to compare the rankings with members itself instead of other developed nations and the intra-BRICS trade promotes import from the member nations instead of the European countries. India has focused on the economic development of all the member nations and tried to build multilateral relations with Latin American, African and Asian countries. It has also played an important role in the establishment of the New Development Bank.
India is the largest developing economy and the best-performing economy in South Asia. It is known as the engine of growth in South Asia. As a member of various organisations India is not only working for her own interest but also promoting and strengthening the position of other developing nations.
Author: Juhi Singh Department of Economic Studies and Policy Central University of South Bihar