 "In an era of geopolitical fragmentation and institutional fatigue, the logic of cooperative action becomes essential. File image/ Reuters")
At the Johannesburg G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advanced six proposals that, taken together, constitute a coherent framework for what he termed “people-centric globalisation”. Far from rhetorical flourish, each initiative is anchored in demonstrable need and supported by empirical evidence. They address questions of knowledge equity, demographic transitions, health security, technological commons, resource sustainability, and transnational crime, precisely the issues that define the 21st-century global agenda. A closer examination reveals how these proposals could materially benefit both India and the international system.
First consider the proposal for a Global Traditional Knowledge Repository. India’s experience with the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), with 454,000 medical and wellness formulations from Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga, demonstrates the value of documenting indigenous systems in a scientifically rigorous manner. The TKDL has been instrumental in preventing at least 324 wrongful patents globally, including the well-known turmeric and neem cases, thereby saving significant resources and safeguarding intellectual heritage.
With nearly 80 per cent of the world’s population relying on traditional medicine and 170 WHO member states calling for better evidence frameworks, a G20 repository can thus transcend from being just a cultural repository. It is a global public good, enabling drug discovery, sustainable agricultural practices, and climate-resilient living.
India’s hosting of the $250-million WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine signals both capability and intent. For India, global recognition of its knowledge systems strengthens cultural soft power and opens pathways in wellness tourism, herbal exports, and integrative medicine research.
The second initiative, the Africa Skills Multiplier, addresses the most consequential demographic trend of the century. Africa will account for 85 per cent of the world’s working-age population growth by 2050; its labour force is projected to rise from 849 million in 2024 to 1.56 billion. Yet the continent faces a severe skills mismatch: although over 80 per cent of youth aspire to high-skilled employment, only 8 per cent secure such jobs, leaving 82 per cent of workers in informal, low-productivity occupations.
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View AllA programme that develops one million certified trainers, each capable of imparting vocational, technical, and digital skills, could have a transformative multiplier effect, potentially reaching tens of millions over time. Evidence indicates that each additional year of schooling raises African workers’ earnings by 11 per cent on average. India’s long-standing investments in human-capital training through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (which has trained over 200,000 individuals from 160+ countries) and its domestic Skill India programme position it well to shape this agenda. A skilled Africa strengthens global value chains, enhances stability, and deepens South–South cooperation.
Health security forms the basis of the third proposal: a G20 Global Healthcare Response Team. Covid-19 exposed the inadequacy of fragmented, reactive systems. The WHO responded to 65 acute health emergencies across 18 countries in 2023 alone, often constrained by the challenge of rapid mobilisation. A pre-trained, rapidly deployable G20 health force, drawing on epidemiologists, clinicians, logistics specialists, and disaster-response teams, could significantly reduce response times. Economic modelling clearly gives the evidence of the stakes involved. Covid-19 resulted in nearly $14 trillion in global economic losses; even marginal improvements in containment timelines yield outsized benefits.
Delays during the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak imposed an estimated $53-billion socio-economic burden. India’s performance in Turkey’s 2023 earthquake, where its field hospital treated 3,600 patients in two weeks, illustrates the capability such a consortium could harness. For India, this strengthens its identity as a reliable first responder and provides reciprocal protection against global health threats.
The fourth proposal, the Open Satellite Data Partnership, recognises that geospatial information is now essential infrastructure. Satellite data underpins agriculture, infrastructure planning, disaster management, climate modelling, and environmental conservation. The benefits of open access are well documented. The US Landsat programme alone generated $3.45 billion in annual global economic benefits in 2017, rising to $25.6 billion by 2023 as cloud-based accessibility expanded. India’s cyclone-monitoring success illustrates the life-saving potential. Deaths fell from nearly 10,000 during the 1999 Odisha super-cyclone to 38 during Cyclone Phailin in 2013—a 99.6 per cent reduction—thanks to satellite-enabled early warnings.
A G20 framework for real-time data sharing would democratise access for developing nations, improve global disaster readiness, enhance agricultural productivity, and accelerate climate research. For India, it creates opportunities to both contribute Isro’s remote-sensing strengths and benefit from high-resolution imagery provided by other G20 members.
Equally strategic is the fifth proposal for a Critical Minerals Circularity Initiative. The clean-energy transition is intensifying demand for lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earths. The IEA projects that to align with net-zero pathways, global demand for key minerals must triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2040. Yet formal recycling captures barely 22 per cent of global e-waste, representing immense untapped potential.
Circular-economy approaches, including recycling, reuse, material substitution, and “urban mining”, could reduce primary mining requirements by 25–40 per cent by 2050, with recycled materials meeting up to 20 per cent of global demand for lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Recycled metals also emit roughly 80 per cent fewer greenhouse gases than virgin extraction.
For India, which generated 1.75 million tonnes of e-waste in 2023 and remains import-dependent for several minerals, circularity is essential for energy and industrial security. A G20-led initiative could harmonise standards, catalyse technology transfer, enable joint R&D, and stabilise supply chains, ensuring that the green transition does not reproduce new forms of dependency.
The sixth and final proposal, addressing the drug–terror nexus, recognises a persistent and growing transnational threat. The global illicit drug market is estimated at $320 billion annually, with some analyses placing it as high as $1 trillion. These revenues fuel insurgencies, organised crime, and terrorism. Drug trafficking networks in West Africa, Latin America, and the Sahel similarly entangle criminal economies with extremist groups. WHO data show that drug use accounted for approximately 600,000 deaths in 2019, highlighting the public-health dimension.
A coordinated G20 initiative that integrates interdiction, intelligence sharing, financial tracking, and capacity-building could significantly degrade these networks. For India (located between the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle and confronting rising flows of heroin, methamphetamine, and synthetic opioids), such cooperation strengthens national security and public health simultaneously.
These proposals represent more than six isolated initiatives. They amount to a conceptual reorientation of global cooperation, one that brings together cultural resources, demographic opportunity, scientific collaboration, environmental responsibility, and collective security. They position India not merely as a participant in global governance but as a catalyst shaping emerging norms and collective solutions.
In an era of geopolitical fragmentation and institutional fatigue, the logic of cooperative action becomes essential. The policy question now is whether the international community will mobilise the necessary political will to translate this agenda into practice.
(The author (X: @adityasinha004) writes on macroeconomic and geopolitical issues. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)