India should stand with developing countries

Source: Indian Express 

Relevance: Policies of Western countries are becoming redundant. India should tilt its policies in favor of the global south.

Synopsis:

India should adopt an independent foreign policy and champion the concerns of the global south instead of assimilating in the agenda of the US and other Western powers.

Background:

• India is constantly improving its closeness and bonding with the US and other western powers.
• In the recent G7 outreach summit, India agreed on a plan to “Build Back a Better World” (B3W). The plan aims to curtail Chinese influence and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• Further, Indian PM has not been attending Non-Aligned Summit at regular intervals.
  • He attended only a virtual meeting of the NAM Contact Group in 2020. As the government was criticised for human rights violations, abolition of Article 370, use of sedition laws, and so on.

Reason behind growing western tilt:

• There has been a Global structural crisis of capitalism. Since the 1970s, monopoly capital has only produced nominal returns to the advanced economies, and this has been the central concern of the rich and their enabling ecosystems such as the IMF.
• In search of higher returns, investment of capital in the developing world has increased.

Issues associated with growing western tilt:

• Privatisation and exploitation have picked up the pace, and lives and livelihoods have become even more insecure. The crisis is leading to unemployment, poor wages and working conditions, lack of social security etc.
  • There has been a push for privatisation of PSUs, sale of national assets, weakening of financial cushions like the RBI and LIC in India. This has curtailed access to public health, education, housing, employment etc.
• The neoliberal model of western countries has increased economic inequalities in the last five decades, as quantified by economist Thomas Piketty.
  • Alarming levels of wealth concentration at the top and increasing destitution at the bottom are the hallmarks of neoliberalism.
• Further, such inclination is straining our relations with neighbours like China and time-tested allies like Russia.

Way Ahead:

• The closing of the economic gap between China and the US has made the Western world uneasy. It marks the first serious challenge to Western dominance since the disintegration of the USSR. Provocations and trade wars are taking the globe closer to a new Cold War. 
• In this backdrop, India should adopt an independent foreign policy and champion the concerns of the global south instead of succumbing to the agenda of US and other Western powers.