AdminModel Answers to PYQs (2019-2024)
1] “Nothing is going to move within the WTO negotiations unless India is on board.” Discuss the main reasons behind India’s increased clout in the WTO. [2024/10m/150w/5c]
A careful observation of WTO functioning of last few years does indicate a significant shift in favour of India. Several reasons can be attributed to this:
For more than the last three decades, India has witnessed significant economic growth. India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and a significant player in global trade, especially in IT services, pharmaceuticals, and textiles. Additionally, a large, young domestic market gives India it leverage to negotiate trade terms favourable to its interests.
Further, India often champions the concerns of third-world countries. This approach has played a pivotal role in rallying support among developing countries to India, portraying it as the leader of the Global South. India’s stand on agricultural subsidies and affordable medicines are examples of this approach.
However, it is also true that despite India’s increased stature, WTO remains largely controlled by the West. The USA has been unilaterally successful in ensuring that the dispute mechanism of WTO remains defunct since last 5 years. The trade terms still remain in favour of the West, and the global south, led by India needs to remain vigilant to ensure that WTO remains a fair organization. [189 words]
2] Discuss the potential role that India could play as the leader of the Global South in realising the goal of establishing a new international economic order in the 21st century. [2024/15m/200w/6c]
The New International Economic Order (NIEO) is a movement by developing and third-world countries to end economic colonialism that the present global economic order perpetuates. Through NIEO, Global South seeks to create a fairer and more inclusive global order.
The main demands of NIEO include sovereign equality of all states, with non-interference in their internal affairs. a just relationship between the price of raw materials and other goods, reform of the Bretton Woods institutions as well as that of WTO and both financial and technology transfer for industrialization of developing nations. There is also a call for the promotion of cooperation among the countries of the South, to ensure greater individual and collective autonomy and a better bargaining power vis-à-vis the Global North.
In all of this, as a leader of NAM, India can play a key role in establishing NIEO. NAM remains an important forum representative of the third world, and NIEO has been long on the agenda of NAM as well. With India’s growing economic size, it enjoys a significant bargaining power in trade negotiations, and the same can be utilized to push forward to demand for fairer trade terms.
Further, India is also party to multilateral alignments like G20, BRICS, IBSA, Russia-India-China (RIC) etc. aimed at creating a multipolar world order, and these platforms can also serve as a platform to voice NIEO.
Apart from these, India is also evolving as a technological giant. Through its own technology-sharing initiatives, and expertise in the knowledge economy, India can contribute its share to an inclusive world order.
It should also be noted that India is already spearheading the efforts for NIEO. Through knowledge-sharing platforms like ITEC, RIS, ISA, CDRI etc. and initiatives like Vaccine Maitri, India has shown to the world its willingness to live by the values of global citizenship. As remarked by Amb. Ruchira Kamboj, “As far as India is concerned, our engagement with the Global South is not just a matter of policy, it is ingrained in the very fabric of our culture and philosophy.” [340 words]
3] Why is the compromise reached at WTO regarding the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing not a Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver? [2023/10m/150w/5c]
India and South Africa, in 2020, in relation to prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19, proposed to authorize WTO Members to waive the substantive and enforcement-related provisions of the TRIPS Agreement not only for patents but also for copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets, and test data protection;
A quad of EU, India, South Africa and the US came to a compromise which was far less ambitious and ambiguous. The compromise excludes diagnostics, treatments, and PPE. It only narrowly modifies compulsory licenses of patents covering COVID vaccines. Moreover, it imposes additional restrictions on use of compulsory licenses.
However, the multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers have protested even these modest changes from the status quo, arguing that there is no IP problem that needs to be fixed.
This compromise was yet another blow to the global solidarity in hard times. The efforts should be made to analyze the systemic discrimination and inequality, as well as the historical biases and economic interests, which ultimately prevented countries from reaching a more appropriate solution the world needed. [170 words]
4] What diplomatic steps has India taken to articulate the interests of the Global South in International Politics? [2023/10m/150w/5e]
India has a long history of actively articulating the interests of the Global South in international politics.
Most significantly, India was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. NAM emphasizes principles such as sovereignty, self-determination, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations.
India is also an active member of the Group of 77 (G-77), a coalition of developing nations that works to promote economic cooperation and development. India has also been part of the Group of 15 (G-15), which focuses on fostering cooperation among developing countries in various fields.
It is also a key member of BRICS, which aims to advance the economic and political interests of developing countries and advocates for a more balanced international order.
India actively engages in South-South cooperation by providing technical assistance, capacity-building, and development aid to other developing nations. This helps promote self-reliance and economic growth in partner countries.
India has always advocated for the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities,” which recognizes historical disparities in greenhouse gas emissions and calls on developed countries to take the lead in addressing climate change. Similarly, India has participated in trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other forums, advocating for fair trade policies that consider the needs of developing countries.
India’s diplomatic efforts are aimed at advancing the economic, political, and social interests of developing countries, strengthening their collective voice in international politics, and promoting a more equitable global order. These efforts reflect India’s commitment to solidarity with the Global South. [253 words]
5] Discuss the relevance of the demand for New International Economic Order (NIEO) in the present era of globalisation. [2022/20m/250w/6a]
In the early 1970s, the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement challenged the material and intellectual pillars of the postwar liberal capitalist system through collective action at the UN to establish a New International Economic Order (NIEO).
The aim was to complete the ‘emancipation’ of the ‘global South’ by creating binding institutional frameworks, legal regimes and redistributive mechanisms correcting historically constructed core–periphery disparities. That ambitious effort failed in the face of ‘Northern’ resistance and national segmentation within the NAM.
Today re-emerging states of the global South are engaged in a more successful effort to gain a voice and alter the international hierarchy by claiming a central place in the world capitalist system and restructuring it from within. The vertical late-modern world system centred in the Atlantic and ordered by the ‘West’ is thus gradually giving way to a polycentric international structure in which new regional and transnational ‘South–South’ linkages are being formed.
The main theme around which NIEO’s philosophy revolves is ‘‘economic independence’’ It is basic and a must for the political sovereignty of poor and developing countries. Today, institutions like IMF and WTO are facing a trust deficit and consequently, organisations like BRICS, NDB, and AIDB are rising and looking forward to catering to third-world problems. the relevance of NIEO is important also because of new rising concerns that the old institutions fail to solve like the issue of migration, hunger and climate change.
NIEO aims to create a restructured, fair political and economic system based on cooperation between developed and developing countries rather than conflict. Economic prosperity is basic for global peace and stability, and so long the developing countries continue to be deprived, there can be no real and lasting peace in the developed world. [289 words]
6] Explain India’s position on the waiver of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines in WTO. [2021/10m/150w/5c]
India, along with South Africa, introduced a proposal to waive certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19.
India emphasizes the need to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, especially for developing countries that may face challenges in accessing and affording them. The waiver aims to remove barriers posed by IPRs, such as patents, trade secrets, and copyrights, which can restrict the production and distribution of vaccines and other medical products.
This would facilitate the rapid scaling up of vaccine production and encourage technology transfer to increase global vaccine supplies. This would help address the urgent public health crisis posed by the pandemic and save lives by ensuring widespread vaccination.
By removing legal barriers and facilitating the sharing of knowledge, data, and technology, countries can collectively work towards developing and producing vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics to combat the pandemic more effectively.
India adds that the waiver proposal is temporary and limited to the duration of the pandemic. It is seen as a response to the exceptional circumstances posed by COVID-19 and aims to provide flexibility in intellectual property rules to address the urgency of the global health crisis.
Although, it has faced resistance from some high-income countries and pharmaceutical companies. India’s adamant stance on the waiver of intellectual property rights reflects its commitment to global public health and equitable access to vaccines. [234 words]
The post contains answers to the last 6-year papers i.e. (2024-2019). Answers to the previous year questions from 2013-2024 are a part of our book PSIR Optional Model Answers to PYQs (2013-2024). Click here to know more.