JGU ESTABLISHES INDIA’S 1ST RESEARCH CENTRE FOR G20 STUDIES

O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has taken efforts to build this Centre in the light of India assuming the G20 presidency from December 1, 2022. It is a fantastic opportunity for India to play a leadership role in promoting transformative ideas for making this institution more relevant and impactful.

O.P. Jindal Global (Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University), JGU, has announced the establishment of the Jindal Global Centre for G20 Studies. This will be the first research centre established by any Indian university that will exclusively focus on research, thought leadership and capacity building initiatives relating to G20. O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has taken efforts to build this Centre in the light of India assuming the G20 presidency from December 1, 2022. It is a fantastic opportunity for India to play a leadership role in promoting transformative ideas for making this institution more relevant and impactful. G20 is an inter-governmental forum that has 20 countries and the European Union as its members. Its main objective is to address issues relating to the global economy, especially on matters relating to international financial stability, climate mitigation and sustainable development. What needs to be recognised is that the G20 comprises the world’s largest economies — both industrialised and developing countries. Remarkably, G20 accounts for around 80 per cent of the gross world product (GWP), 75 per cent of the international trade, two-thirds of the global population, and 60 per cent of the world’s land area.

The Jindal Global Centre for G20 Studies (JGC4G20) at O.P. Jindal Global University will have five major objectives:

First, to develop a strong vision for enabling academic institutions across the G20 region to build international collaborations between them;

Second, to launch new initiatives to promote G20 studies and greater understanding of the countries in G20 in all its dimensions across other Indian higher education institutions;

Third, to organise periodic lectures, seminars and conferences of topical relevance to India-G20 cooperation in partnership with other universities, think tanks and government officials;

Fourth, to build and strengthen capacities for pursuing research relating to G20 countries within India with a strong focus on joint research between institutions in G20;

Prof. (Dr) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor of JGU, observed: “As India assumes the Presidency of G20, this will be the first such Centre established by any Indian university. I am happy to announce the ap pointment of Prof. (Dr) Mohan Kumar, India’s former ambas sador to France and Dean of the Office of International Affairs & Global Initiatives at JGU, as the Inaugural Director of the JGC4G20. This will be a university-wide re search centre, which will pursue five major initiatives in this year of India’s Presidency of G20.

“First, JGCG20 will host a Global Conference of 200 Universities from G20 Countries with representation of 10 universities from each G20 partner to focus on the future of education; second, to organise a G20 Ambassadors Conclave that will promote a dialogue on the future of diplomacy; third, to host a Global Justice Colloquium with a focus on bringing together lawyers and judges of the G20 countries to discuss and debate on the state of the justice systems across G20; fourth, to host the World Sustainability Forum for bringing together thought leaders and institutions in G20 to engage on issues relating to environment and climate change; and fifth, to host the Global Public Policy and Development Dialogue for bringing together policy makers and academics in G20 to discuss issues confronting the world of policy and development.”

Commenting on the significance of this initiative, Prof. Kumar observed: “The vision for proposing a G20 Global Education Forum should enable the opportunity for another summit hosted in parallel to the G20 summit, which will bring together the leading universities of the G20. The vision of this Centre is to transcend the functioning of G20 that is currently limited to governmental organisations, politicians and diplomats. The democratisation of the functioning of G20 as an international forum will require a complete reimagination involving other participants, especially the young people who are part of the universities of the world. Their involvement and the participation of universities, including their researchers, albeit in a separate forum hosted on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, will send a powerful signal to make the working of G20 more inclusive.”

The Director of the newly established JGC4G20, Ambassador Prof. (Dr) Mohan Kumar has had a remarkable career in the Indian Foreign Service spanning over 36 years and culminating in him becoming India’s Ambassador to France based in Paris. Under his watch, the Indo-French strategic partnership was strengthened and consolidated in spheres such as defence, space, nuclear and solar energy, smart cities and investment. Earlier, he was India’s Am bassador to the Kingdom of Bah rain, where he witnessed and dealt with a strategically complex region characterised by events such as the ‘Arab Spring’. Ambassador Dr Mohan Kumar has enormous exper tise in the crucial area of interna tional trade. He was India’s lead negotiator first at the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and then at the WTO (World Trade Organisation) in areas such as Intellectual Property Rights, Services, Dispute Settlement, Rules and Technical Barriers to Trade. Ambassador Dr Mohan Kumar also has a strategic understanding of India’s ties with some of her key neighbours such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) from Sciences Po University, Paris. Ambassador

Dr Mohan Kumar has also served as the Chairman of Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) from June 2018 to June 2022. He is the author of a book titled ‘Negotiation Dynamics of the WTO: An Insider’s Account’, published by Palgrave Macmillan (2018). On his appointment as Inaugural Director of the JGC4G20, Prof (Dr) Mohan Kumar said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been given this responsibility at a time when India has just assumed the presidency of the G20. G20 has gradually emerged as an indispensable multilateral forum on the international landscape. It has also expanded its remit to dealing with the burning problems of the day, after starting off in 2008 as an institution which was aimed at management of the global economy.” The newly established research centre, Prof (Dr) Mohan Kumar noted, will undertake independent and inter-disciplinary research in the following areas already established by India as priorities for its presidency. These are, inter alia:

(1) Accelerating SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) in Education and Health;

(2) Accelerated, Inclusive and Resilient Economic Growth;

(3) Green Development and Climate Finance;

(4) Multilateral Institutions for the 21st Century;

(5) 3 Fs: Food, Fuel and Fertilizers; and

(6) Gender: Women-led development.

“The vision of JGC4G20 is to draw upon the tremendous ex pertise in all the schools of JGU and bring it together underone umbrella. The JGC4G20 thus hopes to make a substantial contribution not just in the presidency year of India, but well beyond in the future,” Prof. (Dr.) Mohan Kumar said. O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) is a research-intensive university with the prestigious Institution of Eminence (IoE) status accorded by the Government of India. In a short life span of 13 years, JGU has been ranked for the last three years in a row as the ‘Number 1 Private University of India’ by the QS World University Rankings (2022). One of the reasons for JGU’s remarkable rise is research led by the outstanding contributions of its 1,000+ full time faculty members who come from 48 countries. JGU has more than 55 interdisciplinary research centres that are faculty-run and student-driven (over 10,000 students), spread across 12 schools, and covering a variety of issues in humanities and social sciences. Some of these Research Centres have a country-specific focus, such as the Centre for Israel Studies, the Centre for Afghanistan Studies, the Centre for India-Australia Studies, and the Centre for India-China Studies. All these centres are promoting knowledge and doing policy advocacy relating to these specific countries and are quite actively engaged in improving India’s relations with those countries. They also administer a wide variety of academic courses and degree programmes for students in collaboration with partner universities, besides governments of those countries.

Source: PTI

INDIA AIMING AT CAPTURING 10% OF GLOBAL GREEN HYDROGEN MARKET: GOVT

But, experts say it is going to take at least 5-7 years for India to actually starting exporting green hydrogen on the scale the government is envisaging. This is because till 2030 India has set a target of producing 5 MMT of green hydrogen annually, which will primarily be used for domestic consumption in hard-to-abate sectors.

The government has put a number to its aim of being a leading exporter of green hydrogen in the world. Setting an ambitious target of capturing about 10 percent of the global green hydrogen market which is expected to touch 100 million metric tonne (MMT) by 2030, senior officials in the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) informed. On January 13, the government released a blueprint for its ambitious National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) with a total initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore, of which Rs 17,490 crore will be for the production-linked incentives for producing green hydrogen and manufacturing electrolysers. “India wants to capture at least 10 percent of the global green hydrogen/green ammonia market. But, the journey to exporting green hydrogen will not be an immediate thing. It may at some point happen parallel to meeting the domestic demand of green hydrogen,” said a senior MNRE who is not authorised to speak publically. The NGHM document too talks about India exporting green hydrogen at length. “Considering the renewable energy potential and the enabling framework proposed under the mission, India’s green hydrogen production costs are expected to be among the lowest in the world. A global demand of over 100 MMT of green hydrogen and its derivatives like green ammonia is expected to emerge by 2030,” the document stated. “Many countries are likely to rely on imports due to constraints on land and renewable resources required to produce green hydrogen domestically. Aiming at about 10 percent of the global market, India can potentially export about 10 MMT green hydrogen/green ammonia per annum,” it read. India is eyeing the European Union (EU), which has set a target of importing 10 MMTPA of green hydrogen by 2030. “Not just the EU, we are also looking at exporting green hydrogen to Japan, which plans to import 5-10 MMT of green hydrogen by 2050. Similarly, South Korea also plans to import nearly 2

MMT,” said the official quoted above. To lay the ground for creating an export infrastructure, the government has committed that green ammonia bunker (marine fuel) and refuelling facilities will be present in at least one port by 2025 and that such facilities will be established at all major ports by 2035. Besides, oil and gas PSUs will be required to charter at least one ship each to be powered by green hydrogen or derived fuels by 2027. Thereafter, the companies will be required to add at least one ship powered by such fuel for each year of the mission. These PSUs currently charter about 40 vessels for the transport of petroleum products, as per the mission. But, experts say it is going to take at least 5-7 years for India to actually start exporting green hydrogen on the scale the government is envisaging. Ramanuj Kumar, Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, said India needs to address two key challenges to push its green hydrogen production scale to the level of exporting carbonfree gas. “First, the regulatory framework and standards of the green hydrogen export market need to be harmonised between India and the target countries. How these countries are defining green hydrogen and setting production standards and transportation infrastructure regulations around that will be a key aspect in this,” he said.

Source: PTI