Dear Reader, Every time I take the metro to central Bengaluru I see an ad for the G20 summit ticking along the platform's LED display. Every time I open a newspaper, I see the G20 logo (and some smiling politician or the other) staring back at me. Every time I cross a random government building on my way to the gym in the evening, I see a flex with India's G20 slogan 'vasudhaiva kutumbakam'—'the world is one family'—emblazoned across it. The summit, and India's Presidency of it, has reached everything, everywhere, all at once. Nationalist symbolism aside, why exactly is that? We stumbled through the smoke screen trying to answer that question—here's our round up of everything you need to know about the G20. Back to basics I was speaking to a friend about the G20 a few weeks ago. They didn’t hold much stock in its potential to change the world, the way government ads seem to think it will. “All these international organisations are the same, da. They’ll fly in on private jets, talk about inequality, and nothing will actually change for you and me.” https://twitter.com/pankajanand0702/status/1625163430842990593 That’s not an entirely inaccurate description of the world of international relations—and it’s a criticism that the G20 has faced too. But, there’s more to the summit than meets the eye. Is it a forum where a lot of nationalist grandstanding happens? Yes. But, does it also have the power to produce global consensus on important issues? Also yes. Can it help…
