India should stand for countries in south and developing world as they are feeling pain: Jaishankar

India's Minister of External Affairs (MEA), Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday (January 28) launched 'Bharat Marg', the Marathi translation of his book 'The India Way' in Pune, a popular city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. During the launch, Jaishankar said that the global south and developing nations are "feeling the pain" and India must stand for them while most of the developed nations are looking only at their concerns. 

He said, "Today, the developing world, the south is feeling the pain. The south is seeing food shortage, the south is seeing fuel shortage and sometimes they cannot afford things. So somebody should speak up for them." 

Jaishankar said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that India must take this responsibility as most of the developed countries are only looking at their concerns. 

He said, "Our G20 must be G20 for the whole world. We must stand for the south. When I say 'we need to stand for the south' it is not just for the sake of saying it but do it through actions." 

"We decided to meet with them. For two days, five-six ministers and the Prime Minister himself took a whole day to meet our counterparts and we consulted more than 120 countries," he added. 

Jaishankar also weighed in on the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and said that is a technical matter. He further mentioned that Indus commissioners of both countries will talk to each other on this issue. 

Jaishankar didn't comment on being asked about India's stance on current developments in Pakistan. He said, "In this (Indus Water) treaty, there are commissioners from both countries (India and Pakistan)." 

It is a technical matter and Indus commissioners will talk to each other and after that, we can see what would be the next step," Jaishankar added. 

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