• About: The UN Summit of the Future is aimed at reforming and strengthening international governance. The summit seeks to address contemporary global challenges and secure a sustainable future for upcoming generations.  
  • This summit builds on recent UN efforts such as the 2022 UN Environment Stockholm+50 conference and the High Seas Treaty.  
  • The theme of the Summit is ‘Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow’.  
  • The Summit concluded with the adoption of an outcome document – A Pact for the Future, along with two annexes, Global Digital Compact and A Declaration on Future Generations. 
• Pact for the Future: It is aimed at accelerating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement for climate action. Includes commitments to a just transition from fossil fuels and ensuring a sustainable and peaceful future. 
  • It speaks of addressing the root causes of conflicts and accelerating commitments on human rights, including women’s rights.
  • The Global Digital Compact promotes equitable access to technology, ensuring it benefits everyone.  
  • Introduced the first universal agreement on Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance, advocating for establishment of a multidisciplinary Independent International Scientific Panel on AI within the UN, ensuring balanced geographic representation to enhance scientific understanding through evidence-based assessments of impact, risks, and opportunities, leveraging existing initiatives and research networks (SDG 17). 
  • The “Declaration on Future Generations” focuses on long-term thinking by urging current decision-makers to consider the interests of future generations. 
    • It commits to nuclear disarmament, regulating autonomous weapons, and preventing an arms race in outer space, representing the first multilateral support for nuclear disarmament in over a decade. 
• India’s Stance at the Summit: India calls for reforms in the UN and Security Council to ensure relevance, advocating for expanded permanent membership, including itself and African nations. 
  • The Prime Minister of India highlighted cyber, maritime, and space as new conflict arenas, urging global frameworks to ensure security. Advocated for global digital governance while offering India’s digital public infrastructure for global cooperation. 
  • India backed the UN’s Pact for the Future and initiatives on AI governance, and digital cooperation.

• The Global Digital Compact (GDC), adopted during the UN’s ‘Summit of the Future,’ focuses on harnessing digital technologies for the common good while promoting sustainable development and responsible data governance.
• It aims to address challenges like the digital divide, data privacy, and ethical AI use.

Key points on Global Digital Compact (GDC):

• Nature: The GDC is a non-binding diplomatic instrument aiming to guide governments, institutions, and stakeholders in digital technology use and governance. Over time, its guidelines could evolve into soft laws.
• Core objectives: Promotes global cooperation in technology governance based on international laws, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the UN 2030 Agenda, emphasizing inclusive participation, sustainability, and responsible data governance.
• Digital public goods: Advocates for the development of digital public infrastructure, including open-source software, data, and AI models, to bridge the digital divide and support sustainable development goals (SDGs).
• Panels established: Two panels have been set up: an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and a Global Dialogue on AI Governance, aimed at guiding responsible AI use and innovation.

• Background: Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was born on 1st  December 1886, in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. 
  • He was a freedom fighter, revolutionary, writer, social reformer, and internationalist. 
• Contribution to Education: Founded Prem Mahavidyalaya in 1909, a technical institute at Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh. It is India’s first polytechnic, to promote indigenous technical education. 
• Freedom Movement Contributions: 
  • Participated in the 1906 Congress session in Kolkata and promoted indigenous industries. Mahendra Pratap was also deeply involved with the Swadeshi movement and would constantly promote small industries with indigenous goods and local artisans. 
  • Mahendra Pratap was deeply involved in India’s struggle for independence. In 1915, during World War I, he proclaimed the first Provisional Government of India in Kabul, Afghanistan, with himself as its president, opposing British colonial rule
    • He sought support from countries like Germany, Japan, and Russia for India’s fight against British colonial rule.   
    • He is said to have met Vladimir Lenin in 1919, two years after the Bolshevik Revolution. 
  • He also formed the Executive Board of India in Japan in 1940 during the Second World War. 
• Internationalist and Peace Advocate: Mahendra Pratap was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1932 for his global advocacy for peace and his efforts to expose British atrocities in India and Afghanistan.  
  • The nomination described Raja as a “Hindu patriot”, “editor of the World Federation”, and “unofficial envoy of Afghanistan”. 
  • In 1929, Mahendra Pratap launched the World Federation in Berlin, which later influenced the creation of the United Nations.  
• Political Career: After independence, he worked hard to promote the idea of Panchayati Raj and served as a Member of Parliament from Mathura (1957). 
• Legacy: Remembered for his crucial role in the Indian independence movement, especially through international diplomacy and creating awareness. 

• It is a member-owned cooperative that provides safe and secure financial transactions for its members.
• Establishment: It was founded in 1973 by 239 banks from 15 countries.
• SWIFT is a network that banks use to communicate with each other securely, mainly to give instructions for transferring funds between accounts. 
• SWIFT is the largest and most streamlined method for international payments and settlements.
• SWIFT works by assigning each financial organization a unique code with either eight or 11 characters, known as a bank identifier code, or BIC.
• By standardizing communication protocols, SWIFT ensures that financial institutions can reliably conduct cross-border transactions, reducing the risks and inefficiencies associated with international banking.
• Although SWIFT is crucial to global financial infrastructure, it’s not a financial institution.
• SWIFT does not hold or transfer assets but facilitates secure, efficient communication between member institutions. It transmits essential details such as the recipient’s account information and transfer amount. 
• Headquartered in La Hulpe, Belgium, the system is overseen by the central banks of the G10 countries, the European Central Bank, and the National Bank of Belgium. 
  • Its shareholders represent around 3,500 member organisations.
  • SWIFT shareholders elect a board of 25 directors who govern the organisation and oversee management of the SWIFT system.
• Because membership in SWIFT allows countries to easily conduct international financial transactions, exclusion from SWIFT is an economic sanction that can be used against countries whose actions are condemned by the global community.