Aurangabad, 27 February 2023

 

Addressing the delegates at the Women-20 (W-20) Inception Meet at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (formerly Aurangabad) today, Union Minister for Women and Child Development (WCD), Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani spoke about  the five priority areas of W20 under India’s Presidency, namely, Women’s Leadership at the Grassroots, Female Enterprise and Female Prowess in the Agriculture Sector, Bridging the Digital divide, Education and Skill Development and Women and Girls as Changemakers in Climate Resilience Action.  

Welcoming the W-20 member delegates from various parts of the world, the Union WCD Minister stated that the leadership and contribution of W20 is valued as the arrival of W20 member delegates marks the arrival of the solution that the women of the world seek.

She expressed hope that the amalgamation of the best minds of W 20 across the world can also provide guidance on leveraging best practices from each country to build more on women- led businesses, women in agrarian societies, needs of women in the health sector and women in education and particularly skilling. She also called for leveraging technology to bring about equity. She urged W-20 members to brainstorm on how to spread the framework of engagement of women across the world and with governments and stakeholder organizations.

The Hon’ble Union Minister recalled Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sh Narendra Modi’s declaration on the table of the G-20 stating that women are not to be reduced to the sidelines and that women should take centre stage because the world is hungry for solutions. Speaking about the policy actions taken for women in India, the Hon’ble Minister stated that, out of the 3 million women across the world who are appointed to political offices at the grassroots level, 1.4 million women are from India. She further stated that 230 million  PM MUDRA loan beneficiaries were women. Close to 100 million women in India are also part of the workforce in the agricultural sector.  The Union Minister also stated that India's National Education Policy has provisioned for a Gender Inclusion Fund. Stating that Hon’ble PM had given a call to action for Digital India in 2014, she highlighted that 220 million women in India have bank accounts, many of which are operated by women digitally and that 20 million plus women are digitally certified as literate in the country.

The Hon’ble Minister expressed appreciation that the W-20 was bringing focus on women as change makers for climate action and treating it as a priority area, and also highlighted the need for making climate action and climate finance a women-led agenda.  She also urged the Women (W)-20 to brainstorm on developing a First Responders' Framework for helping women who are impacted by climate change

Also present on the occasion were, G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, MoS for Finance, Government of India, Dr. Bhagwat Karad, MoS for Ministry of Railways, Government of India, Sh Raosaheb Danve Patil, MLAs Sh Atul Save, Sandipanrao Bhumre, Founding Chair of W20, Dr Gulden Turktan, W-20 Chair Dr. Sandhya Purecha and W-20 Chief Coordinator, Dharitri Patnaik along with the W-20 members from member countries, guest countries and special invitees.

In his address, G -20 Sherpa Shri Amitabh Kant stated that the world is passing through challenging times in the post-COVID era which has impacted growth, progress and prosperity. In this context, it is important to focus on driving sustainable growth during India’s G-20 Presidency. He added that, "Not only having women merely as beneficiaries, but having women emerging as leaders of development is a key agenda as women and children are the major sufferers of poverty". He further stated that W20 is being perceived as important for developing potential of women as leaders which is a critical long term investment for global prosperity.

Union Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Bhagwad Kishanrao Karad welcomed the W-20 members, guest and special invitees to the historical city of Chhatrapati SambhajiNagar (formerly Aurangabad). Union Minister of State for Railways, Coal and Mines Raosaheb Danve Patil spoke about Union Government schemes like PMJDY, Mudra Yojana which are benefitting women immensely.

In her welcome speech, W-20 Chair, Dr. Sandhya Purecha said that W-20 India is committed towards the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ensuring that India's G-20 Presidency is inclusive, ambitious, decisive and action oriented. W-20 India’s vision is to create a world of equality and equity where every woman lives with dignity and the mission is to remove all barriers to women-led development. W-20 India has adopted the 4C strategy of Collaboration, Cooperation, Communication to Build Consensus and Call to Action to achieve its mission and goals.

The emphasis of W-20 will be to influence the G-20 Leaders’ Declaration and G20 Communiqué and take steps to build consensus for active engagement with women entrepreneurs, and commitments to policies that will advance gender equality and make women’s agenda, the core of G-20 deliberations.

 

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