Kochi: October 19, 2023

Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani said that according to the global pronouncements, India would become the third largest economy in the world by 2027. The Minister added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had revised the growth projection of India from 6.1% to 6.3% whereas the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had projected a growth of 6.5%, which spoke volumes on the Indian prospect. “From the year 2027, India will become the third largest economy for sure,” said the Minister. The Union Minister was addressing the gathering after inaugurating Manorama News Conclave 2023 held at  Grand Hyatt in Kochi today.

While replying to the question on child abuse cases in India, the Union Minister said that one of the biggest challenges was that close to 80% of abuses emanated from either the people the child knows within the family or from the friend circle. She added that the Ministry of Women and Child Development had set up counselling facilities across the country in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) for children who were in conflict with the law and also children who needed protection of the law. She added that the services were also expanded to caregivers of such children so that they knew how to process the trauma.  

Citing the example of the various initiatives by the Union Government in this regard, the Union Minister spoke about the decision to set up 1036 fast track courts across the country of which  400 were dedicated to POSCO cases.

In child missing cases, Smt Smriti Irani added that the Prime Minister has ensured that changes were brought in the Juvenile Justice Act wherein every district magistrate and Superintendent of Police had designated duties to ensure that each child was protected.

When asked about the women’s agenda getting prominence in the G20, the Minister pointed out that the subject was always reduced to the side-lines and that it was to the credit of the Prime Minister that he mainstreamed it and made it a part of the main agenda.

While talking about the sports culture in India at present, Smt. Smriti Irani said that the 107 medals India won in the Asian Games spoke volumes about our sporting promise. She also added that in the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, we had won 70 in 18 disciplines out of a total of 30 disciplines. But this time our sportspersons came back after winning in 22 categories. She said that most sports enthusiasts attributed this victory to the Central Government's  TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) scheme.

The Minister also touched upon the topics of unemployment and poverty and said that 13.5 crore Indians had been taken out of Mutli-Dimensional Poverty. Over 500 million bank accounts were opened by people and 2 lakh crore rupees were deposited by the poor. The Minister added that unemployment stood at a 6 year low of 3.2%.

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