Women-led development deliberations take centre stage at G20: Irani

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said thanks to his vision women-led development had become a subject of deliberations during the G20 leadership meetings for the first time.

She was addressing a press conference here on the outcomes of the 'Ministerial Conference on Women's Empowerment', which concluded at Mahatma Mandir during the day.

"Before India took over the G20 presidency, women-related subjects were never at the centre of discussions. Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision, for the first time in the history of G20, women-led development became a subject of deliberations during G20 leadership meetings. For the first time, women-led agenda was central to the discussion in G20," Irani said.

In the past, G20 never saw participation of women from rural or humble backgrounds, but under India's presidency, such women have now found a voice in G20, the Union Women and Child Development minister added.

"The Indian G20 presidency has brought justice to the main table of the world leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured women are not reduced to the sidelines of the conversation. In the history of G20 dialogue, discourse and deliberation, for the first time, women-led agenda has been central to conversations," the Union minister asserted.

The conference, which began on August 2, saw participation of 138 delegates from 15 G20 nations, including Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the US, and five guest countries like Bangladesh and the UAE.

One of the key outcomes of the conference was TechEquity, a digital inclusion platform prepared by India with an aim to empower women digitally, said Irani.

"Women at the grassroots never found a voice in G20 till India took over the presidency. India's contribution, thanks to the G20 EMPOWER team, is TechEquity, a digital inclusion platform, in which courses will be submitted by G20 nations in 120 international and Indian languages. This platform will reach out to one million users across the G20 universe," said Irani.

G20 EMPOWER is an alliance for the Empowerment and Progression of Women's Economic Representation.

She also said several G20 members have shown interest in the PM POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman) scheme as they want to replicate it in their countries.

"PM POSHAN is our flagship scheme to provide nutrition to children under the age of six as well as to pregnant and lactating mothers. Poshan Tracker is our digital application which tracks 100 million beneficiaries, including children and mothers, across 1.4 million anganwadis in the country," she informed.

"Our friends in the G20 family have not only appreciated it but many nations have shown interest in learning from this ICD application and modifying it to suit their own domestic needs. India has promised to share this technology with the G20 nations," she added.

On the occasion, Dr Sangita Reddy, Chair, G20 EMPOWER, said TechEquity was one of the two platforms created during the deliberations.

TechEquity will be available for women from both urban as well as rural areas and it can be accessed by everyone because it will be in 120 languages, Reddy said.

"Another platform created during the deliberations is the Mentorship Platform. Women sometimes do not realise what their potential is. They need counselling to learn what are the best options for them. Mentorship Platform can help women choose the right careers and directions," she said.