S Jaishankar Highlights Women-Led Development As Integral To India’s Foreign Policy

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar underscored India’s commitment to women-led development, highlighting its importance in the country’s foreign policy.

At the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas panel on ‘Nari Shakti: Celebrating Women’s Leadership and Influence,’ Jaishankar highlighted that women-led development is central to India’s foreign policy. He further emphasized the importance of integrating women into all aspects of society as India moves towards becoming a ‘Viksit Bharat’.

G20 Summit & Women-Led Development

Reflecting on G20 Summit, Jaishankar stated, “When we chaired G20, we pushed very strongly for women-led development and got it eventually accepted in the G20 conceptual framework.”

The minister also highlighted similar efforts made during the Summit of the Future.

“We do a lot of development cooperation, especially with countries of the global south. We are present in different ways through projects and capacity building in 78 countries and in many of our projects target gender-sensitive issues, women’s equality, and opportunities for them. So this is very much built into our foreign policy,” said the External Affairs Minister.

Jaishankar discussed how women’s development fundamentally connects to the concept of a ‘Viksit Bharat’, emphasizing, “You cannot progress towards Viksit Bharat if you don’t address these issues.”

“Until we are able to deal with traditional, historical, societal attitudes; if India is to become a modern, industrial, tech-centric society then we cannot neglect 50 per cent of the talent,” he further added.

Additionally. the minister stressed the need for role models and their wider influence on society.

“If they are replicated, internalised, normalised, they actually have a transformational impact on society,” S Jaishankar noted.

In his closing remarks, Jaishankar emphasized that while GDP and infrastructure measure ‘Viksit Bharat,’ they remain superficial until addressing the human aspect of progress.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD)

The Government of India organizes the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention to connect with the Indian diaspora and foster interaction among them.

The 18th PBD Convention, held in partnership with the Odisha State Government, is taking place from 8 to 10 January in Bhubaneswar.

The theme of this year’s convention is ‘Diaspora’s Contribution to a Viksit Bharat’. A significant number of diaspora members from over 50 countries have registered for the event.

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