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66th Commission on the Status of Women

Side Event: A world we women and girls want: Lifestyle for the environment (LIFE); (21 March 2022, 0830 hrs EST)

 

Remarks by Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti

Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations

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Hon’ble Minister Smt Smriti Irani

Smt. Asha Chandra, President of AIWEFA,

Excellencies,

Esteemed Speakers and

Distinguished participants,

 

We are delighted to partner once again All India Women's Education Fund Association (AIWEFA) in organizing today’s event. We deeply appreciate the work being done by Smt. Asha Chandra and AIWEFA in the sphere of women’s empowerment and gender equity.

 

We are deeply privileged to have amongst us today Her Excellency Smt. Smriti Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development of India. She has been at the forefront of change and to take forward our Prime Minister’s vision of women-led development. Ma’am, your presence today is a very big encouragement to all civil societies in India determined to make this a reality.

 

I also thank the Head of UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous and the distinguished Permanent Representatives from Bangladesh, Guyana and Bhutan in joining us for this important event. I thank you all and look forward to your insights.

 

The theme of today’s event ‘A World We Women Want: Lifestyle for the environment (LIFE)’ resonates with the priority theme of the CSW 66 focusing on women’s participation in climate action.

 

Friends,

 

India entered the Security Council in 2021 at a time when the United Nations was celebrating its 75th anniversary. This year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. In our two-year stint, we have consistently pushed for women, peace and security, including for example, calling for protection of women’s rights in Afghanistan in the UN Security Council resolution 2593 adopted under our Presidency of the Council in August last year.

 

We have been pioneers in women-led UN peacekeeping when Indian women peacekeepers went to Liberia to lead the first ever women UN peacekeeping contingent. Indian women leaders have consistently left a mark on the UN, right from the time when Mrs Vijaylakshmi Pandit became the first woman President of the UN General Assembly or when Begum Shareefah Hamid Ali joined as one of 15 women in the first UN Commission on the Status of Women or when Dr Hansa Mehta changed the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to read “All human beings are created equal” instead of “All men are created equal”. Just last week, our Permanent Mission hosted the second Dr Hansa Mehta dialogue where the first woman Director General of the World Trade Organisation was our Keynote speaker Dr Iweala.

 

In India, we understand that the health of people, especially of women, and the planet are inter-linked. We have always lived in harmony with nature. Reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, re-design and re-manufacture have been part of India's cultural ethos.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at COP26 in Glasgow had impressed that Lifestyle plays a critical role in climate action. He, therefore, proposed a One-Word Movement i.e. ‘LIFE’ which means ‘Lifestyle For Environment’. It is a vision of a resilient and sustainable lifestyle which will be the most effective tool for us to combat climate change.

 

This is not a slogan but a commitment by India. The Government of India has focused on formulating and implementing significant policies and initiatives which aim at promoting a holistic approach towards environmentally-conscious lifestyle. These actions have become even more relevant as we combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Friends,

 

Right from the time when India and a few developing countries ensured that the negotiations for the Sustainable Development Goals were done inter-governmentally in the United Nations and did not go the way the Millennium Development Goals were done, we have called for a sustainable lifestyle and holistic approach to the three pillars of sustainable development, namely, economic, social and environmental pillars. Gender equity is a concept that cuts across all these three pillars.

 

In 2015, at the initiative of India, June 21 was proclaimed as the International Day of Yoga. Yoga promotes a holistic approach to health and well-being.

 

To name a few National holistic lifestyle-changing policies:

 

Through the National AYUSH Mission, the Government is working towards establishing a holistic health model based on traditional medicines and practices.

 

Khelo India or National Programme for Development of Sports was launched in 2017 that emphasizes on the importance of sports and fitness.

 

Swachh Bharat Mission or Clean India Mission was launched in 2014 to eliminate open defecation, improve solid waste management and bringing about a behavior change regarding sanitation practices.

 

Friends,

 

India is second to none when it comes to climate action and climate justice. We have made robust and enhanced pledges in Glasgow during COP-26. Prime Minister Modi’s initiative of International Solar Alliance was recently granted Observer status in the UN.

 

India is also in the process of setting up of the National Hydrogen Mission to tap into Green Hydrogen

 

Digital India is transforming the way services are delivered to our citizens, especially to women, at the grassroots level. During the pandemic, it was the mass campaign to open bank accounts which helped women, especially to get cash transfers directly into their account.

 

Equitable energy access to the poor has been a cornerstone of our environmental policy. Through Ujjwala Yojana, the Government has provided access to clean cooking fuel to over 90 million households directly benefitting women. These and other lifestyle changing schemes are bringing about changes in our lives

 

Allow me to conclude with a quote of Mahatma Gandhi, and I quote “The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but on loan from our children. There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed”.

 

I thank you once again.

 

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