Delegate: Ms. Loiwal
69. Ms. Loiwal (India), speaking as a youth delegate, said that innovative measures taken by India in pursuit of inclusive growth had successfully reduced multidimensional poverty, and social protection programmes were increasingly linked with broad er development priorities to achieve equitable outcomes. Empowering people through the use of information and communications technology had been a driving force behind its transformation initiatives, including a biometry-based unique identification system and a unique disability ID card to facilitate access to social services. Millions of people now had access to bank accounts and financial services. In addition, technology had enabled billions of dollars to be disbursed to millions of people, and billions of dollars had been saved through efficiency gains. A network of common service centres provided access to public utility services in rural and remote areas.
70. India maintained the world’s largest health-care assurance programme and had run the world’s largest sanitation campaign. Programmes had been launched to [*11*] eradicate malnutrition by 2022, to protect women and children from indoor air pollution and to ensure retirement income for employees in the informal sector. A new government ministry had been established to address water-related issues, and legislation had been enacted to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.
71. In order to ensure employment opportunities for its large youth population and make skills development responsive to the needs of both industry and citizens, the Government was training millions of young people to start their own enterprises and extending affordable and collateral-free loans to start-ups. Young women accounted for 75 per cent of the beneficiaries. India now had the second-largest start-up ecosystem in the world, with the green economy having emerged as a leading employment generator. The renewable energy sector provided employment for over 700,000 people, and India was one of the first countries to collaborate with the International Labour Organization on the Green Jobs Initiative.
72. Inspired by the ideology of assisting the weakest members of society for the development of all and of respect for nature, India aimed to achieve an economically, socially and digitally inclusive society through South-South cooperation and partnerships with other developing countries and through its commitment to fulfilling the pledge of leaving no one behind.
UN Doc.: A/C.3/74/SR.2
Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/74/SR.2, 1 October 2019, p. 10-11, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/india-2019/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-191330-0.