World’s focus must be on women-led development: Munda at G20 event

The world must reorient its focus from women’s development to women-led development, said Union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday, outlining India’s vision for financial inclusion.

Munda, who was addressing the plenary session of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) in Kolkata, said that financial inclusion should be utilised as a tool to ensure financial and economic empowerment and self-reliance of women.

This may be done through policy incentives such as collateral free loans, credit lines, single window clearances, simplifying compliances and paperwork, innovative financing, mandated percentage of bank funding for women, he said.

“This should also be complemented with efforts to address gender pay gap as well as efforts to energise entrepreneurial and leadership empowerment of women,” Munda added.

He called for efforts to boost start-ups founded and led by women.

Munda highlighted the need for ecological balance and holistic development. “As individual nations we all strive for economic development and betterment of our citizens.”

But there must be a global vision for ecological safeguards, he said. “Or, else we will all sink together.”

About the theme of India’s G20 presidency, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (One Earth, One Family, One Future), Munda said, “Our vision is to promote a universal sense of oneness and to work together to shape a new paradigm of human-centric globalisation where no one will remain behind.”