Gandhinagar: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday (July 17) made a strong case for coordinated international efforts to navigate the challenges relating to food, energy insecurity and climate change. In her opening remarks at the two-day meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) here, Ms Sitharaman said the global economic growth is below its long-term average and remains uneven. The minister said,
We need coordinated international efforts to navigate this challenging period. In this context, the G20 framework Working Group explored the issue of tackling macroeconomic challenges related to food and energy insecurity, and those related to climate change and transition pathways.
The policy lessons that have emerged from these issues clearly underpin the need for enhanced international economic cooperation.
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Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, Ms Sitharaman said “the future depends on what we do in the present.” She said,
This statement powerfully conveys the responsibility we have as finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 countries to steer the global economy towards a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive group.
Moving on to the global health agenda in 2023 with the goal of amplifying the voices of low-income countries, the multi-year work plan of the Joint Finance and Health Task Force was adopted, supported by the guidance from regional organisations, she said.
Based on the mandate provided in the February meeting of FMCBG, she said, the various work streams of the G20 Finance track, have now come out with their deliverables.
She said,
On behalf of the presidency, I take this opportunity to thank the co-chairs of various G20 finance track working groups, the international organisations and the G20 membership for the extraordinary support to the Indian presidency in developing these deliverables despite the stringent timelines.
Three significant deliverables have been prepared including the framework on economic risks and vulnerabilities, the report on best practices on financial health and institutional arrangements and the report on mapping pandemic response financing options and gaps, she said.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toiletsare used and open defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
