A two-day meeting of BRICS women parliamentarian’s forum began in Jaipur. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that government has chosen the path of removing poverty by empowering the poor. The Lok Sabha Speaker called on the BRICS countries to strengthen cooperative mechanisms and to innovate new institutional means for meeting the needs of the member countries.

Mrs Mahajan said that India’s development agenda was mirrored in the Sustainable Development Goals. She highlighted a few recent initiatives launched by India for promoting inclusion and social advancement, such as `Jan Dhan Yojana’/ `National Mission on Financial Inclusion’, the Beti Bachao/ Beti Padhao /scheme to promote Girl Child and educate Girl Child, Make in India, Skill Development, Digital India, etc.

This forum will help to have one voice as women Parliamentarians to organise, mobilise, motivate and advance women. A total of 43 Parliamentarians from BRICS countries, including 28 MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, are participating in the meeting where sustainable development goals are being discussed.

BRICS is a five-nation grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Theme of the second session, to be held on the second day on August 21, will be ‘Containing Climate Change – Imperatives of Global Cooperation’.