SJU hosts G20 University Connect Lecture series

St Joseph University (SJU), in collaboration with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Research and Information System (RIS) and North East Training, and Advocacy Foundation, organised a G-20 University Connect Lecture Series at its campus on Thursday.
Addressing the gathering as the lead speaker, ambassador and secretary, Economic Relations, MEA, Sanjay Bhattacharya said G20 was born during an economic crisis in the late 1990s that drew attention to the G-7’s capability to decide the fate of the world economy, leading to the birth of G8 and eventually G20. He pointed out that G20 represented about 2/3rd of the world’s population and 80% of the world’s GDP.
Dwelling briefly on its working system, he explained that G20 was structured in a very broad format, whereby the top was the main summit between heads of States of member countries and parallel summits among various economic and diplomatic arms of the member States.
Meanwhile, dwelling the agendas of G20 and how it connected with the youth, the ambassador stated that the group prioritised people-oriented development process and emphasised sustainability, admitting that it needed to look at the fears of global South and how to inculcate their views in today’s world setting.
He noted that the world needed a very action-oriented programme, while priority should be on sharing with the world the ethos of India, its rich history and energetic young population and plurality.
“The empowerment of youth and women is something we are focusing on. India is today a responsible and important member of the world community, than unlike 75 years ago,” he asserted. He said India would continue to be a youthful country till second half of this century, which would be a big bonus.
He explained that role of youth was to tackle challenges by collaboration and not by conflict, pointing out that technology could be used as vector to scale up social good too.
“Build trusteeship with nature in terms of not only with the natural environment but also our internal self,” he exhorted the gathering.
He said women and youth were the ambassadors to G20 and that, at the end of the day, the objective was to build a better world and hence urged all to be more engaged.
The ambassador further dwelled on India’s priorities, “Energy transition towards a green world”, “LiFE initiative for Lifestyle for Environment”, “Bridging the digital divide”, “Climate finance: funding green growth”, “Food security”, “Democratize financial governance” and “Accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals”.
Speaking briefly on Indian presidency of G20, he mentioned that role of the presidency was not only to arrange meetings but also to initiate new ideas.
Meanwhile, responding to a question by a student on the impact of G20 on Nagaland where women were deprived of political representation, Bhattacharya replied that regarded that as a sign of the system’s inadequacy. He observed that women of Nagaland were particularly disadvantaged vis-à-vis political representation, while pointing out that the same held true for much of the country.
He called for addressing the issue, while noting that most women did extremely well in public life and hence urged all women to have confidence in everything they do.
Earlier, welcome remark was delivered by SJU registrar Dr K Sethupathy, while guests were felicitated by SJU vice-chancellor Dr D Gnanadurai and a short speech on “G-20 University Connect” was delivered by associated professor, RIS, New Delhi, Dr Pankaj Vashisht.