New Delhi, January 21, 2023: India's Civil 20 Engagement Group (C20), the official engagement group of the country’s G20 leadership representing the voices of non-profit, voluntary citizens’ groups in service to society, has been inaugurated at Amritapuri in Kerala’s Kollam district.
Dozens of G20 and C20 representatives, Government leaders, and other distinguished guests participated virtually in the high-powered gathering, including Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), who serves as Chair of C20; Amitabh Kant, former CEO of NITI Aayog; Shashi Tharoor, MP (Congress); Union Ministers Anurag Thakur and V Muraleedharan; Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, and Kerala's State Public Education Minister, V Sivankutty.
On the occasion, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) initiated a Rs. 50 crore project by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math to support the welfare of pregnant women who are malnourished and people with disabilities in underdeveloped districts across India and other developing nations. The Ashram will collaborate closely with local civil society organizations (CSOs) to bring about a tangible change in the lives of its beneficiaries.
In her address, Amma said, "Many civil organisations and individuals are actively engaged in finding solutions and doing humanitarian work. But they are only small rain drops falling into the ocean. But when they fall in the desert, even such small drops have some benefit. If we understand their place and use them accordingly, they can help bring some joy, peace and health to the world."
Amitabh Kant, former CEO of NITI Aayog who is India's Special Representative (Sherpa) at G20, also addressed the C20 inauguration. He emphasised how the C20 is a mirror of the dynamic range of activities CSOs must undertake to contribute to establishing India’s G20 Presidency as a beacon of hope, healing, and harmony for the world.
He said, “With the theme of ‘One Earth. One Family. One Future’, we take on the G20 presidency in this complex and challenging environment. The world today is faced with complex geo-political tensions and conflicts, global debt crisis, issues of food, fuel and fertiliser, climate crisis, slowing progress on the SDGs, meaning that millions of people have lost their jobs and been pushed into poverty. But with India's G20 presidency, we see these complex challenges as an opportunity for us to get the world to unite upon acting upon these challenges and to drive global consensus.”
Shashi Tharoor, MP (Congress) and Former UN Under-Secretary General, also spoke at the gathering. Having personally witnessed the power and reach of civil society first-hand, he explained that CSOs are essential for global welfare. He said: “I would argue that Civil Society can and must play a leading role in helping our communities to effectively navigate the past and address what we need to do to solve what in my UN days, we called ‘problems without passports’. That is the problems across all frontiers uninvited. And that no one country or even a small group of countries can solve on their own problems - problems, in other words, of poverty, of contagious disease, of human rights and human wrongs, of chronic starvation and malnourishment, of massive illiteracy, and of massive displacement. All these kinds of problems are problems that require solutions that also don’t need passports.”
Union Minister Anurag Thakur hoped that the ideas emerging from the C20 working groups will solve the environmental challenges the world is facing today. Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi said that community participation is essential for the success of any project, and C20 is playing a key role in ensuring that society's fundamental needs are expressed to the G20 leaders.
Kerala's State Public Education Minister, V Sivankutty, said that G20 is a platform where the world will join hands to face today's challenges and that CSOs are the most effective mechanism to reach all levels of society. Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, added that Prime Minister Modi envisions a G20 that is inclusive of all members of society, irrespective of whether they are women, men, young or old, and this can be achieved through C20.
Those who participated in the event included Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe, MP (BJP) & and President of Indian Council for Cultural Relations; Vijay K Nambiar, Sherpa C20 and former Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General; Dr Swadesh Singh, C20 Core Group Member & Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini; Nivedita Bhide, C20 Core Group Member & All India Vice President of Vivkeananda Kendra; Sri M, C20 Core Group Member & Founder of Sri M, the Satsang Foundation; Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce and Philanthropist; T Denny Sanford, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham; AH Maftuchan, C20 Troika Member from Indonesia; Alessandra Nilo, C20 Troika member from Brazil; and Laurent Bessede, General Legal Director of the Red Cross, France.
C20's purpose is to bring the concerns of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from around the world to the G20 Summit set to take place in New Delhi this September. The Group of 20 (G20) is the premier intergovernmental forum for the world’s developed and emerging economies to address financial stability on a global basis. In advance of the Summit, C20 will collaborate with hundreds of CSOs from around the world to voice primary and common concerns and to promote sustainable development with the vision of leaving no one behind.
Members of India's C20 include Sri M, the Satsang Foundation as Participant; Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini as Secretariat; and the Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari as Institutional Partner.
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