Nusa Dua: Addressing the delegates to the World Parliamentary Forum on Sustainable Development on the theme "Women Political Leaders: Climate Change, Women Land Rights and Sustainable Development" in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on 7 September 2017, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan highlighted the need to promote gender balance in climate change policies.
Mahajan underlined that climate change, women land rights and sustainable developments are all inter-related and there is a need to address the issues and challenges associated with them. She noted that women face disproportionate risks and greater burdens from the impacts of poverty, climate change and other social, political and economic crises. As such, women's land rights are critical to secure them access to land and other natural resources for sustainable livelihoods and for assuring food security. She called upon the stakeholders to evolve a broader conceptualization of land rights and access to productive resources which is pro-poor, gender inclusive and responsive to human rights. In India inheritance law have been amended to entitle a daughter to inherit family property including land on par with son, she added.
Highlighting that 2030 Agenda and its actionable core of 17 SDGs resemble India's vision of development, Smt. Mahajan noted that the Government of India's initiatives such as Smart Cities, Make in India, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save girl child, educate girl child),Swachh Bharat (Clean India), Jan Dhan Yojana (National Mission for Financial Inclusion), Digital India, Skill India, Startup India etc., closely relate to several targets under SDGs.