Summits & Meetings - Current Affairs for October, 2017

As India gets ready to host its biggest food event aiming to transform the food economy and double farmers’ income, a glimpse of the grandeur and the immensity of the event to industry leaders, heads of foreign missions and media in an interactive session was shared. India is the second largest producer of food, leader in milk, fruits & vegetables, cereals and marine. It has a huge potential with 127 agro climatic zones and proximity to food importing nations. With a 1.3 billion population, and a retail sector that is set to treble by 2020, it offers a large demand driven market. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, an enabling environment and an innovation culture to foster strategic partnerships in the food processing industry to create an advantage to all the stakeholders. World Food India 2017 provides that platform for global partnerships to achieve the said goal. The potential of India in the food processing industry will be realized during this event. With World Food India 2017, the Minister said, India is poised to attract an investment target of roughly US$ 10 billion in food processing sector, which will generate 1 million jobs in the next 3 years. World Food India platform will reinvigorate India’s position as a ‘Global Food Factory’ and a ‘Global Sourcing Hub’. In a nutshell, the World Food India 2017 gears up to host over 2,000 participants, over 200 companies from 30 countries, 18 ministerial and business delegations, nearly 50 global CEOs along with CEOs of all leading domestic food processing companies, and representatives of 28 States in India. Germany, Japan and Denmark are Partner Countries to World Food India whereas Italy & Netherlands are Focus Countries. Curated by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, the ‘Food Street’ is set to be World food India’s most attractive highlight. Food Street is an experiential platform that will bring together culinary practices, flavours, fragrances from the world's cuisines, and celebrate India's rich cultural heritage and diverse uniqueness of its produce to create contemporary renditions and fusion food. The conference also saw a war against food wastage with #NoWasteOnMyPlate campaign. The campaign lends itself to the strategic intervention that World Food India 2017 will provide in achieving two most critical goals of the Government - doubling farmers’ income by 2022 and reducing post-harvest losses by bringing together global and Indian leaders to collaborate and co-develop solutions across India’s food value chain.

The first ever conference of Partner NGOs of WCD Ministry was held in New Delhi on Oct 9, 2017. The Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi inaugurated the conference titled “Implementation of Policies, Schemes and Programmes for Women and Children: Challenges and Way Forward”. More than 130 participants from various NGOs across the country attended today’s conference aimed at sensitizing them about the various schemes of WCD Ministry and to give them an opportunity to share their experiences and insights. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has taken up several new initiatives like One Stop Centres, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Women Helpline, National Policy for Women, Bill against Trafficking, National Alliance against Child Abuse amongst many such others. The flagship scheme launched by the Prime Minister, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has shown a tremendous success since 104 out of 161 BBBP districts have shown an increasing trend in Sex Ratio at Birth. This implies a clear cut change in attitude and urged the NGOs to come forward to ensure further success of the scheme. The conference was based on the following broad themes: i) Violence Against Women: Prevention and Facilitating Access to Justice ii) National Policy for Women: Policy Interventions for Gender Parity iii) Trafficking of Women and Children: Role of State Institutions iv) Cyber Crime and Children: Prevention and Harm Reduction v) Implementation of JJ Act: Structural Challenges and Mainstreaming of Children The expected outcome of the Conference is to ascertain the existing problems and drawbacks in the present set up of delivery system at the grassroots level. It also aims to develop ways for constructive policy formulation and programme implementation by assessing the lessons discussed during the conference; Another aim is to increase engagement of these organizations for advocacy on women empowerment and child safety and security.