PM inaugurates 9th G20 Parliamentary Speakers Summit (P20)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the two-day (13 to 14 October) 9th G-20 Parliamentary Speakers Summit (P-20) at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi on 13 October 2023. This summit is a 'Maha Kumbh' of all parliamentary practices around the world.

Who organized the 9th G-20 Parliamentary Speakers Summit (P-20)?

• The 9th G-20 Parliamentary Chairman Summit (P-20) is being hosted by the Parliament of India under the broader framework of India's G-20 Chairmanship.

Theme of the 9th G-20 Parliamentary Speakers Summit (P-20):

• The Parliament of India is being convened under the broader framework of India's G-20 Chairmanship with the theme of ‘Parliaments for One Earth, One Family, One Future’.

Some important facts related to the 9th P-20 Summit:

• The event was attended by G-20 members and Speakers of Parliaments of the invited countries.
• All African Parliaments also participated in the P-20 Summit for the first time after the African Union became a member of the G-20 at the G-20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023.
• The thematic sessions during this P-20 summit will focus on the following four topics -
  • Transforming people's lives through public digital platforms;
  • Women-led development;
  • Accelerating SDGs and
  • Sustainable energy conversion.
• A Pre-Summit Parliamentary Forum on LIFE (Lifestyle for the Environment) was also organized on 12 October 2023 to deliberate on initiatives towards a green and sustainable future in harmony with nature.
• Speaker of the lower house of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha): Om Birla
• President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union: Duarte Pacheco

Some important facts regarding Indian democracy:

• The Prime Minister stressed that the P-20 summit is being held in the land which is not only known as the mother of democracy but is also the largest democracy in the world.
• There is mention of assemblies and committees in the five thousand years old Vedas and Shastras of India, where collective decisions were taken for the welfare of the society.
• Discussing the continuous development and strengthening of India's parliamentary traditions over time, the Prime Minister said that since independence, India has held 17 general elections and more than 300 assembly elections.
• The 2019 general election, when his party was elected to power, was the largest electoral process in human history as 600 million voters participated in it.
• There were 910 million registered voters at the time of the 2019 general election, more than the population of all of Europe. The 70 percent turnout among such a large number of voters reflects the deep faith Indians have in parliamentary practices.
• More than 600 political parties participated in the 2019 general election and 10 million government employees worked in the conduct of the election and one million polling stations were set up for voting.

Greater participation of women in Indian democracy:

• The Prime Minister informed the delegates about the recent decision to reserve 33 percent seats for women in Parliament and State Assemblies.
• Of more than 30 lakh elected representatives in local self-government institutions, nearly 50 percent are women.
• India has more than 900 TV channels in 28 languages to provide real-time information to the people.
• More than 33 thousand different newspapers are published in around 200 languages and there are around 3 billion users on various social media platforms.