Local Democracy Event

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
Namaste,

It is a great pleasure to be here on this occasion: the first graduation ceremony of the Aagaz Academy. It is inspiring to be in the midst of so many elected women representatives, and I would like to congratulate each and every one of you.

It is leaders like you who will build the future of India. You have been assigned the task of making democracy work in your communities, and I know that you have a great deal of experience, skills and devotion to bring to this important task.

Women’s leadership is one of the world’s most underused resources. But both our countries have important examples. In India, leaders like Indira and Sonia Gandhi have brought the country forward at critical points.

Norway’s first woman prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, came to power in 1981. Today, almost half our cabinet ministers and one third of the representatives in local councils are women.

With your new law that reserves one third of the seats in the panchayats for women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, India may soon have more elected women leaders than the rest of the world put together. The world’s largest democracy has good reason to be proud of this fact – and of you. Involvement of women is important on all levels in a society – from local governance and influence on issues of public interest – to political decision making on national level.

Once again, let me congratulate you on your graduation. Congratulations also to the Aagaz Foundation for making this possible.