Two-day BRICS meet begins in Jaipur

 Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Saturday inaugurated the two-day conference of the BRICS Women Parliamentarian Forum in Jaipur. Around 42 delegates from member countries, including 28 MPs from both Houses of Parliament, are participating in the event.

The programme was inaugurated by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal and chairperson of the National Council of Provinces T R Modise were also present at the function, during which the theme song of BRICS 2016 umeedam, penned by Prasoon Joshi and sung by Shankar Mahadevan, was played.

Addressing the gathering, Sumitra said being women parliamentarians, they have a responsibility towards the development of women. She began her address with references to water management in India and cited examples of Jaipur's Laporiya village, known for traditional water conservation methods.  Meghwal termed the meeting an endeavour to provide an opportunity for strengthening parliamentary cooperation in furthering the agenda of BRICS.

The inaugural session was followed by a deliberation on the Perspectives on Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals at the Vidhan Sabha. The theme of the session on Sunday is Containing Climate Change - Imperatives of Global Cooperation, following which Vasundhara will deliver the valedictory address.

Sumitra will deliver the concluding address.
Women MPs, including Meenakshi Lekhi, Jaya Bachchan, Poonam Mahajan, Kumari Selja and Supriya Sule, attended the programme.

BRICS is a five-nation grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
On Monday, the delegates will take a tour of the city and visit Albert Hall and Amber Palace.