Office of the Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Delhi
25th September, 2019
– Academic institutions and govts need to work together to find solutions for climate change: Dy CM Sisodia
– Like Greta Thunberg, our youth should also think about climate issues
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New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister of Delhi, Shri Manish Sisodia, attended as the chief guest to the inaugural function of the international conference on sustainable development, organised by the Directorate of International Affairs, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, here in Delhi.
The first day of the conference, which was also presided over by Shri H. E. Michael A. N. N. Oquaye Esq., High Commissioner of Ghana and Dr. Mahesh Verma, Vice Chancellor, GGSIP University, had the key theme as ‘Knowledge and Policy for Sustainable Development: Global Lessons and Local Challenges’. The aim of the conference was to focus on sustainability and discuss the six tracks across the fields specified by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to achieve sustainable development. The major tracks include Energy and Environment; Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture; Law and Governance for Sustainable Development; Public Policy; Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Development; and Education and Empowerment for Subjective Well-being.
Addressing the audience present at the function, Shri Manish Sisodia spoke about the urgent need for academic institutions and the government to work together to formulate the policies around Sustainable Development. He was of the firm view that academicians and the government if working in isolation, would not be able to bring any major development in the concerned domains.
“Working as an Education Minister of Delhi for the last five years, I have learnt that when we talk about serious issues like these, it is important for the government and the academic institutions to come together and find a solution. That translates any decision, or understanding coming out of such conferences into a matter of governance, and that’s how we come close to achieving our goals. So academic institutions and the government should complement each other, and work closely” said Shri Manish Sisodia.
Giving the reference of Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist, who took the world by surprise when she gave a hard-hitting speech about the devastating impact of climate breakdown, our Hon’ble deputy CM, Shri Manish Sisodia also stressed on the need to educate and involve our young generations when taking key decisions on policies and issues around sustainable development, that would eventually affect their lives in the years to come.
“A 16 year-old girl, Greta Thunberg is saying something to the world leaders, she is bringing our attention on our current situation and where we are heading in the name of government. When a young girl like her, sitting in one part of the world, is thinking about what our governments have been up to, it is a serious matter for us to understand how we are being perceived by the people who we are working for. The decisions around important issues are taken behind closed doors of our offices, be it bringing in a new policy or making some amends, how do we it explain it to the people, and how would their perception be on all of this? We can churn out data from last 10-20 years and should improvement by tallying that data with the current day, how are we explaining that to the people around? How would they be comprehending this data? We should focus on building a connect with them,” said Shri Manish Sisodia.
Going on to speak about the landmark achievements by the Delhi Government and the hurdles that come their way in the sector of Education, he added, “ When we started working on education, we allocated 25% of our budget to Education. Initially, this move was supported from various corners. But then people started asking me that why don’t we do something on capital investment instead? So, how do we define capital, and how do we define capital investment? And, is education, schools, and students not an investment? We are trying our best in providing quality education to every child in Delhi. I look forward to getting more inputs from this conference.”
He thanked the dignitaries present at the occasion and urged the audience to ask questions on the given topic.
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