An engineering student from Assam, Monjita Baruah, 20, became the British Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta for a day on Thursday to mark International Day of the Girl Child 2019 on Friday.
Monjita won the opportunity to head the British Deputy High Commission Calcutta for a day when she won the High Commissioner for a Day competition held from the last week of August till September 10.
The British High Commission has been offering young women across India the unique opportunity of head¬ing the diplomatic mission for a day since 2016.
The competition, now in its third year, was open to young Indian women aged 18 to 23. As a part of the selection process, applicants were asked to record a one minute video on Why gender equality is important and who their biggest inspiration is on this issue?
In the video, Monjita said, “When individual man and woman come together to do their part towards the girl child in any way possible, it will aggregate into something huge. That will bring a noticeable change, leading to a positive impact in making the world a better and safer place to live in.”
Monjita, who is pursuing Bachelor of Technology (BTech) in electronics and communication engineering at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Silchar, Assam, is passionate about artificial intelligence and pur¬sues arts and music as her hobbies. She had represented her school, DPS Guwahati, in the Model United Nations 2016 (intraschool) and had won Doodle competition, Incandescence 2019.
Monjita’s day started at 10.30am with a briefing with British Deputy High Commissioner to Calcutta, Bruce Bucknell. “I was briefed about the job by Bucknell and later met the consular team and other officials,” she told The Telegraph.
During the day, which ended at 5.30pm, Monjita had the chance to oversee the net¬work, lead departmental briefings and interact with im¬portant stakeholders and the media.
“I visited the British Coun¬cil to interact with their staff and experience their creative and library services. It was an amazing experience and I learnt a lot,” Monjita said and hoped that she had done her job admirably.
A statement released by the British Deputy High Com¬mission Calcutta said, “She learnt about the opportunities the UK has to offer to trade and businesses. She also heard about the UK’sa power in the sports sector and about tackling global challenges like climate change. This opportunity gave her the platform to observe, learn and experience the varied aspects of the Deputy High Commissioner’s day, including his diplomatic engagements. She learnt about the initiatives under¬taken by the UK to promote gender equality and end human trafficking.”
Bucknell stated, “The UK and India are working together as a global force for good. We share with India the importance of promoting the cause of gender equality. I am delighted that we were able to mark the International Day of the Girl Child by demonstrating to young women that they are the future leaders and by giving them a platform to share their views.”
If she given another such opportunity, she would certainly grab it, Monjita said.