HUBBALLI: A 23-year-old woman from Hubballi, Sanjana Hiremath, got to be the British Deputy High Commissioner for a day in Bengaluru recently.
The British High Commission in India organises the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11 every year since 2017 and organises a competition for girls aged between 18 and 23 to promote girl child empowerment and to give them the experience of international relations and leadership. The competition is open to girls from all Indian states and the winner gets to be the British Deputy High Commissioner for a day.
This year, 180 girls had participated and Sanjana, who has done her postgraduation in media and mass communication and is currently working with the London Stock Exchange Group was picked. She had highlighted the importance of awareness about women’s rights and leadership.
In appreciation of her talent, British Deputy High Commissioner for Karnataka and Kerala, Chandru Iyer, picked Sanjana to play his role for a day. Sanjana’s day started with a breakfast meeting with Chandru Iyer at his Bengaluru residence. Later, she visited the high commission office and discussed with officials about women’s economic development, targets and achievements.
In the afternoon, Sanjana had traditional holige and jolada rotti meals with Australian consul general Hilary McGeachy from Basaveshwara Khanawali. Sanjana also spoke about the specialities of North Karnataka cuisine. Post lunch, Sanjana had a meeting with state Additional Chief Secretary Uma Mahadevan and wound up her day as British Deputy High Commissioner. Sanjana also shared her experience on X.