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The Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla led Indian delegation participated in the 150th IPU Assembly held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

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The global parliamentary community adopted the Tashkent Declaration on Parliamentary action for social development and justice, emphasizing the need for renewed efforts on social development to address ongoing and emerging challenges. 

The IPU also celebrated 40 years of its Forum for Women Parliamentarians, a unique platform driving significant advancements in gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Against the backdrop of challenges to women’s rights and the stagnation of female parliamentary representation at 27.2%, the IPU launched its new gender campaign for 2025, Achieving gender equality: Action by action.

• The campaign aims to mobilize the global parliamentary community to accelerate progress in achieving gender equality in politics and society.

The Assembly adopted two critical resolutions:

• The role of parliaments in advancing a two-State solution in Palestine
• Parliamentary strategies to mitigate the long-lasting impact of conflicts, including armed conflicts, on sustainable development.

Tashkent Declaration:

The declaration highlights that the global social development agenda, initiated 30 years ago, has only been partially realized. It calls for a policy reset to balance market demands with the needs of the people, focusing on three key areas:

• investing in people to lift them from poverty to prosperity;
• democratizing the economy to benefit those who historically have been deprived of their fair share, particularly women and youth; and
• strengthening institutions, including through broad participation in the regulation of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence.

India in Tashkent:

Lok Sabha Speaker highlighted during the meeting that India has strengthened democracy at the grassroots level by ensuring 33 percent reservation for women in its local level governance.

• India ensured greater representation of women in state and central legislatures by introducing the "Nari Shakti Vandan Act" as the first law in the new Parliament building.
• He further stated that “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (The World is One Family) and "Sarvajan Hitaya" (For the Welfare of All) are inseparable part of Indian tradition and the Constitution of India.
• On the sidelines of the 150th IPU Assembly, Lok Sabha Speaker also congratulated Kazakhstan on the 30th anniversary of its Constitution and highlighted that India also celebrated 75 years of the adoption of its Constitution.

IPU Assembly

• The IPU is the global organization of national parliaments established in 1889 as the first multilateral political organization in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. 
• IPU is Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• As of 2025, IPU has 182 Member Parliaments and 15 Associate Members.  
• Women MPs comprised over 37% of the parliamentarians at the Assembly, their highest representation at an IPU Assembly since 2022. 
• The Cremer-Passy Prize, named after the IPU’s founders, William Randall Cremer and Frédéric Passy, is awarded every year to sitting parliamentarians who make an outstanding contribution to the defence and promotion of the IPU’s objectives, as well as those ”who contribute to a more united, peaceful, sustainable and equitable world.”