World news story

Indian student becomes British High Commissioner for a day

Rudrali Patil from Amity Law school wins competition to lead Britain’s diplomatic network for 24 hours.

IDGC 2017

Countries around the world will celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October.

To mark the event, the British High Commission organised a competition for female students aged between 17 and 25 to win the opportunity to become the British High Commissioner to India for a day. The competitors submitted short video presentations on the theme ‘Girls rights and two things they would do to bring about change’.

A total of 45 students submitted their videos. The competition was very stiff. As we had to select one candidate, it was a difficult task. The successful entry was from Rudrali Patil, a student of Law at Amity Law School in Noida. Rudrali aims to pursue her higher studies in law and then return to her town - Latur in Maharashtra to become a social entrepreneur. In the past 2 years, she has taken up the cause of Rights of Adolescent Girls in Rural India and Save the Girl Child through gender sensitisation camps.

British High Commissioner Rudrali Patil said:

I am delighted to have the opportunity to act as British High Commissioner for a day, highlighting the importance of women and girls’ rights.

Permanent British High Commissioner (or Deputy High Commissioner for the day) Sir Dominic Asquith said:

I am delighted that we were able to run this competition and give young Indian women a platform to discuss girls’ rights. I thank all participants for submitting the videos which I found inspirational.

Rudrali is very impressive. She’s clearly committed to girls’ rights and her video was outstanding. I am slightly nervous that the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson notices just how impressive she is, and decides to make her my permanent replacement.

The British government is working in partnership with civil society, academics, government and most importantly, girls themselves to empower them and raise awareness about their rights.

Rudrali assumed charge of the British High Commission in New Delhi on 9 October. She led a meeting with directors across the network, then visited various departments of the High Commission to become acquainted with its work.

Earlier in the day today, High Commission in collaboration with Indraprastha College, University of Delhi organised a ‘Chat with a Diplomat’ programme, at which the British Deputy High Commissioner, Dr Alexander Evans interacted with students.

Further information

To watch the winning video, please visit here.

Media

Stuart Adam, Head,
Press and Communications
British High Commission, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi 110021
Tel: 44192100; Fax: 24192411

Mail to: Asad Mirza

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Published 11 October 2017