Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for changing the consumerism-driven development model, saying the focus should be on the holistic use of natural resources.

”I believe that the development models should show us the path ahead and not become obstacles in the progress of developing countries,” he said, addressing a working group meeting of the G7 countries in Hiroshima.

He also emphasised the need to simultaneously focus on development, technology and democracy. ”It is necessary to democratise technology. Technology can become a bridge between development and democracy,” the PM said.

Talking about Covid-19, he said the pandemic challenged the concept of cooperation and assistance among nations. The availability of vaccines and medicines was not associated with the welfare of humankind but with politics. ”We need to do introspection on the shape of the health security in the future,” he added.

The PM suggested that forming resilient healthcare systems should be a priority for humankind. ”Holistic healthcare should be our motto. We need to propagate and expand traditional medicines and joint research in this field should be our objective,” he said. He also stated that ‘one earth, one health’ should be the principle and digital health and universal health coverage should be the objective. The mobility of doctors and nurses who were in the forefront of serving humanity should be a priority, he added.

Modi also gave a few suggestions on global food security, saying that priority should be given to developing an inclusive food security system in which the focus of attention should be on the most vulnerable people, especially marginal farmers. ”We have to strengthen global supply chains. We have to eliminate political hurdles and put an end to expansionist forces trying to capture fertilizer resources. He said digital technology ought to be taken to every farmer.

Millet nutrition, climate change, water conservation and food security challenges have to be addressed jointly, the PM added. ”Putting an end to food wastage is our joint responsibility,” he said, adding this was necessary for sustainable food security.

Modi said women’s development was no longer an issue in India since the country was now at the forefront of the campaign for women-led development. ”The President of India is a woman who comes from a tribal area,” he added.

The PM said 33 per cent of the seats at the grassroots level were reserved for women and they were part of the decision-making process. India has also formulated a law for transgender people. There was one railway station in India that was run entirely by transgender.