18-year-old Delhi girl takes charge of British High Commission for a day

An 18-year-old from Delhi became the British high commissioner to India for a day after winning the 'High Commissioner for the Day' contest organised by the mission in the run-up to the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11.

As the UK's senior most diplomat in India, Chaitanya Venkateswaran got the unique opportunity of handing out tasks to the High Commission’s department heads, interacting with senior female police officers, meeting the press, and launching a study tracing the impact of British Council STEM scholarships on Indian women participants.

"My day was full of diverse experiences which have really broadened my perspective on the role of women and their representation in fields of media, policing and STEM. I am now more determined than ever to use my new knowledge and experience to help promote equitable treatment of women everywhere," Venkateswaran said in a statement. 

"I used to visit the British Council library in New Delhi when I was younger, and that's where I cultivated my love of learning. Building on that knowledge, to be the British High Commissioner for a day was a golden opportunity," she said.

The British High Commission has been organising the ‘High Commissioner for a Day’ competition annually since 2017 to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child, aiming to empower the next generation of women as leaders and trailblazers, and to highlight some of the challenges women and girls around the world still face, said the statement.

Jan Thompson, the Deputy High Commissioner for the day and who is acting High Commissioner to India on other days, said the competition is an opportunity "to provide a platform to extraordinary young women, and show how the UK and India are sharing expertise to ensure women and girls reach their full potential around the world".

"In the side-lines of her very busy day as High Commissioner, we also enjoyed discussing our mutual love of the arts. I look forward to seeing what Chaitanya achieves next, as she joins a cohort of young women whose voices we have been proud to amplify through this annual initiative; the next generation of global leaders," Thompson said in the statement.