Commonwealth Public Leadership Recognition Ceremony and Canvas for Care Parliamentary Exhibition

Hon. Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, will be at the heart of a special programme at the House of Lords on 9 September 2026, bringing together public leadership, measurable citizen impact, UK–Maharashtra engagement and the Canvas For Care Parliamentary Exhibition.

The programme will be hosted by Baroness Arlene Foster of Aghadrumsee DBE and Andrew Grocock, Chairman of the UK Asian Business Council. Their joint hosting gives the afternoon a clear public-leadership and international-engagement focus, with invited MPs, policymakers, business leaders, institutions and community organisations able to engage with the Maharashtra delegation in a focused parliamentary setting.

Why this matters goes well beyond ceremony. During Mr Shinde's tenure as Chief Minister, Maharashtra advanced a number of large-scale citizen-centred programmes that illustrate the themes being recognised: direct benefit delivery, access to government services, women's financial independence, household security and youth employability.

The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana is a Direct Benefit Transfer programme providing eligible women with ₹1,500 per month directly into Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Maharashtra's Economic Survey recorded 2.38 crore women receiving the benefit and expenditure of ₹17,505.90 crore (approximately £1.35 billion) by December 2024.

A Government Resolution for 2025-26 recorded a budget provision of ₹28,290 crore (approximately £2.18 billion) for the scheme. At that scale, it stands among the largest state-level direct-benefit programmes focused on women's financial independence and household economic security.

The citizen-first approach can also be seen in Shasan Aplya Dari - Government at Your Doorstep - launched to take certificates, welfare benefits and essential public services directly to people through organised outreach. In the Governor of Maharashtra's 2024 address to the State Legislature, the initiative was reported to have directly benefited more than two crore people.

It is a practical example of administration moving towards citizens rather than requiring citizens to navigate multiple offices and systems. The wider recognition also considers youth employability and skills. The Mukhyamantri Yuva Karya Prashikshan Yojana was designed around structured internship and on-the-job training opportunities, connecting young people with practical workplace experience and industry.

Together, these programmes create a useful conversation for UK policymakers and businesses about the scale, delivery capacity and partnership potential of Maharashtra. For UK businesses, the relevance is equally practical.

Maharashtra is India's largest state economy and home to Mumbai, its financial and commercial capital, alongside major technology, manufacturing, infrastructure, life-sciences, mobility, creative-industry and innovation clusters.

UKABC will use the occasion to support meaningful engagement between the visiting Maharashtra delegation and relevant UK stakeholders where there is genuine potential for investment, pilots, institutional collaboration, innovation, infrastructure, social impact or two-way market entry.

UKABC is working with appropriate members of Mr Shinde's visiting team to identify a limited number of focused discussions with relevant UK organisations. Any introductions will remain subject to relevance, availability, the delegation's priorities and final confirmation. The intention is not general networking for its own sake, but conversations capable of producing a practical next step.

The Canvas For Care Parliamentary Exhibition will form an important part of the programme, bringing selected artworks and stories into the House of Lords as part of a wider conversation about care, dignity, inclusion, community leadership and the human experience behind public policy. Children's art creates a different way of looking at outcomes that might otherwise appear only as budgets, statistics or programme names.

Jignesh Patel, Artistic Director and Community Arts Lead for Canvas For Care, said: “Canvas For Care is about giving people a way to express care, dignity and hope through creativity.

Bringing these stories into Parliament allows the human side of public leadership to sit alongside policy and recognition.” Yash Patel, Lead Artist and Creative Programme Lead for Canvas For Care, said: “When children create these canvases, they are not thinking in terms of institutions or policy. They are expressing what care, encouragement and opportunity mean to them.

That is what makes the work so powerful in a setting like the House of Lords.” The programme is invitation-only and is intended to bring together people who can contribute relevant experience, policy insight, investment interest or a credible proposition for Maharashtra or the UK. For MPs and public leaders, it offers a case study in citizen-centred delivery at scale.

For businesses and institutions, it offers a direct window into one of India's most important economic regions and the opportunity to begin a substantive conversation with the visiting delegation.

Figures referenced above are drawn from Government of Maharashtra publications, including the Maharashtra Economic Survey, the Women and Child Development Department's Government Resolution for Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, and the Governor of Maharashtra's 2024 address to the State Legislature. GBP equivalents are approximate and use the 25 August 2026 INR/GBP mid-market rate.

“The 9 September programme is designed to connect leadership with opportunity. Maharashtra brings extraordinary scale, while the UK brings deep expertise across finance, technology, infrastructure, innovation, education and public services. If the right people are in the room, the value is not simply the ceremony - it is the possibility of a pilot, an investment conversation, a new institutional relationship or a practical route into each other's markets. Canvas For Care adds the human dimension by reminding us that the real measure of leadership is ultimately the difference it makes to people's lives.”

— Sudeep Sakalle, Vice President, UKABC