Indian community celebrates Republic Day
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday January 27, 2017 15:47
When addressing the gathering on behalf of the President of India, the India High Commissioner to Botswana, Ketan Shukla said when India attained freedom on August 15, 1947, it did not have an instrument of governance of its own. He said they waited until January 26, 1950 when the Indian people gave themselves a Constitution to secure all citizens’ justice, liberty, gender and economic equity. He said that is when they promised to promote fraternity, dignity of the individual, unity as well as integrity of the nation.
“On that day, we became the largest democracy in the world. The faith and commitment of the people gave life to our Constitution and our founding fathers wisely and carefully steered the new nation past its troubles of being a poor economy with huge imbalances and vast citizenry deprived of even basic necessities,” he said.
Shukla added that with the credit to the strong institutions of democracy built by the country’s founders, for the last six and half decades, the Indian democracy has been an oasis of stability in a region troubled by unrest.
He said his country’s population was 360 million in 1951 and it has now increased to 1.3 billion.
“Even then, our per capita income has shown a 10-fold increase; poverty ratio has declined by two-thirds; average life expectancy has more than doubled and the literacy rate has shown a four-fold increase. We are today the fastest growing economy amongst the major economies of the world,” he said.
He further said India was the second largest reservoir of scientific and technical manpower, the third largest army, the sixth member of the nuclear club, the sixth member in the race for space and the 10th largest industrial power.
“Our economy has been performing well despite the challenging global economic conditions. In the first half of 2016/17, it grew at a rate of 7.2 percent, the same as last year, showing sustained recovery,” he added.
Shukla further explained that even though their exports were yet to pick up, they had managed a stable external sector with sizeable foreign exchange reserves.
He also stated that the objective of the government in peace and in war was not the glory of rulers or races but the happiness of the common man, saying that happiness was fundamental to the human experience of life.
“The quest to happiness is closely tied to sustainable development, which combines human well-being, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. We must make happiness and well being of our people as the touchstones of public policy,” he said.
The commissioner also highlighted that they have a “noisy democracy” yet they needed more and not less of democracy. He pointed out that the strength of their democracy was evidenced by the fact that over 66% of the total electorate of 834 million voted in the 2014 general elections. He said the depth and breadth of their democracy sparkled in the regular elections being held in their panchayati raj institutions.
The day was graced among others the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Kagiso Molatlhegi and the Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Biggie Butale.