STATEMENTS
No.218/OSD(FSI)/2008 |
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While we talk of dreams, there are billions of people all over the world who are also dreaming and they have dreamt for decades now. And so are our ancestors and forefathers who had their dreams and concerns. But to dream and only to dream perhaps does not take us any forward. It helps us to think, to define the pathways and what we want to see and become our motherland to be. But those of us who have the opportunity to dream and combine it with a vision and are also fortunate to be in a position, to at least try and implement that vision, along with other fellow countrymen who also share the same dreams. We can’t quantify whose dream is big and whose dream is small. All of us who are sitting here are fortunate - I consider to be fortunate to be born in free and independent India - we have inherited a rich legacy. It is true that we are a young nation, but it is also equally true that we are an ancient civilization - this country, through the millennia, has given knowledge and strength to the mankind, and also of course, shared its wisdom that is rooted in the reality of life and in the evolution of mankind. And that is encapsulated so beautifully in the ancient wisdom of this land. When we talk of today’s world of globalization, of inter-dependence, of connectivity and surely the new pathways of knowledge, there has been an explosion in the last two decades, especially in the past one decade when it comes to access to information and technology. But at the same time, the real issue is about truly sharing and believing in the emancipation welcome remarks. And therefore, to go beyond self and to have a wider horizon - and that was what I was referring to the wisdom encapsulated in a very popular shaloka, which most of us have heard it already. And it goes like this: Asam ne jo para vedi [This is mine and that’s yours] It is not that what we are talking today was not known to our forebears. But the question is have we been able to follow that path? Not that there was any luck of will, vision, dreams, desire or courage on the path of our ancestors. But as the world was evolving, well before the concept of modern nation state came into being, people were fighting for survival, and at the same time making their contributions to the social and economic development. We are very fortunate that we live in a world, especially in the first decade of the new century, where people from all over the world - after a long time, many thinkers, philosophers and experts are standing up and pointing out the myriads of challenges that confront us - reminding repeatedly not to be trapped in pictures of visions or images which are limited to the few, or a small minority in the world, which doesn’t embrace the vast majority of the mankind. And it is important for each one of us to connect and to remind ourselves about this. We are talking about India, and the book I have just released is about our dreams about what India should be. We would like India to be a land of peace, a land of prosperity, a land that, where we, the present generation, can bequeath to the successive generations a safer world, a better world to live in. That would be the best dream for me to have about India. But India has its own challenges, and you, Ambassador Kumar, have rightly spoke about the contradictions, and the extremes that are present in our country. I remember what the Prime Minister has often said about our country — ‘whatever is said about India, the opposite is also true.’ See the stark contrasts that are present in our country. We see those who have excelled in various fields such as in the world of the scientific research, in literature, in architecture, in music, and, of course, in diplomacy too, where we have many a veteran. We also have institutions of excellence, the institutions which we can term as the finest in the world. But we also see in the same country millions of kids who are illiterate, hence we are talking about universalisation of elementary education to ensure that all children have education and nutrition so that they also can have a fair share in the nation’s development. It was more than a hundred years back that one of the most remarkable human beings who has walked on this earth in recent times, in recent memory, Mahatma Gandhi, recognised the challenges, the threats and also the cruelties and the injustices that were being meted out to by human beings on fellow human beings. And that was the time when he gave the first call for Satyagraha on 9/11/1906. And that was in the distant South Africa when he gave a call for people to rise against injustice and all forms of discrimination. It was a courageous action; Gandhi didn’t have any army and he didn’t have any economic means, but he spoke about satya and ahimsa - truth and nonviolence. But Gandhi had the courage of conviction and clarity of thought and action and vision. And hence he could achieve what he did, because he was also fearless — there was no force that could make him surrender — at the same time he also had the courage to honestly reflect and to be self-critical - something that is not fashionable today while to criticize others is. But Gandhi did it. And the date itself is something very interesting - at a time when we have leaders and thinkers from across the world gathering around the world to discuss the present day challenges arising from violence and terrorism and the aftermaths of the 9/11. But we must gently remind oneself that there was a 9/11 a century before. And that 9/11 alone can illuminate the pathways if the mankind has to successfully vanquish the challenges of today. It is not only in India that we have carried this burden of poverty and hunger we have it today, and it is very painful. The Dean was very right in being nostalgic about and expressing his views. And for a country that has all what is demonstrated as the second fastest growing economy in the world - I don’t want to go into statistics as to where we are, but yes that is true that India as an independent nation has arrived on the global scene as a country, which can once again make rich contributions, and defining contributions, in this century. But at the same time, we have tens of millions of fellow citizens who have to be empowered, who need to have their means of sustenance, and who must have a life of dignity. Gandhi himself had said that the earth has enough resources to meet everybody’s needs, but not enough for satisfying everyone’s greed. It is the greed of man that has deprived tens of millions of men; women and children particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, in particular, and in certain other regions of the world, of what should rightfully have been their share too. After all, what do we mean by natural resources and national resources? These resources do not belong just to one state or other, but they belong to all the citizens. Each one must have their rightful share. I am not saying that each one of them will have the same means or the same degree of resources or affluence, but rightful share to sustain themselves. Poverty and hunger strip human begins of their dignity. It’s dehumanizing. This is a country that has been impoverished for historical reasons, and I don’t have to go into the details, because when I speak to these luminaries I find that they have contributed much more than what I could have done because they are much more wiser than I am. But at the same time, I cannot but say this, that Gandhi again had recognized this - he talked of empowerment of all, he talked of universal education, he talked of the abolition of hunger and poverty, he talked of the climate change, he talked of remote villages, he talked of the daridra narayans, he gave dignity to the poor by elevating them to a much higher status. Therefore, in today’s times, for India and beyond India, the most potent tool for the empowerment of the poor is education and only education, because education alone can provide our sons and daughters the opportunities that can help them step out from their homes and lead the society and step out beyond India and be the world leaders. When I talk of these challenges, I feel that for the leaders of today it is important not to allow these challenges to overwhelm them, and not to feel embarrassed to discuss the truth even if it is painful. Because these challenges can be converted into opportunities—as has been demonstrated by the generations which have preceded us. And that is why I said we are a fortunate generation - we don’t have to fight the might of the British empire, we don’t have to fight for fundamental rights, we don’t have to fight for basic human rights to a life of dignity and to ensure that those rights are not only constitutionally recongnised but are also respected and enforced, and that if any body is denied of those rights, there are avenues, there are institutions where an average man or woman can move for redressal and ensure that his or her guaranteed rights are granted. Therefore, we can convert the challenges we are facing today into opportunities. And as I said earlier, I don’t want to quarrel with the numbers, because sometimes statistics are very confusing. I find in the same folder different figures for investments, for FDIs, different numbers for investments made abroad, different numbers for mergers and acquisitions, the numbers regarding what percentage does the services sector contributes to the country’s GDP, what percentage does agriculture contribute to the GDP, or the manufacturing. I am not going into any of them. It is true that the services sector plays a major role in the GDP today, but I cannot but say that the contribution of agriculture to GDP has declined drastically to almost one-third to what it was at the time of our Independence. Not that it is depressing, because other sectors such as manufacturing and services have grown exponentially. But at the same time, we cannot forget that at least sixty percent of the over one billion people of this country depend on agriculture for their sustenance. In fact, it is not about the numbers, but, if we consider that at least twenty or twenty-two percent of the population is considered to be farmers, it is still more than two hundred millions. And that is a huge number. And this is not an India-specific story; the same is story in Africa too. We are not a poor country but we are a rich country, but we are made poor, we were impoverished; but we have a rich legacy and an ancient civilization. Same is the case with Africa - very rich in its resources, but impoverished - where again hundreds of millions live in abject poverty. It has become a common phrase in today’s discussion forums or when the leaders of the multilateral institutions or the leaders of the rich countries meet to discuss poverty, they count the number of the less fortunate as those who live on less than a dollar a day. And it is a huge number. What is required today is a sharing of resources and sharing of technology. The developed world had to share their resources and share the technologies that can save the world from the impending catastrophe. These challenges of today are not just bound to this country, but to the rest of the world. Therefore, it is the collective duty of each one of us in this country to help those who are in need of our intervention, and fortunately enough today we are in a position to make some remarkable contributions. I am not here to suggest that we have a magic wand to make all these problems disappear. In the global context, these problems and challenges have only multiplied. The end of the Second World War or the end of the Cold War did not make the world a better place to live in. On the contrary, they have only increased worries and concerns for many of us. But what is important is sharing, whether it is in generating income by the society or not. Income generation should not be the job of the corporate world only it must be generated by the society too. What is important is that income must be generated and income must be shared too, otherwise the whole attempt will be a zero sum game. I am also an optimist. I look at what our strengths are. Of course, we have had visionary leaders who gave us modern institutions, who gave us, as I said earlier, a constitutional democracy and a society that is both rule-based and rule-governed. Our world class IITs and IIMs are the result of the great vision that our first Prime Minister Nehru had. These institutions have truly empowered and enabled the young Indians born after the Independence to make their presence felt across the world. That, to my mind, is the greatest strength of India. It lies in her unity and diversity. India is a microcosm of the world. Her multitudes of religions, the myriads of cultures and the tens of thousands of languages, all speak of this unity in diversity. Not that we are without any fault-lines though, but we have learnt to come out of those fault-lines and stay together and united. This truly is the strength of India. And it is not merely an expression of the existence of a pluralistic society and its evolution but when we look at our people what we find is their evolution in developing a capacity for tolerance, respect for others and a quest for harmonious existence. While our immediate past President was from a minority community that too without any political background, as he was a top-notch scientist, our current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is again from a minority community and again a non-political person but a noted economist and a professor of economics at one of the world’s finest universities. But the people of this nation have accepted both of them as their leaders. Of course again, we have the chairperson of the ruling coalition Sonia Gandhi, who had an Italian origin. Why I am referring to all these is that this is the strength of India. Because when there have been aggressive move to impose majoritism, we have demonstrated that we will remain politically and socially and inclusive society. Lastly, another crucial strength we have is our human resources. We have over two-thirds of our people who are young. They definitely have a dream. Today they have self-confidence and have access to modern means of information. And that is where my optimism emanates from - that a country with seven hundred and fifty million young people. They are the stakeholders of our future and they are the inheritors of our rich ancient legacy and they alone will make our dreams come true. Thank you!
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EMBAJADA DE LA INDIA |
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