Friday, Aug 01, 2003
Friday, Aug 01, 2003 |
| National | ||||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | National
By Our Special Correspondent
Taking issue with "well-intentioned" people like the Nobel laureate economist, Amartya Sen, who have raised questions about the Government's secular credentials, he said no community is to be excluded from the realisation of the goal of all-round development. Referring to the vision of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, of making India a developed nation by 2020, he said this meant India's all-round, balanced and integral development, benefiting every region and every section of the diverse society and making an impact on every facet of life — economic, social, cultural and spiritual. Delivering the inaugural address at a seminar on the theme of Dr. Sen's book, "Development and Freedom", Mr. Advani said: "we do not believe in, nor do we practise, the ideology of exclusion and discrimination. Doing so is completely antithetical to our belief in secularism or our understanding of Indian nationalism". At the function organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations, Mr. Advani stressed that the biggest threat to the country's external and internal security was cross-border terrorism fuelled by religious extremism. Without naming Pakistan, he said terrorism had threatened and jeopardised peace, development, freedom, democracy and social tranquillity even "in the country in our neighbourhood" that has made terrorism a part of state policy. In this context, Mr. Advani welcomed the two conditions of transparency guarantees and protective securities identified as requirements for development by Prof. Sen. "Since I have the charge of the Home Ministry, I cannot agree with him more on the issue of security," he said. Mr. Advani had to leave the function early in order to make a statement in Parliament regarding the bomb blast in Mumbai. Quoting from the book, Mr. Advani said Prof. Sen provides a reminder that lack of development was indeed an "unfreedom". A country might be free politically but if it was underdeveloped its people could not enjoy freedom in a true and comprehensive sense of the term. Delivering his address on the theme of the occasion, Prof. Sen questioned the generalised assumption that democracy tends to slow down economic growth. He argued that any assessment on Indian democracy cannot be in primarily instrumental terms since political freedom and civil rights have their own importance. Their value to society did not have to be indirectly established in terms of their contribution to economic growth or other such economic or social achievements. Referring to the frequent comparisons between India and the fast-growing East Asian economies such as Korea, Singapore and China, he said economic growth is helped by the friendliness of the economic climate rather than by the fierceness of the political regime. If India had failed to do enough to create such a favourable climate, the blame could not be put on the political freedoms of citizens, he said.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
