London seminar discusses democracy in India
Indian political system is deep rooted since ancient times and is a continously evolving one.
Ruchi Ghanashyam, India’s high commissioner to the UK and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations held a seminar at the high commission in Aldwych, entitled “Delivering Democracy: Innovative Approaches and Experiments for Good Governance in India”. Mrs Ghanashyam began the event with a respectful minute’s silence for the soldiers lost at Pulwama. ICCR-UK director, Srinivas Gotru’s brief introduction applauded the addition of economic and social topics to the cultural remit. Gotru said that democracy has roots in Indian cultural history, there are many historical examples of people deciding their own affairs.
Dr Mohan Kaul, Chair, Global Investment Advisory and President, Indian Professionals Forum, author of Kashmir: Wail of the Valley gave a heartfelt summary of the situation in Kashmir, saying, “I hope the Prime Minister will walk the talk and take the appropriate action”. Kaul praised India’s democracy, referring to the advanced technology used by India and Japan in elections, he said, “Countries with high participation rates get better governance.” Kaul continued that India’s democratic survival was unique, Indians had voted out the governments of the Emergency and Shining India.
Dr R. Balasubramaniam, Development Scholar and Founder of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, spoke about India’s noisy democracy and its contradictions, the complexity and diversity of governance. To underline development progress to date, he gave the example of the forest people of Mysore being angry with a democratic system that had done nothing for them; to them governance meant being left alone. He recalled that 35 years ago these people received a pension of Rs 5, from which the postman took a cut; today their pension is received without interference into a bank account. He praised GST’S benefit to women as policemen were no longer able to take monthly cuts.
Balasubramaniam explained how 1947 had not resulted in an altered Indian mindset. He said Indians had been conditioned to be a subject, not a citizen— subjects just waiting for the government to provide, with the result that the state has controlled everything from telephones to scooters, as in the past subjects had to “qualify” to receive these apparatuses. It is necessary to shift the mindset from entitlement to empowerment, from subject to citizen; citizens who demand accountability from the system and the state must understand this. Balasubramaniam said, “Move from a rightsbased society to a responsibility and compliance approach…. Part of this change has to be when the citizen does not expect to be the beneficiary of election cash.”
To deliver the above, Balasubramaniam advocated a balance between rules, institutions that deliver the rules, political leadership and an authorising environment. He said to fulfil Swami Vivekananda’s dream of a New India governance needs to be consistent and less, good governance means translating intent into action.
“The Indian Economy: Prospect and Retrospect” session included a panel of distinguished experts: Dr Surjit Bhalla, economist, Dr Syed Zafar Islam, BJP spokesperson and former MD Deutsche Bank, Philip Bouverat, Director of JCB, chaired by Richard Heald, CEO of Uk-india Business Council. Heald quoted the November Ease of Doing Business survey, which discovered 46% of respondents will increase their investment in India, and 26% will do this in Assam and West Bengal. Heald regards Brexit as a positive for Uk-india relations as it has focused UK’S attention on India’s possibilities. He acknowledged the importance of Aadhar and GST in creating a data rich economy and in being the service provider of choice for AI. For Indian Punjabis, Canada is the “most preferred nation” to settle over there. But after the terror attack in Pulwama, for the Canadian government India has spiralled to the top of the list of “dangerous places”.
The Canadian government has issued an advisory to its citizens, asking them to stay away from India’s “border with Pakistan” in view of escalating tensions between
New Delhi and Islamabad. They have been advised to exercise caution owing to the constant threat of terrorist activities “throughout the country at all times”. The other “dangerous places” for Canadians, are France, Madagascar, Indonesia, Haiti, Venezuela, Philippines, Jordan, Brazil, Tunisia, Jamaica and Thailand. China too features at the end of the list.
Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com