Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Sep 26: The 21st century belongs to India, said renowned senior journalist and BJP spokesperson and member parliament M J Akbar, while also cautioning that a country where a majority of the population lies below the poverty line cannot be modern.
He was addressing students at St Aloysius Institute of Management & Information Technology (AIMIT) at Beeri here on Saturday September 26.
M J Akbar said, "What is the challenge before our nation? Believe me when I say the 21st century will belong to India. It may not belong only to India, but India will be among the nations which will sit at the high table of world affairs. I don't say this merely out of nationalism or patriotism.
"India is one of the few countries that is a blend of ideals and modernity. Being idealistic and modern does not mean merely propogating principles. Modernity has four basic fundamentals. First, democracy. You cannot be a modern nation anymore without giving people the individual and social freedom. Everyone has to get equal opportunity to exercise one's rights.
"Secondly, people should have the right to faith and the right to atheism. I challenge you to find any other country in the world where when you get up, the first thing you hear is the Azaan (call for prayer at mosque), and the second thing you hear is the sound of temple bells, the third thing is Guru Granth Sahib being recited from a Gurudwara and a fourth thing you will hear on a Sunday is the church bells. There is nowhere in the world where you can hear all four. This is the unique reality of India. It is what I call audible secularism. And this is one of the great strengths of India. In India, anybody can follow any religion without any problem. Whether one wants to be a theist or an atheist, it is a personal choice, and no one has the right to question it.
"China may be a successful country, but it is not a modern country. It does not allow faith to exist, it does not have democracy. China may be a big, powerful country, but it is not modern," he added.
"Third, you can no longer be a modern world without gender equality. It is simply not possible. This is one of the great tragedies of the Muslim Arab world. Gender equality is the strength of India. One of the reasons for the increase in the growth rate of India is because now women are part of the economic story of India. You cannot minus 50 percent of the population and expect high growth.
"The fourth challenge for modernity is the most vital. You cannot be a modern nation with 40 percent or 50 percent of the country living either below the poverty line or hovering near the line. How are we going to solve it? In 1950, it was estimated that about 65 percent of India's population was below the poverty line, and after 70 years, this figure came down to 30 percent. Is it going to take another 70 years to bring this 30 percent to zero? The country's poor will definitely not wait that long," he said.
"The age of ideology has been replaced by the age of ideas, but not ideas hanging alone, but ideas linked to ideals. We are at an age where ideas must be linked to ideals. Ideas become poisonous, they wither and die when they remain selfish.
"What is the answer to poverty? Even the poorest of poor is in search of a job. But where will the jobs come from? No government has the capability to eliminate poverty completely. Public sector is not the way forward, nor is the private sector. The way forward is to explore the entrepreneur in you, your ability, not only to create a job for yourself. If 30 percent of you (students) get the opportunity to create your own jobs, and with it to create 10 more jobs, a neo sector will be created, and more Indians will be employed in this sector than any other sector. Construction is one of the greatest sources of employment for the poor. Smart City Mission will create more employment in construction.
"I urge you to see that these challenges are outside partisan politics. The anger is not on a political party but on a sytem. So if you have to preserve democracy, you have to answer, give the proofs of democractic and economic success down to the poor. I feel quite optimistic that we will be able to do this," he said.
St Aloysius College rector Fr Denzil Lobo was present. Preetha Pinto compered. Royce Baretto welcomed while Gautam Kunder proposed the vote of thanks.