India Today
by Dinkar Khullar, Former Ambassador of India
The Former Ambassador of India, H.E. Dinkar Khullar inaugurated the Club season with a lecture on “India Today”.
With this lecture the Indian Ambassador to Bulgaria H.E. Mr. Dinkar Khullar inaugurated the 2005-2006 season of Friends of India Club events. Ambassador Khullar pointed out the mega trends in the development of political and economic spheres in India: representative democracy; the emergence of competing political groups and parties; the formation in India of coalition governments; the decentralization of power down to the panchayats; the increase of the presentation of women in Parliament; the extremely rapid economic growth since the 1990’s; the orientation towards development of knowledge based economy; etc.
The relationship between religion and politics was also touched upon by H.E. the Ambassador, pointing out the fact that India has been able quite successfully to keep the realm of religion and politics separate from one another. The speaker underlined the fact that though 140 million Muslims live in India, there has not been a single case in recent times of any involvement of any Indian with Islamic fundamentalist organized group.
His Excellency put a special stress on the economic agenda, which is the primary concern for India, both as Government and as people.
“When talking of mega trends I would like to emphasize one area he said the field of knowledge based industries and services. I emphasize this, because it is my belief that in the next 20-30 years, it is the knowledge based sector which is going to determine the progress of any country, of any economy or society in the world. And India is well positioned to take advantage in this.”
Ambassador Khullar also pointed out the significant role India has played in world affaires since its Independence and that his country intends to continue playing this role and has staked a claim for permanent membership in the UN Security Council.
“In the international sphere India is committed to work for a more peaceful world, oriented towards development and to address issues of common concern to mankind”, Ambassador Khullar said.