Dubai, Oct 17 (IANS) Even as winds of gloom swept across the world's financial markets, a group of Indians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) celebrated India's independence day here at a golf course.
'India's independence is something so big that we cannot limit the celebrations to a single day,' India's Consul General in Dubai Venu Rajamony said at a function here organized by the Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC), Sharjah chapter, to mark the 61st anniversary of India's independence at the end of the annual Indian Independence Golf Tournament.
He said India's innate resilience was what would help it overcome the global financial crisis.
'We have withstood everything the world has thrown at us. We have seen floods, we have seen earthquakes, we have seen wars, we have seen pestilence, we have seen disease, we have seen starvation, but nothing has pulled down India.'
Lauding the IBPC for holding the golf tournament in commemoration of India's independence for 12 successive years, he said that the Indian economy has been performing outstandingly for over the last decade after the economic liberalization of others.
But he said there the current financial crisis is a time of uncertainty and worry.
'The current economic downturn, caused by no fault of ours, will affect India as well because, after all, the US is India's largest trading partner,' Rajamony said.
'There is a sense of uncertainty that I will not brush under the carpet.'
But, he said, that the new India after the economic reforms that has emerged from the resources within could help it withstand the crisis.
'As any economist or scholar would point out, while China's economic success is state inspired, India's is based on our private entrepreneurs,' the consul general said.
'So, this is one big asset that nobody can take away from India,' he stated.
He said that people across the world looking at how they can make a business out of the Indian market comprising a billion people.
'So all we need to do is to energise our economy within our country and create enough drivers of growth from our own resources,' Rajamony said.
Plus, he said, India has also got the demographic advantage.
'Of our one billion people, 54 percent of the people are below 25 years of age,' he said.
Rajamony urged Indians to have faith in themselves in the current global financial crisis.
'Today, as the winds of the global financial crisis buffet India, all we have to do is have faith in ourselves, We have to tell ourselves that, look, we have seen all these before,' he stated.
Earlier, chairman of IBPC Sharjah Sudesh Agarwal welcomed the guests.
The consul general also gave away the prizes following the day's golf tournament.
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