World needs to be guided by 'Unity in Diversity'

‘Development and welfare are not the end-all and be-all of human endeavour. But freedom is and has many manifestations: economic, social, political, intellectual, religious and so on. Pursuing development and seeking welfare under a liberal democracy are not an easy journey for a poor country like ours. But we have been continuing on the track.’

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his views while addressing the International Conference on Development, Freedom and Welfare in honour of Professor Amartya Sen, in New Delhi on Friday.

Dr. Singh on this auspicious occasion also released a book speaking life and work of Amartya Sen, one of his good friends and a renowned economist, Nobel Laureate, and Bharat Ratna awardees.

‘Democracy’ has its shortcomings too, admitted Singh but at a time underscored the historical importance of India’s 60 years of experience in nurturing it that today reflect in our people’s social upliftment, political empowerment and economic betterment within the framework of a liberal, a plural and a secular democracy.

For this, he also thanked the global community who has a great stake in the success of Indian experiment.

The Prime Minister said we must speak for freedom and democracy today, even if such freedoms are partial and democracies are flawed, when there is intolerance and bigotry are on the rise globally, narrow nationalism challenge universal values, and when ideologies of exclusion challenge the inclusiveness of the human spirit.

Although our democracy, ruled by the famous motto “unity in diversity”, has its fault but what important about our democracy is not so much the argumentativeness, but its ability to build consensus, he opined.

Our motto “unity in diversity” created our nation and this motto will have to guide the world in this troubled 21st Century when all human challenges today have become global challenges.

Dr. Singh said that while our problems have become global, our response unfortunately remain national or regional.

The nations today are divided on the issues of globalisation, say economic crisis: one who seeks only global solutions and other who seeks national ones. However, India has rejected such stereotypes by adopting a pragmatic middle path, and will continue to do so.

The Prime Minister said that the time has come for the global polity to catch up with the times and address the various challenges facing by almost all nations, viz. financial crisis, climate change or the menace of terrorism.