World Movement for Democracy celebration in India

The 10th anniversary celebration of World Movement for Democracy will be held in New Delhi on Friday. Organized by the Institute of Social Sciences, the day long celebration on February 27 will be inaugurated by the former Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral. The programme includes a symposium on expanding democracy, prospects and challenges, and few special lectures on democracy at work in the South Asian nations.

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Mentionable that World Movement for Democracy is a global network of democrats, including activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders, who come together to cooperate in the promotion of democracy. The Washington, DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) initiated this nongovernmental forum with a global assembly in New Delhi during February 1999, where the keynote address was delivered by Prof. Amartya Sen.

Two major Indian organizations namely the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Centre for Policy Research supported the move and they brought together leading democratic activists, practitioners, and thinkers from every region of the world to explore the possibilities of networking with each other across borders, cultures, and professional backgrounds.

The 400 participants from more than 80 countries who gathered in New Delhi represented nongovernmental organizations, civic education groups, business associations, anti-corruption institutes, trade unions, political parties, democracy think tanks, and democracy-support foundations, as well as parliamentarians and government officials specially engaged in the advancement of democracy.

The primary aim of the forum was accepted to strengthen democracy where it is weak, to reform and invigorate democracy even where it is longstanding, and to bolster pro-democracy groups in countries that have not yet entered into a process of democratic transition.

The participants in the New Delhi Assembly also adopted a founding statement to guide the development of the World Movement, which held its Second Assembly in São Paulo, Brazil (November 2000), its Third Assembly in Durban, South Africa (February 2004), and Fourth Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey (April 2006). The Fifth Assembly took place in Kyiv, Ukraine (April 2008).

Eminent political leaders, scholars and intellectuals from India and other countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh etc will participate in the anniversary celebration of WMD in the Indian capital, informed Raj Kishore on behalf of the organizer. The prominent participants include Najam Sethi (Editor-in-Chief of Daily Times, Pakistan), Mubashir Hasan (former Pakistan Finance Minister), Tariq A. Karim (Vice President of Bangladesh Enterprises Institute), Farooq Abdullah (Member of Indian Parliament), Soli Sorabjee (former Indian Attorney-General) with others, he added.