DESI ACHIEVERS
Vol 1, Issue 9, June 16-30, 2021
75 weeks celebrating 75th Indian Independence: Canadian Minister Prasad Panda extols India in legislature speech and breadth of the country. Nevertheless, through all the uniqueness that one encounters, there is an underlying Indianness which binds the 1.35 billion Indians. World’s first republic
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n a speech recently delivered on the house floor, Prasad Panda, Minister of Infrastructure and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Calgary-Edgemont, Alberta, Canada praised India as a nation having a unique, vibrant and diverse culture. Hailing the Legislature as “our temple of democracy “, the MLA greeted the assembly members with a “Namaste” and expressed his gratitude to Albertans who elected him twice to the Legislature and gave his family every opportunity to live their “Canadian dream”. Pledging his and his family’s loyalty to Alberta, Panda said that he prays for the well-being of all Albertans every day by saying “Let everybody live happily and peacefully” Personifying unity in diversity As part of Indian government’s decision to celebrate the 75 weeks leading up to the 75th Indian Independence day on 15th August, the Minister hailed India as the world’s largest democracy espousing the famous Mahaupanishad verse, “Vasudev Kutumbakam” which means “The world is one family”. The verse which is also engraved in the
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entrance hall of the Indian Parliament is a testimony to Indian values which convey that everyone who came into this world has an equal right to everything in life but success of every individual depends on how the common good is pursued. India believes in unity in diversity and so, many “Mini Indias” exist within India. The Indian National Anthem, “Jan Gan Man” reflects all its 28 states and 8 Union Territories. The country has incredibly, 22 official languages and dozens of traditional dialects. This anthem was penned and put into music by a true renaissance man Rabindra Nath Tagore who became the first man in the continent to receive a Nobel Prize. Besides, another one of his songs was adopted as the National Anthem of Bangladesh while his works also influenced the National Anthem of Sri Lanka. In India, the cuisine changes every 100 miles while language and dialect do so in every 300 miles thus making every state in India unique in its own way. Prasad Panda who was born in Southern India and then shifted to Western India, has himself observed the subtle shift in cultural nuances while travelling across the length
The Minister went on to say that to many foreigners, India is synonymous with Taj Mahal in Agra and snow-clad mountains of Kashmir; and sun, sand and fun in Goa but India is a lot more than that. Historical accounts reveal that the world’s first republic was born in India. Elected government ruled over principalities like Vaishali- which is now a part of the state of Bihar in India- a full century before these concepts took root in Ancient Athens. This political concept remained alive in hundreds of thousands of villages in India which continued to elect their leaders and councils through the millennia and could also be the reason why democracy found it so easy to take root in modern India when it became independent in 1947. Today, there are over 3 million elected representatives in India, at least a third of which must be women. Calling the Indian General Elections as “the world’s celebration of democracy”, he further said that even now, the world stares with awe when every five years, 880 million people go to cast their votes to elect a government which becomes responsible for the well-being of one-sixth of the humanity. A safe haven for religious minorities The Minister also emphasized that despite Hindus accounting for 80 per cent of the Indian population, the Indian society has given rise to three other world renowned religions- Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism; the last one having the fourth /IndianAbroadNews
largest following in the world. He also said that this was the society where St. Thomas, the apostle came with the message of Christ in the 1st century. He went on to say that growing in the Indian society; he learnt the importance of “Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah” which means “those who protect and uphold the dharma are protected by the dharma” where dharma denotes compassion, love, kindness, respect, forgiveness, truth, peace, non-violence and other noble ideals such as protecting religious minorities and providing them with equal opportunities. He stated how India has time and time again sheltered refugees fleeing religious persecution such as Jews fleeing the desecration of the Temple of Solomon by the conquering Romans in 70 AD and centuries later Zoroastrians fleeing from persecution in Iran, Dalai Lama fleeing oppression in Tibet and more recently, Sikhs targeted by terrorism in Afghanistan. Going forward Panda further highlighted that while India is the only country having a 5000-yearold culture and the oldest living city Varanasi besides world’s oldest languages; it also is one of the youngest nations of the world with a population of almost 65 per cent being below 35 years of age. It is due to the efforts of this young populace that India has become one of the world’s leading knowledge economies.
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Although India is young and vibrant, its various levels of government need to invest in modern health and education infrastructure, and eradicate corruption rampant among many institutions and officials. Advocating partnership between India and Canada who share certain cultural similarities, the Minister stated that he has explored partnership opportunities between human capital-rich India and natural resources-rich Alberta. Not only are many Indian students pursuing education in Alberta’s universities and colleges but recently many Indian companies such as Infosys have made large investments in Alberta. The endorsements of policies being made by the Alberta government are in tandem with Alberta’s recovery and in this regard the Minister even offered to help the Premier and the Minister of Jobs and Economy. He ended his speech by acknowledging the tremendous contribution being made by Indians both in their political and business capacity across different nations such as Canada, USA and Portugal to name just a few. He also expressed his optimism that the tremendous synergies that exist between India and Canada and by employing a little common sense, hard-nosed business acumen and political will, an incredibly strong mutually beneficial relationship can be forged between the two nations.
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