One of humankind’s great and exciting adventures of the past century has been the transformation of India from a colonial, agrarian economy into a modern, industrialising, knowledge-based economy within the framework of a liberal and secular democracy. Indians have proved that individually they can compete with the world’s best. We must be able to do so collectively too, says Dr Manmohan Singh.
The commitment of the leaders of our national movement to the idea of an independent India as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-linguistic and multi-cultural democracy was one of the great acts of human faith in the 20th century that continues to give hope to humankind.
At a time when the world was battling ideologies of exclusion and divisiveness, the leaders of our freedom movement invested their hope in the ideology of inclusiveness. The idea of India, of unity in diversity, of openness and inclusiveness, has withstood the test of time and history and is our great contribution to humankind these past 60 years.
The success of the Indian experiment in pursuing economic development, social and political empowerment within the framework of a secular and democratic Constitution, with respect for the rule of law and for fundamental human rights has earned for our country a special place in the comity of nations.
In the past 60 years, we have built a firm foundation on which we can in fact redeem the pledge of the architects of modern India in full measure. The young people of today should remember that at Independence we inherited an economy weakened by years of colonial exploitation. For half a century before Independence, the Indian economy registered virtually no growth at all.