Delegates praise India's ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, democratic ethos

BHUBANESWAR: Delegates from eight democratic countries, presently on an exposure trip to India to learn about the parliamentary governance system, on Saturday hailed the country’s democratic ethos which stands as an example before the world.

“India is not only the oldest, but the greatest of democracies in the world and it is about freedom, tolerance and equality of gender,” said Miguel Costa Matos, an MP from Portugal while participating in a seminar on ‘Democracy and Governance’ organised at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA).

Matos hailed India’s focus on the concept of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ and said the need today is to fight climate change, live like one family. Other foreign delegates who addressed the seminar included Domagoj Hajdukovic (Croatia), Tomas Roggeman (Belgium), Giuseppe Ricardo Meneghetti Riesgo (Brazil), Alexandra Valentinova Korcheva (Bulgaria), Ganesh Adjtya Mahipaul and Suresh Singh (Guyana) and Pervin Vedan (South Africa).

Judge of Jharkhand High Court Justice Anil Kumar Choudhury, who joined as the chief speaker, described India as the oldest and biggest democracy in the world while pointing out that the democratic system in India prevailed since medieval times.