Ambassador Arora reads out President Pranab Mukherjee’s message at the Indian Cultural Centre celebrations. Right: Ambassador Arora hoisting the national flag. PICTURES: Jayan Orma
By Joey Aguilar
Hundreds of Indian expatriates celebrated their country’s 68th Independence Day with a flag-raising ceremony at the Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) yesterday.
Indian embassy officials, led by Ambassador Sanjiv Arora, and officials of Indian schools attended the ceremony.
After the flag hoisting, Arora read out Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s message, which focused on education, the economy, the environment and how to end poverty.
“Economy is the material part of development. Education is the essential part of it. A sound education system is the bedrock of an enlightened society,” the president said in his message.
“It is the bounden duty of our educational institutions to provide quality education and inculcate the core civilisational values of love for motherland; compassion for all; tolerance for pluralism; respect for women; performance of duty; honesty in life; self-restraint in conduct, responsibility in action and discipline in young minds.”
The president noted that nearly one-third of India’s population still lived below the poverty line, although poverty had declined from over 60% to less than 30% in the last six decades.
“The decisive challenge of our times is to end the curse of poverty. The focus of our policies now has to move from alleviation of poverty to elimination of poverty.”
The president said that ancient travellers such as Megasthenes, Fa Hien and Hiuen Tsang had written about India’s “efficient administrative systems with planned settlements and good urban infrastructure”.
“What has gone wrong with us now? Why can’t we keep our environment free of filth?” he asked.
“The prime minister’s call to honour the memory of Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary, by making India a clean country by 2019 is commendable, but it can be achieved only if each Indian converts this into a national mission,” the president said in his message.
He described the general elections held in April as “remarkably peaceful”, with an increase in voter turnout from 58% to 66%.
The celebration also featured cultural presentations by students from various Indian schools in Doha.
