New Delhi: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar said on Thursday that the country aims to be a constructive global force through peacemaking, peacekeeping and climate action initiatives while giving an address at the National Defence College in New Delhi.
The Vice President also drew attention to India’s ‘ancient wisdom’ of practising harmony, tolerance and coexistence and said that these principles might be the solution to the various challenges and problems the world is facing.
“As global peace fractures, wars intensify, and hostilities harden into doctrine – all while climate crisis looms – humanity teeters on a precipice. Salvation may lie in embracing India’s ancient wisdom: millennia-old principles of harmony, tolerance and coexistence,” said VP Dhankar during his address.
According to a statement by the Vice President’s Secretariat, the VP also highlighted how India celebrates its diversity of languages, religions, and ethnicities under one Constitution which ensures freedom and equality.
“Peaceful coexistence finds reflection in our philosophy over the ages. India’s foreign policy emphasises respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity of nations and the primacy of dialogue over conflict. Unity in Diversity has been ever exemplified both in thought and action. India embraces differences across festivals, cuisines, languages, and cultures as strengths, inclusive and distanced from divisiveness,” VP Dhankar said.
Calling India as the spiritual capital of the world and cradle of sublimity and divinity, Shri Dhankhar underscored that India is a nation that seeks well-being not just for itself but for the entire humanity. “Recently as G20 Chair, India, spurred by its core values, championed a shift from GDP-focused to human-centred global progress, emphasising unity over division … .Integrating the African Union as a permanent G20 member was a landmark achievement. Voice of Global South Summits hosted by India during its G20 Presidency brought Global South on the international radar. India aims to be a constructive global force through peacekeeping and climate action initiatives,” he added.
Dhankar also said that India’s interests are driven by the welfare of its people and global peace while emphasising that the menace of terrorism and fundamentalism be combated in tandem and togetherness.
Further highlighting being committed to gender justice, he added, “India is committed to gender justice, this being vital to economy and societal values, as also harmony. This has resulted in not only the empowerment of women, it has graduated to the next level, women-led empowerment. Distinguished audience, Constitutional prescription of one-third reservation for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures is both epochal and game changer with the prospect of larger participation of women in governance, policy-making and administration.”
Stressing the need for nations to focus on strategic security through strong defence capabilities, Dhankhar underlined that a peaceful environment is the quintessence of growth.
Stating that peace disruption or conflagration in any part of the globe has the potential to upset and unsettle growth, harmony and development making the focus on national security imperative, he said that a robust national security architecture based on a clear national security strategy is a precondition for achieving our developmental goals.
Referring to India’s ambition to become ‘Viksit Bhart in 2047’, VP Dhankhar said, ” The vision of India’s centenary of independence encompasses prosperity, self-reliance, advanced infrastructure, and technological leadership….India is known to have had the largest economy of the ancient and mediaeval world, controlling between one-third and one-fourth of the world’s wealth. India seeks to so attain this in present times. This togetherness will define Viksit Bharat in 2047. India’s core values, interests, and objectives resonate with the aspirations of humanity as a whole.”