The Hindu : National : India is an emerging idea, not just an emerging market: PM

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National

India is an emerging idea, not just an emerging market: PM

Special Correspondent

Hails Karan Singh as a great son of India

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with ICCR president Karan Singh on the release of his book ‘Kashmir and Beyond: 1966-84,' on the occasion of the latter's 80th birthday in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: At a time when his government is beset by controversies over the corruption that mars India's economy and politics, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged the world to remember that the country is more than a new market.

“India is not merely an emerging market; it is an emerging idea,” he said, going on to elaborate the ‘idea' as one of pluralism, liberalism, idealism, socialism and multiculturalism, rooted in an ancient civilisation. “India's rise is not merely the rise of a poor people…It is the freedom of the human spirit,” he said.

India's rise comes at a time when the world is on the cusp of great change, he said, expressing hope that in the century that lies ahead it would be possible to erase poverty, bring literacy to all and witness the co-existence and thriving of all religions.

The Prime Minister was speaking on the occasion of the 80th birthday of his one-time college-mate, veteran politician, scholar and philosopher, Karan Singh, whom he hailed as a great son of India who was instrumental in expanding India's footprint across the world. “I can think of no other Indian who has come to represent the ethos of our great civilisation,” he said.

Dr. Singh released the DVD of a film on Dr. Karan Singh's philosophy titled “I Believe: Universal Values for a Global Society.” He also launched a Penguin book titled “Kashmir and Beyond: 1966-84,” a compilation of letters written by Dr. Karan Singh and Indira Gandhi to each other on the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, the Emergency and other burning issues of the time.

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