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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nThe visit of the delegates has been organised by the\nIndian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Gen Next Democracy Network as\npart of the \u2018Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav\u2019 celebration to mark India\u2019s 75 years of\nindependence to enable them to get a comprehensive overview of India\u2019s\ndemocratic traditions, cultural heritage and developmental initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Matos hailed\nIndia\u2019s focus on the concept of \u2018Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam\u2019 saying it meant \u2018one\nearth, one family and one future\u2019. \u201cThe need today is to fight climate change,\nlive like one family and face the future together,\u201d he said adding the pandemic\nhad brought the countries closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nJustice Anil Kumar\nChoudhury, Judge of the High Court of Jharkhand, who was the chief speaker,\ndescribed India as the oldest and biggest democracy in the world while pointing\nout that the democratic system in India prevailed since the medieval times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe concept of\ndemocracy and welfare state was prevalent even during the Indus Valley\nCivilisation. Excavation at ancient Harappan sites has shown that the panchayat\nsystem was 5000 years old,\u201d he said adding the stone carvings of Thanjavur in\nTamilnadu also pointed to the existence of panchayat system in the ancient\ndays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Referring to the\nKalinga War of 261 BC, which is said to have been fought close to Bhubaneswar\ncity, Justice Choudhury said Kalinga had collective leadership at that time\nwhen Mauryan Emperor Ashoka invaded the empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nThe right to vote has\nbeen conferred equally on both genders in India while women in Europe had to\nstruggle to win the right to exercise their franchise, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delegation\ncomprised 26 members from Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Guyana, Mongolia,\nPortugal and South Africa comprising lawmakers, businessmen, journalists,\nscholars, activists and youth leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those who addressed the\nseminar besides Mr. Matos included Mr. Domagoj Hajdukovic (Croatia), Mr.Tomas\nRoggeman (Belgium), Mr. Giuseppe Ricardo Meneghetti Riesgo (Brazil), Ms.\nAlexandra Valentinova Korcheva (Bulgaria), Mr. Ganesh Adjtya Mahipaul and Mr.\nSuresh Singh (both Guyana) and Mr. Pervin Vedan (South Africa).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the delegates\ndescribed democracy as the most suitable method of governance while expressing\nconcern over the emergence of authoritarian regimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prof. Pradipta Kumar\nNanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, who welcomed the delegates, said the university\nhad celebrated its silver jubilee last year and it presently had more than 200\nforeign students from different countries. \u201cWe are aiming to have 1000 foreign\nstudents from various countries,\u201d he said adding SOA was now globally known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nProf. Amit Banerjee, Pro-Chancellor of SOA, was present while the university\u2019s Dean (Students\u2019 Welfare), Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das conducted the program. Prof. Nachieketa K. Sharma, Director, University Outreach Program, proposed the vote of thanks. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delegates visited the Odisha Legislative Assembly in the morning and met the Deputy Speaker Mr. Rajanikanta Singh and Government Chief Whip Mr. Prasanta Muduli. They called on the Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Patnaik at the state secretariat in the evening and exchanged views with him. Mr. Patnaik\u00a0 presented mementoes to the delegates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delegates on Monday also met Chief Secretary of Odisha Sri Pradeep Kumar Jena at the State Secretariat and discussed about the disaster mitigation policies of the state government. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delegates from eight democratic countries, presently visiting India on an exposure trip to learn about parliamentary governance system, on Saturday hailed the country\u2019s\u00a0 democratic ethos which stood as an example before the world. \u201cIndia is not only the oldest, but the greatest of democracies in the world and it is about freedom, tolerance and equality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1840,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834\/revisions\/1840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utkalaage.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}