London hosts seminar on contemporary India and its socio-political challenges

A panel discussion on contemporary India and its challenges was organized by Dr Virander Paul, deputy high commissioner of India on Friday, 22nd May 2015 at India House, Aldwych, London.
Eminent personalities participating in the event included Richard Heald, chief executive officer of the UK-India Business Council (UKIBC), Shri SY Quraishi, former chief election commissioner (CEC) of India, Dr Mukulika Banerjee from London School of Economics and Prof.Sunil Khilnani, director of King's India Institute.
The Idea of India with its rich civilizational heritage, its well-entrenched democracy and diversity, its ethos for tolerance and above all its ability emerge from any challenges continue to thrive in contemporary India.
The panel discussion was aimed to discuss and reflect how far India has travelled in the last 68 years since independence and how India evolved since then.
Dr Quraishi began by explaining the difference between Indian and UK election scenarios. How India adopted technology a long time ago to count the votes which many western nations were yet to adopt.
He also explained his experience as an election observer in the UK as elections are quite peaceful in the UK and voters are trusted and almost no agent from any political parties are present at the poll booth. He cited the cordial and friendly scenario in Indian politics where current PM Modi, after winning the election, went to meet former Indian PM Manmohan Singh with a bouquet of flowers.
In the last general elections in India, 150 million young Indians aged between 18 and 23 years became eligible to vote for the first time – which is the approximate. equivalent of voters in several European countries and close to the number of registered voters in the 2012 US Presidential elections.
Dr Mukulika Banerjee, who is also the author of the book “Why India Votes”, shared her colourful presentation comparing the Indian elections to a large political carnival.
She also appreciated the levels of enthusiasm of Indian electorate and the participation by the lower income strata. She pointed to the startling fact that the turnout for local panchayats elections is almost 100% in India. The size of Indian constituency is almost more than 20 times bigger than constituencies in the UK, she added.

Many views and ideas were shared both during presentation and the question-answer session including the need for certitude for foreign business organisation in India, the ‘Make in India’ concept, retrospective taxation, the recent HSBC downgrading of India and the UK being the largest investor in India among the G-20 nations.
India with its credentials as the world’s largest democracy is also home to the 2nd largest population of the world of which more than 50% is below the age of 25 and over 65% is below the age of 35, with the expectation that in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be only 29 years.
The speakers also discussed how the government of India seeks to transform the country into a major global power through rapid economic development adopting new and creative initiatives and greater self-reliance. The event was supported by the UCL Grand Challenge of Intercultural Interaction.