India Republic Day celebration

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.   Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Harshad Patel, President of the Auckland Indian Association and your fellow members; Hon Pansy Wong, Minister of Ethnic Affairs, Hon Dr Richard Worth, Minister of Internal Affairs; Hon Phil Goff, Leader of the Opposition; Members of Parliament Hon Chris Carter, Keith Locke, Dr Rajen Prasad, Melissa Lee, Carol Beaumont; Ashraf Choudhary and Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi; Your Honour Judge Ajit Swaran Singh; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.  In the context of today’s celebrations may I add the greetings: Namaste, Namashkar, Sat Sri Akal, Salaam Walaikum, Kam Cho.

Thank you for the invitation to my wife Susan and I to attend this 60^th celebration of India’s Republic  Day here at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre in Auckland.  This is, of course, a place which is familiar for us and there are many faces here today of people that Susan and I can call friends. 

India gained independence as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth, it is well known, at the midnight hour in August 1947.  Some two years later in November 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted a new constitution for India as a federal democratic republic.  The Republic was formally established on 26 January 1950 when Dr Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as India’s first President and the term of Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari, the only Indian Governor-General of India, came to an end.

So this is the 60^th Republic Day since that day in 1950, albeit the 59^th anniversary.  But the significance of the day goes back further than that because at the Lahore session of the Indian National Congress in December 1929 those present took a pledge to mark 26 January as "Independence Day" in order to begin a march towards realising a dream of complete independence of India from the United Kingdom.

The Lahore Session, chaired by Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru, paved the way to the civil disobedience movement. It was decided that 26 January 1930 would be observed as the Purna Swaraj (in other words complete Independence) Day. Many Indians from then on came to observe the day with honour and pride.

As we in this room know, in the period since Republic Day in 1950, India has dramatically changed.  Life expectancy has more than doubled and at 68 years, is higher than the global average.  Likewise, over the same period literacy has climbed from just 16 percent to more than 60 percent. These improvements have been achieved despite a massive increase in India’s population, which now stands at more than 1.1 billion.

In the last 20 years, India’s economy, which for many years sat in the doldrums, has soared.  Since the 1990s, high growth rates have set a stage for India to become one of the world’s largest economies. Even so, although living standards have improved, by any measure, many Indians continue to live in poverty and a great deal remains to be done.

India has also shown that democracy can not only survive, but thrive in an Asian nation with a huge  mixture of ethnicities, cultures and religions.  Indian democracy—like any democracy—is not perfect but it has allowed the voices of all Indians to have an opportunity to be heard.

India also faces many challenges.  While the Indian economy of the cities has changed, rural areas continue to be dominated by peasant farming, with many people working small parcels of land.  About 60 percent of the Indian population continue to be directly employed in agriculture compared, for example, with just seven percent in New Zealand. As modern agricultural farming methods come to be more widely adopted, finding employment for many millions of people will be a significant challenge, especially now that the world economy is increasingly headed into recession.

India also faces the challenge of terrorism. There have been many attacks in recent years, most recently and tragically those on hotels and public places in Mumbai in November just a few weeks ago.  The deaths and injuries are a cause for much sadness and have touched people throughout the world, not least members of the Indian diaspora. Terrorism is a threat with which the world continues to struggle and there seem to be no easy answers to it.

The changes that have occurred in India were brought home when, in September last year, I had the privilege to undertake the first State Visit by a New Zealand Governor-General to India - accompanied by Susan and a party of New Zealand diplomatic and trade officials. 

While I was born in New Zealand, I have had an opportunity to visit India on a number of occasions – as a tourist with my wife and with family, as a conference attendee, and as an accompanying person for a Prime Ministerial visit.  I can bring to mind being in New Delhi on Republic Day 36 years ago as two standing among 2 million people.  But it was a different and singular honour, as a person of Indian origin, to visit the land of birth of my grandparents as the representative of New Zealand’s Head of State.

In many of today’s Indian cities there are visible signs of progress and growth.  Examples include new office towers in central cities, new cars in the streets, new factories, shopping malls and housing.  New airports, such as the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad which our group exited India from, are busy with international travellers coming and going - in addition to the traditional three entry or exit points of Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.  

The scale of India is often difficult for New Zealanders to comprehend.  For example, it is estimated India’s tertiary institutions produce more than 100,000 engineering and two million non-engineering graduates a year.  That latter figure is the equivalent of the whole population of New Zealand every two years. The IndianSchool of Business, which we had the pleasure of visiting and where I presented a lecture, is rated by The Financial Times as number 20 in its rating of the world’s business schools for its MBA qualification.

Of these achievements and many others, Indians and people of Indian ancestry throughout the world can be rightfully proud.  But it should also be recalled that India has long been a great nation. The well known writer Mark Twain put it well when he said: “India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, grandmother of legend, and great-grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable … materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.”

People of Indian descent have travelled and migrated and it can be recorded, have also given much to New Zealand.  A combination of enterprise, industry and a strong work ethic, applied in a wide variety of professions, has added value to New Zealand’s economy and society.  The 2006 Census revealed that Indian migrants are in one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in New Zealand. More than 104,000 Indians now live in New Zealand—a significant rise on five years before. 

It is not then surprising that since being appointed as Governor-General in August 2006, I have either written a foreword for or attended launches of three books examining aspects of the contributions of people of Indian descent to our nation.

The efforts of New Zealanders of Indian descent in fostering positive inter-community relations will ensure that New Zealand has a solid foundation upon which to foster and strengthen its cultural and business relations with India.  The presence here of members of Parliament, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Dr Rajen Prasad, demonstrate two examples of that contribution.  Other examples include studies of the feasibility of a free trade agreement, and a number of new trade initiatives currently being developed.

There are many other examples of people in medicine, the law, academia and a number of other professions and businesses too numerous to mention.

I should finally say, that India’s Republic Day was not only a key moment in the history of India as a fully independent nation, but was also a turning point for the Commonwealth of Nations. 

Through the London Declaration of 1949, India agreed that when it became a republic the following year it would recognise the British Sovereign as a “symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and, as such, Head of the Commonwealth.”  The other Commonwealth countries in turn recognised India's continuing membership of the association.

The London Declaration thus marked the beginning of the modern Commonwealth.  With time it was relatively soon transformed from an Imperial gathering into to an international organisation through which countries of diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status, and co-operate within a framework of common values and goals.

Those common values and goals, including shared parliamentary and legal traditions, continue to be strong foundations for the links between New Zealand and India, the linkage between our two countries once famously being described by New Delhi media commentator Dr Sanjaya Baru as “the book ends of Asia”. The linkage includes people here in New Zealand who have played an important role in bringing those book ends closer together and thanks are due for that.

Speaking of thanks, and as I close, I would like to thank everyone involved in organising this celebration today and the warm hospitality that Susan and I have received.  Thank you.  Dhanbaad, Badhu saroo che.

And on that note, I will close in New Zealand’s first language Maori, offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.  No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.