New Delhi: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday asserted that India’s foreign policy emphasises respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity of nations and the primacy of dialogue over conflict and said as wars intensify, the world can learn from the country’s age-old principles of harmony and coexistence.
He also stressed the need for nations to focus on strategic security through strong defence capabilities and underlined that a peaceful environment is necessary for growth.
Noting that peace disruption or conflagration in any part of the globe has the potential to upset and unsettle growth, he said a robust national security architecture based on a clear national security strategy is a precondition for achieving our developmental goals.
Delivering a lecture at the National Defence College here on ‘India’s Core Values, Interests and Objectives’, Dhankhar underlined that inclusive development, peace, and universal well-being, while nurturing the environment, is at the heart of Indian philosophy.
He said India’s core values for ages are the foundation of its identity and are premised on its civilisational ethos. In the present times, they are a blend of ancient wisdom and modernity aimed at fructify people’s aspirations.
As the world’s largest democracy, the vice president said, India celebrates its diversity with several official languages, multiple religions, and varied ethnicities canvassed under one constitution ensuring freedom and equality.
In his address, Dhankhar 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 need to be combated in tandem and togetherness.
Highlighting the nation’s commitment to gender justice he said, “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 of women-led growth.”
