India is the largest democracy in the world. However calling India the largest democracy by numbers is an understatement. India entered the 2014 general election with 814.5 million voters. This number is more than 50 countries of Europe put together, 54 countries of Africa, 43 countries of South America and more than the entire Commonwealth! India is the largest democracy because of its unity in diversity. She has 22 scheduled languages and 200 dialects; there is a polling booth at 1600 feet above the sea level, a polling booth with a six member team for one voter in the Gir Forest! Alas, only 63.3% voters exercised their franchise in this election.
The Interact club of Modern School, Barakhamba in association with Rotary International organised a symposium on the theme- the Value of Taking Part in Elections on 2 August, 2014. The event was presided over by K.P.S Tulsi, eminent lawyer and Ex. Additional Solicitor- General, S.V Qureshi Ex Election Commissioner, Padmashri Rajyavardhan Rathore and Dr. Kiran Bedi. The symposium by its myriad activities aimed at sensitising the youth that if we desire to bring about change in our societies then we need to passionately pursue what we were taught by our founding fathers.
Our students from classes X-XII enthusiastically participated in a number of activities like essay- writing, video presentation, poster- making, extempore and One Act Play. There were sixty participating schools of Delhi.
This symposium reinforced that the only way we can overcome the general apathy to electoral participation is by recognizing the fact that each one of us plays an critical role in shaping the future of our country; making India truly the largest democracy in the world. Each and every vote counts. We all know that an M.P can lose his coveted position by just one vote! C.P Joshi a Congress candidate from Rajasthan once lost the election by just one vote. His wife had gone to the temple to pray for his success overlooking her most important ritual on the polling day!
Filed by Ms. Charu Bhatnagar.
In the Press
Admissions
