By Ashok Kumar
Sydney: There could be a coincidence but what Indian Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mr. Priya Ranjan DasMunshi said in Sydney and Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith told Indian Journalists, the sale of Uranium to India is not far once the 123 deal with US is through.
Mr. DasMunshi told the select gathering at a reception in his honour in Strathfield organized by the New South Wales Bengali Association that although the Australian Government has taken a tough stand, talks were still on for finding ways to sell Uranium to India.
In a significant softening of Labour’s position, Mr. Smith, according to media reports, said although the Government has a strong policy of not exporting Uranium to non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty signatory countries, the ban could be overturned if the long awaited 123 agreement between India and US was finalised. “If the agreement is passed, we could join the consensus. We will wait for the agreement and then make a judgment. In the agreement, a reference to the section 123 of US Atomic Energy Act of 1954 allows the US and other countries to supply nuclear technology and fuel to India even though it is not a signatory to the NPT.”
Mr. DasMunshi, who was in Sydney to participate in a FIFA meeting spoke on an array of subjects and displayed his oration skills for which he recently won the Best Parliamentarian Award. Mr. DasMunshi, who had first been to Australia in 1988 when Mr. Bob Hawke was the Prime Minister, said there is lot of commonality between Australia and India apart from democracy and cricket and there are lots of areas where both the countries can work together like global warming. Both India and Australia practice multicultural way of life and value tolerance, he said.
The youngest Parliamentarian ever in India, Mr. DasMunshi lauded the role of Bengalis wherever they are living and greatly contributing to the community.
Expectedly, he was asked several questions about the sorry state of Indian football. He strongly defended the onslaught by saying the professional level football in India has started only five years ago and just wait we will soon get there. “The professional culture in soccer back home is in a nascent stage but our journey is to the moon. It naturally will take time, but rest assured we will get there,” he remarked. The IPL has certainly changed the dynamics of sports in India but we cannot have football on that model since cricket is being played by 14 nations and football by nearly 150 countries. However, we are soon going to have a partnership with the telecom giant Airtel to push the game in a big way.
Replying to question on preparations for the Commonwealth Games, he said things were going right on target and New Delhi will be all geared up by March 2009. The Pune which will host the youth games is ready to roll out the red carpet, he added.
Answering questions on his Ministry, he revealed that Australia is ahead in many fields but there one thing where India has beaten Australia. He proudly announced that India has 350 TV channels and by the end of year the number will rise to 450. Nearly 40% of these channels are with foreign collaboration. So, whether cricket is played in New Delhi or Adelaide or Sydney, the matches featuring India will be shown live and free to the Indian public on the Doordarshan.
Commencing his official career in public service in 1970 as a member of AICC he has served in many ministerial and other capacities since and currently he is the Information and Broadcasting Minister of India.
He has been also holding the position of AIFF president for the last 20 years.
His career demonstrates exemplary leadership.
Leadership is about having the ability to inspire people, to fire their imagination to attain the unattainable.
Leadership is about the ability to have vision to see beyond the immediate.
One area where leaders of both India and Australia have shown exemplary leadership is celebration of “Multiculturalism” and “Unity in diversity”.
Australia acknowledges itself as a community of communities. It means the Govt actively believes that culture and tradition of each community can and does influence the prosperity and social harmony of Australia.
Supporting this statement the Govt of New South Wales approved the first ever exterior illumination of a Parliament House in the Western World for celebrating Deepavali, the festival of lights, in 2003. It is an annual event now.
Acknowledging the contribution of the people of India and Indian Subcontinent in Nation building, in 2007, the Govt of NSW approved “Erection of a plaque in the roof garden of the Parliament House, to commemorate the achievements of Australians of Indian Sub-Continental heritage, the Parliament and Govt of NSW, in promoting community harmony and mutual respect in Australia.”
This has been only the 2nd such acknowledgement by the Govt to a community in Australia.
The Bengalee community in NSW, has been working hand in hand with not only other Indian and Indian Sub-continental communities but also with the broader Australian community to promote Social Justice, Equity and Social Integration in Australia..
From what we get for what we do, we can make a living. But what we give back to the community, can make lives , can fire imaginations inspiring to attain the unattainable.
In Australia , a country acknowledged as a community of communities, Bengali Association plays a vital role by preserving and inculcating moral values and lessons we inherited as Bengalees and Indians.
We believe armed with these inherited traditional values and Australian academic achievements we and our future generations will continue to “Advance Australia Fair” .
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Some of us have been in Australia for over 40 years, some for 20 years and others have arrived more recently.
Regardless of how long we might have been abroad for, we take as much pride as any one else in the following facts:
- World’s first university was built in Takshila, India in 700 BC.
- Zero, was invented in India by Aryabhatta . For which Einstein’s told that the world owes a lot to the Indians /.
· Mark Twain once said: India is the cradle of human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history , the grandmother of legend and great grand mother of tradition.
· In 1600 when East India Company was founded, Britain was generating 1.8% of world’s GDP, while India was producing 22.5%.
It was the European colonialism and its cannon power, commencing in the 16th century, particularly in the eighteenth century that slowly wrecked the old trading network and world dominance of India.
As Indian Australians we take as much pride as anyone else in the forecast that by 2040 India will overtake the U.S. in terms of GDP. That measured by purchasing power parity, India is already on the verge of overtaking Japan to become the third largest economy in the world.
Mr. Das Munsi, in today’s global village, Australia presents
great potential for partnership with India and India offers the same for
Australia.
And I know many community and business leaders in these two countries are
taking advantage of these opportunities.
We as Indian Australians wish the best to both countries and
would be happy as individuals or as a community to help facilitate promotion
of the bilateral relationship in any reasonable way we can.
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