Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Hindu
The Hindu
National
The Hindu Bureau

Need to strengthen democracy at the grassroots: official

The progress of society will diminish if the powers-that-be go on destroying the institutions, Principal Adviser Ajeya Kallam has said.

Mr. Kallam was addressing a seminar on ‘India at 75 - Facts and opportunities’, held at Sri Venkateswara Vignana Mandiram on Sunday to mark the birth centenary celebrations of former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University K. Raja Rammohan Roy.

“Democracy should be strengthened at the grassroots and leaders should emerge from villages. We have a situation when some people get Ministerial berths even without getting elected as an MLA once. Our education system is getting weakened, and agriculture is no more remunerative,” Mr. Kallam said.

Political analyst and former MLC K. Nageshwar said authoritative policies of the Central government were weakening the federal structure of the country.

“The federal polity of the country and the secular fabric are being torn apart by the fundamentalist forces that are ruling the roost. It is also ironic that the ED and the CBI are targeting only opposition parties, giving a notion that the ruling party is above corruption,” he said.

MLC Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad said social equality was at the core of Indian democracy, and wanted the governments to heed the suggestions of B.R. Ambedkar.

MLC Ummareddy Venkateswarlu said governments should follow the suggestions offered by M.S. Swaminathan.

The meeting was organised by the A.P. Madya Vimochana Samstha chairman V. Lakshman Reddy.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.