India Shows the World Path to Counter Extremism

NEW DELHI: In a global meet on countering violent extremism, which was recently concluded in Washington, India provided a much-needed way forward to 60 countries that came together to discuss concrete steps they need to take to develop community-oriented approaches to counter radicalisation, a threat looming large over Western and other countries.

The global meet, popularly known as White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism was held last week to address the root causes of extremism through community engagement.

The Indian delegation headed by R N Ravi, Chief of joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), told the gathering that usual notions of minorities and their alienation were not valid in Indian context.

Despite having a large number of minority population -- over 260 million -- which is around 21 per cent of India’s population with 180 million Muslims, the liberal, plural, secular democracy has ensured the integration of various communities. “The recently held elections in Jammu & Kashmir, a Muslim majority state, in which over 65 per cent electorate peacefully cast their votes is a  testimony of its success story,” the Indian delegation told the global meet.

Besides, India also pointed out that the country has a dedicated Ministry of Minority Affairs with special focus on educational and economic empowerment of smaller communities and their institutions besides women empowerment.

The delegation underlined the need for providing education and skill empowerment to the smaller communities through various programmes.

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