The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Technical advances will not make a global village, says Governor

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Technical advances will not make a global village, says Governor

Special Correspondent

‘Need to remove inequities for globalisation’
‘Cherish human values fostered by all religions’

BANGALORE: Technological advances cannot become the basis for promoting the concept of the global village as long as inequities and rancour between different sections of people are not removed, said Governor H.R. Bhardwaj.

Inaugurating the India Conference 2009 on “Global village – Are we there yet?”, organised jointly by the Global Communication Association, the U.S., and the Public Relations Council of India here on Thursday, Mr. Bhardwaj referred to the poverty and hunger afflicting vast parts of the globe while the people in remaining parts lived in relative affluence.

He wondered how the concept of globalisation can become meaningful as long inequalities and discrimination are not removed. He also talked of the hatred among different communities and the “clash of civilisations” that had pitted one section of people against the other. The scourge of terrorism, whose origin has been attributed to such differences, had now claimed more lives than the number of people killed in the First and Second World Wars, he added.

Though the world has shrunk to a village, with advances in communication technology annihilating distances, Mr. Bhardwaj also pointed out that a village is always considered to be an idyllic place “where each one knows the other and everyone is cared for”. Hence, a global village implies that “we all shoulder responsibilities equally”, he said. “Mere technological advancements will not make us global unless we cherish and nourish human values fostered by all the religions of the world,” he said.

References

The Governor even referred to the Vedas, which seek to proclaim that humans are children of earth and not India. “The borders created out of political and linguistic considerations are only temporary,” he said. Besides, he said the scriptures also acknowledge that the whole universe is provided for by one “super power”. The sun provides warmth to the entire earth. If the sun shines on one part of the globe now, the remaining part will receive sunshine after twelve hours. “No human being on earth will be denied sunshine and that is the system of God,” he said.

Media’s responsibility

Earlier, Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University N. Prabhu Dev sought to remind the media of their social responsibilities by preventing spread of panic in the society by their reportage.

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