India's democracy is strong, empowered: Om Birla

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], January 8 : While inaugurating the Outreach and Familiarisation program for Panchayati Raj Institutions here on Friday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said the democracy in India is among the strongest and most empowered democracies of the world.
The programme has been organised by the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE), Lok Sabha Secretariat in coordination with the Government of Uttarakhand for the Panchayati Raj Institutions of the state.
Speaking at the event, Om Birla said, "I started every programme of my tenure from this Devbhoomi. Today we are here to discuss how we can strengthen and empower the democratic institutions starting from the Gram Panchayats to the Parliament. Since independence, India's democracy has been among the strongest and empowered democracies of the world."
Birla further described how the smooth transitions of power through elections reinforced the democratic values in India. "The core concept of the constitution was making governance people-centric. The smooth transition of power through 17 general elections and over 300 Assembly elections is our strength," added Birla.
The Lok Sabha Speaker quoted Gandhi citing 'the soul of India resides in the village.' He further hailed the Uttarakhand government for providing higher reservations to women.
According to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, around 405 Panchayat representatives including 26 Zila Panchayat Chairman and Deputy Chairman along with 109 Block Panchayat Pramukh and 270 nominated Gram Pradhans of Uttarakhand attended the programme.
In addition, 376 Zila Panchayat Members, 3,201 Block Panchayats Members and 7,791 Gram Pradhan have been connected to the programme online via weblink.