New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) India is often compared to a “slow moving elephant” as it often delays decision-making and implementation of its policies but that is a price the country had to pay as it tries to “carry all sections of our people along in national development”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Friday.
“Each citizen should feel that his or her voice is heard and have a sense of participation in national development. This is the only way we know to accommodate the enormous diversity of opinions and interests in our country. It is also this characteristic that makes our democracy so vibrant,” the prime minister said.

He was speaking to an audience of over 1,500 non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin who have gathered here for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the annual convention of the vast Indian diaspora that numbers about 25 million and are spread across most countries of the globe.

The prime minister said he understood the frustration of well-wishers outside the country who often wonder why things dont move faster in the country.

“It is probably true that we are a slow moving elephant but it is equally true that with each step forward we leave behind a deep imprint. There is a price that we pay in trying to carry all sections of our people along in national development. It is perhaps a price worth paying,” he reasoned.

“But underlying our system is an inherent political and economic resilience that gives our country and its institutions great strength and buoyancy.”

He called ethnic Indians overseas a “tremendous knowledge pool” who had contributed immensely to changing the image of India in the countries they were settled in. He said the Indian government celebrated the event to honour the contribution overseas Indians were making “for the development of their spiritual and ancestral home”.