Family is India's biggest strength: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that despite citizens turning into netizens due to technology and obliteration of traditional boundaries, the family continues to be the country's biggest strength.

"Technology has turned citizens into netizens, traditional boundaries are being obliterated and our thinking is fast changing. Still, between the citizens and the society, we have a unit that we call the family, which traditionally has been our biggest strength," Modi said at the launch of Vice President Hamid Ansari's book 'Citizen and Society' at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"We should be proud to be a country of so many dialects and languages, and so many different faiths, living in harmony. We have this legacy which we need to protect and promote," added Modi

Releasing the book, President Pranab Mukherjee urged Indians to actively engage in important issues facing the country so as to protect and advance the Indian democracy.

"The book reminds us about the responsibility bestowed upon us as citizens and many a time we have failed to discharge those responsibilities. We cannot forget that without effective engagement, we can't achieve success and protect our democracy. Democracy is always noisy and our democracy is more noisy. But it always pays if we engage ourselves with issues," said Mukherjee.

"Sometimes, I wonder when I look at how we are managing a country of 3.3 million square km, having 128 crore people, seven religions, 122 languages and 1,800 dialects and yet under one system, one flag and one Constitution.

"It cannot be preserved, protected and advanced automatically. I thought it would be my duty to draw the attention of the Indian citizens to these aspects which our Vice President has done with elan," Mukherjee added.

--IANS

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