Presidential rule needed for India

Tirupati: Former Speaker of AP Legislative Assembly Dr A Eswar Reddy has opined that the present day governments are deeply rooted in corruption and nepotism. He recalled the opinion of former President of India R Venkataraman, who advocated presidential form of government in India.

Eswar Reddy addressed a symposium on "Is Democracy dying in India? An alternative: Presidential Election" organised by Indian Institute of Public Administration Tirupati Local Branch and Centre for Women's Studies, Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati on Thursday. The Principal of SVU College of Arts Prof G Savaraiah opined that the value system in democracy in the country was witnessing diminishing returns which has some values before 1991.

CPI-ML Leader R Harikrishna felt that corporate sector is ruling the nation under the mask of democracy. JP Sudhakar, Additional Director General, Doordarshan, Hyderabad said that democracy is still has its values in India but underlined that ethical democracy is needed.

Prof MA Hussain, Prof Kiran Prasad, Dr C Swarajya Lakshmi also spoke on the occasion. IIPA Tirupati Local Branch Chairman Prof A Ranga Reddy has presided over the symposium in which the Director of Centre for Women's Studies Prof T Lakshmamma, Prof B Krishna Reddy, Prof D Himachalam, Prof D Subrahmanyam Reddy, A Malleswara Rao and Dr A Samanthakamani among others took part.