India At 59: How Free, How Independent
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Send to a friend by YMAuthor: Priya Tandon
On the eve of our 59th independence day, the country need not look back to all its problems to decide on whether these post independent years were a success or failure. All we need is a little change
MOST PARTS OF Maharashtra may be under water, but this has not stopped the flag manufacturers in Mumbai from making batches of the tricolour ahead of the country's 59th Independence Day. This piece of news could probably give a fair idea of the unputdownable spirit of the Indians.
However, whenever faced with questions about achieving real freedom post-independence, a lot of Indians especially, the youth, answer in negative. It’s time for them to realise that amidst bad news, which is inevitable in any nation of our size and diversity, there is also a plenty of good news around. The Indians are giving in to a great deal of cynicism, negativism and pessimism. They do not even realise the value of what we have achieved in the last six decades, some of the most turbulent ones in the modern world history and yet, among the most triumphant.
A brief note of some of our achievements will give us a few reasons to cheer for our motherland on this Independence Day.
India’s gains in the post-Independent era are sizeable. We have functioned as a nation in spite of the cultural, social, political, economic and religious diversities. Our nation has a vibrant democracy, an independent judiciary, and a diversified and widespread industry. We manufacture everything, from pins to missiles. Information Technology (IT) has shown the way as India’s tomorrow. But the future of India does not lie in information technology but in another IT that stands for Indian talent. This talent is in demand all over the world.
The products of our higher education systems, be they IITs or IIMs, lead the world. We may lack in economic or military clout, yet Indians have contributed significantly to set up an equitable world order. There is much that we can be proud of in this field.
This discussion would be incomplete without a mention of India’s diversity. Our nation has 18 major languages, 1600 minor languages and dialects, 6400 castes and sub-castes, 52 major tribes, 6 main ethnic groups and 28 states and yet we have remained one country! We are the largest functioning democracy in the world. How many countries can boast of such a feat?
India has the reputation of being a thinking nation for a millennium. But what about our mindsets? That is a matter of concern. Our mindsets are not positive. We are perennially in a state of self-doubt.
Take our space programme. Today, we design, develop and test our own launches. We have moved from one sophisticated launching vehicle to another. We have moved from ASLV to PSLV to GSLV. We have done it without any help from anyone since no one will give us the technology in these strategic sectors for any consideration. Not only do we launch our own satellites today but that of our foreign customers too including Germany and Korea. And all this is done for a budget that is just 7 per cent of a single company in the USA! Should we not be proud of this feat?
What we really require is self-confidence. It is rather ironical that when we are losing faith in ourselves, the rest of the world is looking to us for inspiration. Scores of major companies from the USA, Europe and Japan have set up their research and development laboratories in India in the last five years.
So the question doing rounds is: What would we really require for transforming India? People consider India as a ‘land of ideas’ but the USA as a ‘land of opportunities’.
That is why our young people with aspirations go to the USA or to some other well-off country, which provides them an opportunity to reach their own potential. Our challenge is to make India a land of opportunities. That again requires positivism and faith in ourselves.
Not only this, we Indians should acknowledge and respect our way of life. Surprisingly, the West is gradually drifting towards the Indian way of living. The world wants to go back to nature, back to yoga, back to Ayurveda, back to spiritualism, which is all the Indian way of life.
Our challenge today is to maintain this traditional record for diversity while finding more room for quality and individual freedom.
On the occasion of the 59th anniversary of Indian independence, the countrymen should retrospect and should learn to respect their achievements and freedom. It will set the mood and tone for our future. We can make it a golden chapter if we believe in ourselves. All that we need is an attitudinal change towards life and work.
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