63rd Year of Independence – are we really independent ?

“ The woods are lovely – dark and deep
But I’ve promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”

- Robert Frost

If independence is about ending poverty, ignorance, diseases and inequality of opportunity or wiping the tears from the eyes of every Indian, we still have miles to go before we call India a truly independent nation. Sixty two years since we made the tryst with destiny and came out of the deep slumber of subjugation and slavery under foreign rule, we look back to find an ‘Emerging India’ that has made enormous economic and technological advancement –hotbed of the latest technologies and home to one of the largest technically trained workforce.

At the same time, it is highly disheartening that the progress we made is largely confined to a very small section of us. With more than 40% of Indians living below the international poverty line, there is a large cross section of our people for whom “a day’s meal” still poses the biggest question. The development that we made has largely been skewed with the rich becoming richer and the poor poorer as shown by the increasing Gini coefficient which measures income disparity. With a literacy rate of 65% we still have around 300 million illiterates which is more than the population at the time of independence. With an ever burgeoning one billion plus population we are striving to implement the numerous welfare policies conceived by the central and state governments alike. To add on to it is the red tapestry and corruption in the government and bureaucracy alike.

The national river linking project (NRLP) and unique identification (UID) number program are two such initiatives that once successfully implemented would solve many of the problems that confront us today. The NRLP is the largest water transfer project in the world and would help alleviate hunger and poverty in the agrarian Indian society. And UID would ensure that the benefits conceived by the government reach the targeted population.

Yes, it is true that the Indian sovereign is free to celebrate its national days, culture, multitude of languages and much talked about diversity but there are many millions among us for whom ‘independence’ is just another word in unknown jargon of the fortunate elite few and 'independence day' just another day with lots of tricolour fluttering around.

JAI HIND!