As we celebrate 64th independence day, the day of Freedom from 190 year old British rule, Thought that do we have really achieved freedom in true sense is disturbing my mind..So i want to explore and try to answer this...
The definition from Oxford dictionary defines freedom in many ways but i found below the most significant once...
"absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government "
"the power or right to act , speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.."
"the power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity"
India got freedom as per first definition as British left India and Created India & Pakistan (unfortunately) dominion.
If we take second definition, our constitution has given this right to all our citizens as preamble of Indian Constitution states...
"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;"
Third definition also very much part of Indian Constitution and it was a dream of our great Freedom fighters, as reflected in the famous Tryst with destiny speech given by our first prime minister Jawahar lal Nehru ji on Aug 15th 1947..
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. .... The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over......."
As you can see, our freedom fighters and political leaders had the dream of India full of smiles without suffering. They wanted Indians to have freedom to express their thoughts, get Justice and every Indian to have equal opportunity to grow and work towards development of India.Our Constitution has many provisions and laws to elaborate the spirit of it's preamble and Judiciary and Govts. have to follow this spirit. But unfortunately, our political class seems to have deviated from the visions of our great freedom fighters as they are busy gaining strength and money for their own welfare and they least think about the poorest before making any policy, which was the dream and vision of Independent India. People from all walks of life fought together for the freedom of our motherland from foreign rule for Swarajya. The people of India would have expected that now that country is free from British rule and we have a free nation governed by it's Own people there will be no more injustice, no more ban on expression of thought, no more discrimination in job opportunity, no more attack on one's individual dignity.There would have been a sense of Joy and pride in the minds of Indians from all class and creed, Rich or poor as they were now Part of Free India and India would have cerebrated the most Significant day in her History.
But all that Joy, belief, dreams seems to be faded away slowly and slowly in these last 63 years. Now the Justice for poor seems to be nowhere in country, as we see cases pending for 2-3 decades and we get nothing.. Bhopal Gas tragedy, 84 Sikh riots, Nitish Katara Murder case, Ruchika Gehrotra case, Jessica Lal Case, Babri Masjid, Bombay Blast93, and many other scams by our politicians are just a few examples of this long list of Cases pending..Though our Constitution promised Justice and Justice might have been given in some of these cases but that was too late and as there is saying Justice delayed is justice denied and that's what happened in all these cases. Corruption seems to have become a way of life for our bureaucrats and politicians and unfortunately seldom any cases against any of top politician or bureaucrats get to it's justified end. Police forces, whose main Job is to maintain law and order and protect poor and weaker section of society have become symbol of fear and terror in minds of people. They have become puppet of Rich and Powerful mafias. It looks like that The dream of wiping out tears from every eye is lost as the cruel reality is almost 45% of our population lives with an income of 20 Rs. per day. Farmer suicide has become a trend. Untouchability and cast divide is still a bitter reality of our society. Brides are still being torched for dowry, Women still don't feel safe in workplaces and in markets, Honor killings are being glorified and justified. Few people with power don't really care about common man and they have the feelings that they can do whatever they want and get away with it quite easily.
Common man don't have belief in system as they don't feel safe as terrorist, Maoist are striking almost at will and our govts are helpless about it.They are even having threat even with it's own people (police, mafia and politician trio). It looks like we got freedom only from Foreign nationals and those faces have been replaced with our own nationals, the soul of Cruel British rulers is still alive in bodies of Politicians, bureaucrats and everyone wants to exploit poor common man.
The picture is really gloomy.. But there is silver lining in this cloudy atmosphere.. India have become nuclear power capable nation. We have sent moon mission.Our economy is one of the fastest growing economy. Rate of literacy have increased quite radially. India have become Information technology outsourcing hub.Child Mortality rate has reduced significantly to show our progress in health sector. There have been some path breaking improvements in governance as well as we still have some good and dedicated leaders in country. RTI (Right to Information), RTE (Right to Education) and Food Security Acts are few really good initiative at govt part but implementation of these acts need to be monitored well. Most importantly, we have almost 50% population below 25 Year of age and 30% of population at the age 10-24. That's a huge plus point if the creativity of this population is channelized in a proper way and this generation can change all the issues shown above as they are the future politicians, Police officers and bureaucrats.We need to make sure all of this population gets a quality education and they are inculcated with ethical, moral and nationalist values, so that the next generation can eradicate all these problems of corruption and misuse of power making India a better place to live and that's where RTE can really do wonders. RTI has been able to curtail the corruption in bureaucracy as it is making governance more transparent and accessible to common man. Responsible Journalism can also help in achieving goal of RTE act.
We can't change the past but we have great opportunity to make our future beautiful. The responsibility is on our generation to bring about positive changes to make India a better place to live. It's WE THE YOUTH OF INDIA, who can realize the dreams of our Great Freedom fighters and Spread Smiles all over..
I have India of My dreams as dreamt by RabindraNath Tagore in below lines..
WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
I am confident that this dream will surely come true one day and True Freedom will be achieved.. Let the Journey begin... :)
