INDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE: ACHIEVEMENTS AND SHORTCOMINGS (ESSAY)

 Immediately after Independence, the country had to face serious problems of rehabilitation of millions of refugees due to the unfortunate partition of the country. At the same time, illegal invasion and occupation of Kashmir by the Pakistan army and tribal elements, added to the burden. The financial position of the country was further weakened by the Sino-Indian War (1962) and Indo-Pakistan Wars in 1965 and 1971. Besides, many droughts, spate of floods, earthquakes and natural calamities multiplied the problems. It is a matter of pride that, in spite of such challenges, India has made notable progress since independence in many areas as mentioned below:

• India has got the second largest pool of of scientists and technologists in the world, next only to the USA. India has made remarkable progress in the IT sector.
• India is a member of the exclusive group of countries possessing advanced technologies in the field of space, missile and nuclear energy. PSLV-C35 and GSAT-18 are the most recent achievements in the arena of space. Agni-V (Long range missile) and Arihant (nuclear powered submarine) are the latest additions to our kitty of technological achievements. The advanced Agni-VI (ICBM) with multiple warheads is likely to be tested in 2017.
• Chandrayaan, India’s first mission to Moon succeeded and the Moon Impact Probe landed on the surface of the Moon; ISRO has also been successful in its mission to Mars called Mangalyaan.
• India is the largest producer of milk (more than 100 million tonnes), sugar (341 million tonnes plus), fruits and vegetables in the world. It also ranks high in cereal and pulse production.
• India is also one of the largest producers of cement, coal and lignite (23 million tonnes) in the world.
• India has developed an educational infrastructure for 200 million students (primary to university).
• India has over 64000 Kms of railways, making it one of the largest rail networks in the world. Indian railways carry more than 6300 million passengers annually.

But lot more remains to be done in various areas at the national as well as international front, than only the country will be able to get its rightful place among the comity of nations. Our leaders were aware that the railways, postal system, telegraphic communications and the judicial system and administrative set up introduced by the British colonial rulers had brought all parts of India much closer. But for them independence meant much more, they endeavoured to bring people emotionally closer to each other through equitable growth, social justice and removal of disparities.

The freedom fighters desired that every citizen will be free from hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy in independent India. Every citizen will have employment opportunities so that they could live a respectful and dignified life. Every family will have habitable shelter including toilet and bathroom and medical services at reasonable costs. The makers of modern India were aware that India is a country with great diversity including various religions and languages. They wanted India to have a common language and the unanimous choice was Hindi. Any nation without one language is like a body without soul. They were totally opposed to any conflict among the people of various communities or religions and believed that all should live in peace and harmony. Social evils like communalism, casteism, untouchability and discrimination against women are a stigma for the society. Inter-state or regional economic and social disparities were equally agonising. To deny the right to any community to use drinking water from a public place or to deny entry in any temple, mosque or church should be treated as inhuman and severe punishment should be prescribed by law.

All the resources in the country belong to all the people. Any economic or social disparity among citizens could affect the unity, integrity and progress of the country. To make India self-reliant and to strengthen domestic industries, all citizens must use Swadeshi. Decentralisation of political and economic authority must be our cardinal principle. Those who live in villages and produce food, vegetables, fruits and milk for the country should be able to enjoy all amenities like their urban counterparts (PURA). Producers must get remunerative price and up to date information along with storage and marketing facilities. The freedom fighters were ambitious to see the independent India among the most powerful and prosperous countries in the world. We were totally opposed to any form of dictatorship and adopted the democratic form of government. On the basis of long traditions, free India should preserve its humane and moral values as an inherent constituent of its humanitarian idealism. India should play a pivotal role in making the world a peaceful and non-violent place for the mankind. After seven decades of Independence, when we look at all such dreams and ideals, there is a feeling that though some of them have been realised, but many of our basic dreams had yet not been achieved.

Though India has made remarkable progress, the shortfalls are equally glaring. It is ironical that, a country with second largest pool of scientists and technologists has still 25%-30% of its citizens illiterate. Blind faith and superstitions still exist with unscientific beliefs and traditions. Though, India has attained the economic growth rate of 7%-8%, the divide between the haves and have-nots keeps on increasing. The fruits of progress made so far have gone to hardly 25% of the population. While few corporate giants virtually control the economy, majority of the people are poor or Below Poverty Line and they are virtually at the mercy of such rich sections of the society. States are quarrelling on the issue of water. Natural resources in the country including water belong to the whole country and all the citizens have equitable right on these natural resources. The situation is further aggravated due to regional imbalances and lack of a visionary leadership.

Hatred, animosity and misunderstandings between communities continue even today. Instead of creating a sense of responsibility and patriotism, values are getting degraded and corruption has spread like a cancer in all sections of the society. Inequality, unemployment and poverty have given birth to enormous problems like Naxalism, insurgency and militancy in many parts of the country. Terrorism has further added to such problems. Earlier there were hardly 6-7 districts affected by the movement of Naxalites. They have now reached almost 150 districts in the country. Foreign militants from outside are getting shelter in the country. Such issues are becoming a permanent threat to the security of the nation. Today, whenever disasters or calamities like floods, earthquakes, cyclones, droughts or tsunami hit the country, it is regarded as the problem of the concerned state. Any such calamity must be treated as a national calamity and not the calamity of a particular state. Whenever such a calamity occurs, the Central Government must accept the responsibility of rehabilitation and other consequences. Off late, the centre had made positive contributions in this regard.

In the early decades of Independence, there was ‘Single Party Rule’ at the Centre as well as in most of the states. The whole political scenario considerably changed in recent decades and single party rule got replaced by the coalition governments both at the Centre and in many states. Ideally speaking, a coalition government should have been a symbol of unity in diversity in a country like India. But this is not the case, nobody appears to think of the country and the people, as the opportunistic politicians are engaged in bargains and manoeuvres that show their hunger for power and more money. Instead of serving the people, the seats of power have been converted into the fast money making machines. Power through money and money through power with the help of mafia has become the order of the day. Corruption has become a way of life, quite visible in politician-bureaucrat, politician-criminal, politician-businessman and many other nexuses. The revival of single party rule at the centre and the government’s drive towards demonetization in order to check black money and corruption might help in easy out the situation.

Corruption and malpractices in elections have to be stopped under any circumstances. Electoral reforms, administrative and police reforms are the need of the day and if required, the concerned laws and even our Constitution should be suitably amended. The politics of opportunism and appeasement have made our leaders behave more like petty politicians. They have forgotten the sacrifice of the great martyrs who went to the gallows with smiles for our independence. The same callous attitude persists towards the sacrifices of our military and paramilitary forces. To some extent, the citizens are also to be blamed for this situation as they do not protest enough against such attitudes and wrongdoings.

We appear to be more concerned about our rights and benefits and prioritize them over our duties and responsibilities. Democracy is being treated as license to behave according to one’s whim or desire. Whenever there is a protest or riot it has become the practice among the ruling class to use police force to control the same. None of our leaders appears prepared to face the agitated audience. The security provided to the President, the Prime Minister, other dignitaries and so called VIPs creates an impression as if there is no democracy in the country. In the national capital, one finds that bungalows of Prime Minister and other Ministers being converted into big open jails. Freedoms fighters never thought of such an Independent India. This is not the ‘Free India’ of our dreams. It creates a picture of an oligarchy. The people who are so mean, timid, narrow-minded and parochial can never be leaders of any sort.

The Government is engaged in pleasing some powers having their own economic or political interests. India should have lead and brought all suffering countries under its banner. India must have paid far more attention to become economically self-reliant and powerful like China, before trying to be an international leader. We share our borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. If we examine our relationship with our neighbours, nobody could claim that except Bhutan, other countries are our close friends. Suspicion created by our rigid and not so well thought out foreign policy is mainly responsible for the same. It would be advisable to be more pragmatic and take away the seeds of suspicion. The present government at the centre is doing the needful in the right direction. The case of Pakistan has a different story and the genuine dispute will have to be resolved with great caution and care. It should not be forgotten that most of the people, both in India and Pakistan, desire to establish peaceful cordial relations. Let us hope that the democratic forces in Pakistan will help in settling the issues. It is, however, possible to establish long term friendship with neighbouring countries by adopting statesmanship without compromising our sovereignty.

The situation of unwanted contrasts, unnatural contradictions and unnecessary conflicts is an alarm to take urgent or drastic steps for course correction. Growing demand for new states and more reservations, cheap tactics to fulfil petty desires and increasing economic and social disparities could endanger the very stability of our democracy. Mere statements and slogans have no relevance, unless positive measures are taken to get over the shortcomings and emerging problems. Faster they realize, the better it will be for our leaders so that they could find amicable solutions. The sentiments and increasing anguish among general public is an indicator of unhappiness with the current state of matters in the country. The civil society movements, youth protests and public anger must be a cause of concern for our ruling class. All our plans and reforms must be directed towards these realities and solutions to overcome the shortfalls. It is not too late for India to fix its problems and hopefully in the immediate future we will see this happening. There are lot of expectations from the present government. Let us hope the leaders and the people will behave in a sane manner and work in unison to make India a rational, sensitive, happy and developed country. India should be known for its strength, peace and success all over the world!!

By: Raghwendra Chauhan