Celebrating India
S. THEODORE BASKARAN
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Sixty years have gone by and we have grown as a nation in many ways. But there are many issues that remain unresolved.
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Photo: K. RAMESH BABU
India at 60: Moving towards progress.
In that village school we stood in line, as our headmaster, a British missionary, hoisted the national flag to mark the Independence Day. We sang the song we had practised for days Bharathi’s Thaayin manikodi paareer (Look! the flag of our motherland). As a school boy, I did not understand the importance of the day though I knew it was something to be celebrated.
On that day India set an example to countries in Asia and Africa that were still under foreign rule. It demonstrated that freedom can be achieved. This started similar struggles in other countries. We supported such movements, in South Africa, Ghana and in Palestine.
The other half
Sixty years have gone and we have grown as a nation in many ways. Leaders like Nehru and Ambedkar set the course our country was to take. This path was laid down in the Constitution we gave ourselves. We decided to be a democracy and we have continued to remain so. In the years that followed independence, India had to tackle many problems. Our leaders decided to move towards progress through Five Year Plans. With the Green Revolution we took care of our food needs. Major killer diseases such as cholera, small pox and plague were eliminated. Polio, a major threat to children, was wiped out.
Though we have modern cities with malls and imax cinema houses, we have to remember that a vast majority of people in our villages go without adequate food and medical care. Thirty per cent of our children are underfed. Caste-based injustice is still deep rooted in rural areas. Over the years we have destroyed much of our forests and this has led to water shortage and floods. With the forests having disappeared so have many birds and animals. We have very few tigers left in the country. We have converted lakes into townships.
When major decisions are taken affecting our environment, we have to ask many questions. Can rivers be linked? Is it good or bad for the country? Are big dams really necessary for the people as they are claimed? Should we spend money on atom bombs? Do we need them? Should our country try to be a super power or should it work to provide food, drinking water and shelter to all? These are some of the questions we should ask ourselves.
When we got our freedom Nehru said, “The ambition of Gandhi, 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.” To carry on this work we have to keep asking many questions as we go along.
India 1947
On June 3, 1947, Viscount Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of the British Indian Empire into India and Pakistan. At midnight, on August 15, 1947, India became an independent nation. Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel invited Lord Mountbatten to continue as Governor-General of India. He was replaced in June 1948 by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari.
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