60 Years of Freedom.

August 15th, India’s 60th Independence Day. It's that time of the year when we take stock of our progress as a nation. It’s a day where eminent writers, newsreaders and our “Nethas” will attempt to articulate whether we have made progress and chalk the road map ahead. Former President Abdul Kalaam had challenged the country to first begin envisioning as a country by sharing his 2020 vision. Now we have people beginning to talk of India in the next 60 years. I believe, we have made a lot of progress (with Indian democracy, Indian mentality, culture and tradition), I am not unhappy with what we have achieved till now. And I'm optimistic about the road ahead. But will dreams alone reap results?

India has been independent now for 60 years. Like every young country it has been through ups and downs. It does have serious challenges, but it also has some strong confidence accumulated in the last few years. The biggest challenge India faces is building its physical, social, and educational infrastructure. And the challenges here are truly monumental. Yet life remains nasty, cruel and short for far too many Indians. India languishes in the bottom third of the human development index. Poverty levels are horrific, illiteracy is still a major problem, access to safe water and sanitation remains a dream for most people, and disease is widespread. The public sector is too large and parasitical, public debt too high, and the labor market far too rigid. Bribery is rampant. Petty corruption is especially prevalent at the lower, clerical levels of administration.

We are proud of being the largest democracy in the world in the sense that we have elections every five years or sooner, but a good question to ask is if the common man thought that this was adequate enough, then why would insurgency flourish in so many parts of the country? We have the right symbol in the shape of a reasonably fair electoral process, but without giving people a sense of belonging and emotional integration, we don’t quite have the substance of democracy. Primitive and tribal beliefs are still deeply embedded in our psyche. In dress and demeanor, we have become modern but mentally we remain tribal and barbaric.

India is a country with strong intellectual traditions, good cultural values, and reasonable natural resources. It definitely deserves better leaders than it has and had at least for most of its independent life. Democracy is its strength and unfortunate in democracy, one can not blame leaders because people elect them and India has been electing leaders and changing them. Hopefully, India can really build on all the positives of the last few years and get rid of the problems that are hurdles in building its social, educational, and physical infrastructure.

Happy 60th birthday, India!