Indian Independence Day is celebrated on August 15th every year. India was declared independent on the 15th of August 1947. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister and Dr. Rajendra Prasad became the first President of the free country.
On the 26th of January 1950, India became democratic and is the biggest democracy of the world today. In 1956, India on the basis of languages, was divided into 14 states and 6 union territories. Today there are 28 states and 7 federaly governed union territories (click here to see high-res map of India).
“Jana Gana Man” - National Anthem
Today India is celebrating 60 years of Independence, myself nearly 30 years old, making Independent India almost double my age. For most people of my generation, 1947 was a long time ago. For many, our forefathers’ struggle for independence is something vague…we’ve heard the story from our parents/grandparents, we’ve studied it in our text books. We need to do more to ensure the struggle, effort, sweat, and blood of those were willing to sacrifice their lives to leave behind the legacy of ‘Independent India’ is not forgotten. We need to pass that on.
No one will forget, how our leader struggled to get our rights back from the ruled British. This day is a chance to remember all those efforts of our honourable leaders. If we trace the history, the road to independence has been a tough one. After independence also, there has been fights about territories. On August 15, 1947, India received most of the subcontinent’s 562 widely scattered polities, or princely states, as well as the majority of the British provinces, and parts of three of the remaining provinces. Muslim Pakistan received the remainder. Pakistan consisted of a western wing, with the approximate boundaries of modern Pakistan, and an eastern wing, with the boundaries of present-day Bangladesh.
India can have it both ways: an ancient civilisation that is a confluence of many streams of humanity; and a relatively young independent nation. Its biggest achievement as an independent modern country is its vibrant political democracy. Its biggest deficit is its inability over six decades to overcome the largest mass of poverty and deprivations in the world.
Sixty years of independent India is a significant enough segment of our history to reflect on, as we look forward to an Indian resurgence for which we are very favourably poised. With favourable demography and the tremendous importance that knowledge-based activities have gained in recent times, we are in a specially advantageous position. Our vast population, which otherwise is a huge burden, could well become a potential asset. This is both a challenge and an opportunity .
My analysis is one of hope, potential and possibilities. Although political freedom was achieved 60 years ago, economic freedom is still a distant dream for the majority of the population. It is understandable why political freedom is easier to achieve relative to economic freedom. The entire population of the nation has an interest in political freedom — with very rare exceptions. But there are factions within the country that oppose economic freedom because they have a vested interest in the perpetuation of a command and control economy. Yet without economic freedom, the nation is unlikely to achieve its potential.
A limited degree of liberalization in the early ’90s (thanks to the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao) led to enormous and widely celebrated achievements by the people of India. If a little bit of economic freedom could achieve so much, with greater liberalization one can expect the eradication of persistent and chronic poverty.
Entertaining Look at India’s 60 Year Economic History
I think that the three most broadly defined critical sectors where liberalization is a must are infrastructure, energy and education. Currently they are the brakes and they have the potential to be the engines of growth.
Energy independence is possible. India has to think beyond fossil fuel because that is a limited horizon fuel, mostly imported, and the competition for the limited resources will intensify with the growth of global demand. Fortunately, India is very large and is in the semi-arid tropics and therefore blessed with sunshine. Solar power research and development is costly but the paybacks are enormous because once developed the technology has immense returns on investment. India can be a solar power superpower.
Infrastructure can gain from privatization. Roads, ports, airports, and railroads. I think the emphasis has to be on a modern efficient fast rail transportation system. First, trains run on electricity. That means that the system is independent of the source of energy — you can generate electricity from wind, solar, coals, gas, oil, or whatever. The same cannot be said of air transportation. Cars can run on electricity but cars need roads and roads are not the most efficient compared to rail.
Finally education. The world of the past was essentially static compared to today’s world. Innovations and advancements are happening at rates that are accelerating. Current rate of technological and scientific growth means that every year more progress is made than was made in a couple of decades in the last century. A centrally controlled education system could have served a limited purpose in a static world but in a dynamic world it is impossible for the old education system (developed 300 years ago by the Prussian government) to meet the current challenges, to say nothing of the totally unknown world just a few decades hence.
To conclude, the world may get something from India’s experience even when we do little to help others in an active way. While some lessons are in well-known fields, including democracy, secularism, the media, and others, there are further areas that may be worth bringing into comparative analysis. If we really want to build a strong foundation, we need to address the issues. Only then we will be able to look forward to a brighter tomorrow.
India seems to flourish in thousand year cycles. We were the world’s most prosperous nation in the 1st century, and then again in the 11th century. The twenty-first century has ushered in the third cycle. Let’s ensure that history repeats itself.
The new generation India anthem on the occasion of 60th year of freedom
“The nation is on the move. The challenge before us is to make the growth process more socially inclusive and regionally balanced” (click to read essay by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh)
BTW, India presented themselves with a nice gift on the eve of 60th anniversary of Independence, as their first series win in England in 21 years pushed them to third place in the ICC Test Championship table.
Happy 60th Birthday, my India, my mother … and Happy Independence Day to everyone.
P.S. Check out older posts related to patriotic songs of India and the progress of India herself:
And for some humour at the end, here is an edited episode from the cartoon series “The Simpsons” - Homer goes to India :) (with outsourcing as the topic)
“To people he was a father, To his son he was a father he never had” - a perplexing statement isnt it? Well, the whole world is aware of Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle in the freedom of India. Millions of Indians saw a ‘Father’ figure in him, and for these he was ‘bapu’. But how many are aware of his personal sacrifices? How many are aware of the bitter relationship that he shared with his son?
The Indian domestic currency is gaining strength and India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), for the first time, has crossed the $1 trillion mark. With this quantum jump, India has joined the elite club of nations as 12th country that achieved the milestone.