India at 60

Is this what India dreamt of, after 60 years independence, did we achieve what we dreamt of?

India was centuries ago known as the ‘Golden Bird’ and consequently knowing this the whole world ran towards the country trying to grab a share of the pie. Starting from the Mughals to the Britishers, they had it all and what was left for the people here could be only imagined. What was built by Mughals was destroyed by Britishers and memoirs like the famous ‘Kohinoor’ was shipped off to the place where the Queen lived!! India was always exploited in the hands of rulers who are famous now. After ruling & exploiting the country for nearly 180 years the Britishers with their common strong strategy of ‘Divide and rule’ divided the land in what is today known as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

It has been 61 years since we gained Independence and have established ourselves as the largest democracy in the world, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and a close friend of Lord Mountbatten, the then Viceroy of Indian territory had said “When the whole world will be asleep on August 15th 1947, India will awaken to a new world to have a tryst with destiny…” Since then the country has a come long way in terms of Politics, Development, Industry and nearly every field we might talk about. As long as one stays in India, it would be always great to see India achieving something new and advanced. My visit to another developing country gave me the advantage to look at the comparisons for our country. Its only when you compare that you find the shortcomings in the nation’s prosperity.

Apart from comparison, some incidents always hinder my mind questioning the prosperity of the country and will it ever change.
1. A young boy is studying for his final school exams, in a candle light, because his village in rural Maharashtra faces a minimum 12 hour power outage for a simple reason – there is not enough power produced – The state faces an acute shortage of power because the power supply has remained stagnant over decades while the power demand has increased proportionally. Who fails to anticipate the demand and ensure the supply is increased??

2. A family is homeless in a hamlet in Orissa due to floods – I do agree this is a natural calamity, but should it then happen every year. Last year people were homeless in Bihar and it floods every year but does that mean we put it on natural calamity and keep quite?

3. Back in Mumbai’s suburban station, Goregaon, is full of people wanting to catch the next train to town. A person is valiantly trying to get into the already overcrowded train. Finally after the 4th attempt he has to wait for the next train. Poor, does he know the next train might be worse - I certainly agree that population has exploded in the last decade in Mumbai but does that mean we still have to use the same local train network that was built at the time of the once ruled India !! Couldn’t have we built another network supporting the current local train?

4. Metro rail which started work almost now 3 years back is still no where!! Will it be ever ready by its target date?? – I would attribute this to the intense politics and the inefficient processes in place

5. A truck driver is found with 8 driving licenses (yes you read it right.. 8) Every time he was being caught for offence and his license confiscated, the driver would simply use his other licenses – Now I am lost, I have no reasons for this other than a sloppy process in place

6. A political party is always on the neck of the ruling government threatening to withdraw support in the reason that the government would sign on a Nuclear deal with the US (which supposedly would solve the electricity problems being faced) - I really don’t know who’s correct but atleast reaching to some consensus which would be beneficial to the masses should be done

Of course, there are reasons for everything.. But what matters would be the passion in the people (by the people and for the people) to make it a better place to live..

Obvious, it will be continued…
Disclaimer: The blog include the opinions of the author and does not intend to or relate to any individual. The author does not intend to hurt any religious or political sentiments