On the eve of Independence Day

Best wishes to all of you on the eve of Independence Day. As we are going to celebrate our 67^th Independence Day tomorrow, there are many aspects on which we have to retrospect ourselves whether we have been performed as per the aspirations of our freedom fighters. We finally won our freedom on 15^th August, 1947 after a long fight with British who ruled over our country more than two hundred years. Since then, the red-letter day is celebrated with pomp and gaiety, across the length and breadth of India. Cultural programs and flag-hoisting ceremonies are the predominant affair of the day, while colorful kites fill the sky in the evening, to symbolize freedom. People indulge themselves in remembering the heroes of the freedom struggle and pay homage to them. The only fact that marred the happiness of the fruits by the blood of martyrs was the fact that the country was divided into India and Pakistan. There was communal disharmony together with poverty, illiteracy and many other social problems.

Although within last decades, we have many commendable achievements in many fields but there are certain areas of concern which must be taken head-on to make our country a super power as visualized by our martyrs.

In the economic field, unprecedented progress has been made so far. Our five-year plans have been successfully completed with many successes. Many multipurpose projects such as Bhakra Nangal, Hirakund and Damodar valley projects, etc. have been taken in hand and completed in time. Many factories have been established, for example, Haldia Fertilizer complex, Sindri Fertilizers Factory, Barauni and Guna Fertilizer Factory, IFFCO Phulpur etc. But still our large section of youth is unemployed. Our contribution in world trade is insignificant. In many areas we are still dependent on other countries.

Since Independence, our country has made great progress in agricultural production. Farmers have been introduced to improve varieties of seeds and fertilizers. They have also been provided with better machines for agriculture. Lakhs of tube wells have been dug up for irrigation purposes and many new canals constructed. Modern machines can also be seen in our villages today. In spite of all these achievements in agriculture, there is a large section of our population living below the poverty line. The difference between haves and haven’ts increased considerably due to unequal distribution and prevailing corruption in our system.

In the field of education, our country has made wonderful achievements since independence. We have started a large no of  primary schools, secondary level institutions and about more than two hundred universities in our country. Many research centres/ institutions have been established. Apart from these, all the states have well known engineering colleges both governments as well as private. The government has also set up Navodaya Vidyalaya in the rural areas to encourage education there.But the true purpose of education is make all sections of our society independent, confident and self-reliant. Still, our performance in the field of girl education is dismissal. Nearly half of our female population can not be termed as independent. We have not been successful to remove the virus of sex-discrimination from the minds of our young generation.

There have also been many remarkable achievements in the field of Science & Technology. We are now producing the most-sophisticated weapons. India has successfully fired 'Agni' a long range missile. Since then 'Akash' surface to air long range missile, Trishul', 'Nag' and recently 'Prithvi' surface to surface short range missile have been launched. Rapid advances have been made in the field of electronics and a comprehensive programme of computerisation is also under way.The launching of "Aryabhatta", Rohini, Apple INSAT-1 and INSAT-1 (D) Satellites marked the entry of India into the space age. Since then many more multipurpose satellites have been sent into outer space. India has successfully conducted underground atomic tests for peaceful purposes. As we are  still facing the problems of border insurgency, terrorist activities, infiltrations on our borders, there must be certain shortcomings which need immediate attention. Unnatural and unscientific exploitation of our natural resources cause droughts, floods and disasters like Kedarnath in Himalayas and Tsunami in Coastal areas.  

Although our country has achieved much in almost all fields, it is still lagging behind in many things. It has solved many problems no doubt but at the same time it has come in the grip of many new problems like population explosion, unemployment, pollution, deforestation, corruption, price rise, above all absence of self-less and decisive patriotic political leaders. We are having all the potentials to fight back with all our hindrances and A day will certainly come when India will be a developed and powerful country in the world. Once again Devas will sing:

            “Gayanti deva kil geetkani dhanyastute bhatatbhumibhage”

Vijaynarayan R Pandit

Joshibaug, KALYAN (w)