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63rd Independence Day


 "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance."

Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru spoke these few lines while being sworn in as the first Prime Minister of independent India on midnight of 14th August 1947. India became independent on 15th August 1947 after a long hard fought battle against the British, a battle not fought by swords or guns but by the non-violent principles of Mahatma Gandhi, our ‘Father of the Nation’. The story of Indian Independence is unique in itself. It had all started by the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ in 1857, which led to a series of independent events in all parts of the country. The mutiny was started by the Indians working for the British army. Due to their deep traditions they faced numerous social barriers. The forced use of certain controversial rifles led them to revolt against the officers of the British army, which led to scattered revolts because Indians formed 96 percent of the British army at that time. The revolt was put to an end quickly by the British mainly because of the lack of coordination and cooperation among all the kingdoms across the country. But it taught an important lesson to the British Empire, that India belongs to the Indians and that the British would have to leave it soon.

This mutiny was followed by the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885, mainly to improve relations between the ruling British and Indian people, which led to the entry of educated middle class Indians into active politics and changed the Indian political scene. The INC as it was popularly called saw different eras with different kinds of people heading it at the forefront. The moderates held the first era with great leaders such as ‘Womesh Chandra Banerjee’ and ‘Dadabhai Navroji’. The next era saw the extremists come into power with great leaders in the form of ‘Bal Ganghadhar Tilak’ and ‘Lala Lajpat Rai’. India was slowly becoming a merciless nation hungry for the blood of the British under these revolutionary leaders and also by new rising ones in the form of ‘Subhash Chandra Bose’, ‘Chandra Shekhar Azad’, and the legendary revolutionary ‘Bhagat Singh’.

It seemed at that time that India was losing control and the fight was becoming more personal than that for the country. It was not until Mahatma Gandhi came to the rescue of India and instilled in the people a wholly new concept of ‘non-violence’, which had been tried and tested by him in South Africa. This new breeze of confidence unified the country into a common fight for independence. Every person, every family, every house in the country was singing praises of the Mahatma and was following the principles put forward by him. His followers included the great ‘Jawaharlal Nehru’ and ‘Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’ who were already among the young leaders of the INC. It was this lot of great men that took India on a great ride towards that ‘tryst with destiny’ and gave birth to the largest democracy in the World.

It is virtually impossible to account for every detail of the Indian struggle for independence in a few words. I could have written a few hundred pages and still would have found that I haven’t included many of the things, which need to be there. But instead I thought that the true meaning, the true essence of Independence comes from what India and Indians have achieved in 63 years since the day Pundit Nehru and those great leaders made their ‘tryst with destiny’. The idea here is not to present a chronological summary of all the achievements of India, but to account for those years after Independence in which India and Indians had to fight to give it the status and the power that it enjoys today. It is very easy to point out things that have gone wrong, things that are still going wrong. But to account for all the good things is a tremendous task. India—the largest democracy in the World today is still rated as a third world country. Why? As per the latest ratings India is the fastest growing economies in Asia and the World. Indian economy is slated to rise by 7.4 percent in 2009-10.  Indian industry came out bravely out of global recession especially the IT sector has created waves all over the World how it managed to recover quickly. India has been described as the next Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical hub in Asia. And people still ask the same question—what has India achieved in 63 years of independence? Has the corruption decreased in India? What has India done to reduce the poverty? My question to these people is which country today does not have any problems? The idea is not to escape from these questions but merely questioning each other will not get solutions. Solutions have to be sought by asking ourselves what we have done to improve the living conditions in our own country? What has been our contribution to our country and the countless people who have given their lives to see that our life today is meaningful?

India—was once upon a time a temple of learning. It was the place where people from all over the world came to study in great universities of Nalanda, Takshashila etc. It was the place where ‘Aryabhatta’ discovered the ‘zero’. Often called as the ‘golden bird’, India was the place where every trader wanted to do business. The ruins of ‘Mohenjodaro’ and ‘Harappa’ speak volumes about the existence of a very modern civilization, the first of its kind in India. Well if this was pre-independence era then what have we achieved in all these years of independence? First of all India is a Socialist and Secular Democratic Republic. It is a microcosm of many religions, many traditions, cultures, languages etc. There is so much diversity when one travels from one end to another. Still people live in communal harmony. India today enjoys a position of power in Asia. In the fields of Science and Technology India has carved a niche for itself in the World. India has been supplying the World with many Nobel Laureates over the years, to name a few ‘Dr. C. V. Raman’, ‘Dr. Subramanyan Chandrashekhar’ and recently ‘Dr. Amartya Sen’. In the fields of Information Technology there is no other competitor for India. And as I mentioned earlier India is slated to be the next Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology hub in Asia. India can today boast of its own missile defence system, indigenous nuclear energy and space technology programmes.

India has always been the land of spiritual development. It has been the birthplace of non-temporal values and attitudes like renunciation, meditation, the physico-psychic discipline of yoga etc. In terms of arts Indian film Industry is one of the largest in the World, and the works of Indian directors are appreciated by one and all. How can one forget the World famous concert of ‘Yanni’, which was held in Agra near the ‘Taj Mahal’ India can also boast of World famous musicians in Tabla maestro Zakir Hussian, vocalist Pundit Bhimsen Joshi etc. Indians are among the richest in the World—Mukesh Ambani - Chairman of Reliance Industries, Ratan Tata—Chairman of Tata Group; they are amongst the richest and most successful Indians in the World.
You might be wondering why am I talking about individuals here, well Indians are the ones who have made India proud. And India today is in this position because of them. The achievements of India in past years have been phenomenal. To cite all of them here would be impossible. My only question to all of you is ‘Has any other country achieved so much in so little time?’

People still argue that India has a lot more to achieve. Well I would say ‘Yes’ because if one has achieved everything, then where would the need arise to be better? But for every achievement there has to be a first step and I say that India has crossed that step. It is not easy to carry the likes of different kinds of people in today’s World and make them think alike. But the struggle is going on and I say we are doing a good job. I agree basic needs like education, sanitation, reduction of poverty; corruption and dramatic changes in standards of living are required. I agree we need a political system, which is more stable, and governance is free and just. But as I said earlier merely talking will not solve the problem.

Today the time has come to make another ‘tryst with destiny’, to rise and salute the land that has given us our life, our freedom, to help our country in whichever way it is possible. India needs us today. It needs the courage and determination of every Indian on the face of this Earth to help it achieve the place every Indian has dreamt of. A French Philosopher named ‘Romain Rolland’ once quoted

"If there is one place on the face of this Earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when Man began the dream of existence, it is India."

It is this India which I dream of. We need to dedicate our life to my country. It doesn't means you need to join army and have to fight wars; it means that we need to do our job with honesty and our full potential and should be a responsible citizen. That's it.........
 
I have woken up from the deep sleep. It’s time for you to wake up too.

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