To begin with the barely austere words of Manmohan Singh, our presently permanent Prime Minister,

“We have envisioned a prosperous India. An India which has got rid of centuries old burden of poverty, hunger and disease. Where the light of education has driven away the darkness of ignorance and superstition. Where there is social equality and all citizens enjoy equal economic opportunity. Where no section of the society faces injustice and exploitation. We have taken many measures to realise these dreams. But the journey is long and a large distance still remains to be travelled. Brothers and Sisters,”

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This is in ‘admiration’ for those with infinite patience

A test for those who pride in their patience

And a question to those who are undoubtedly impatient

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With the ongoing state of affairs in our nation,

How much longer can you continue to be patient?

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Do read my humble criticism in remembrance

Of all things until this 67th year of Independence

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At the end of the day, when you think about political, social and economic independence, when you think about attacks on the freedom of press, of art and of expression, when you think about the prejudiced system of justice, when you think about the socio-economical growth in the past decade, when you think of self reliance for food stock, when you think about the skewed export-import ratio, when you think about the ever-increasing levels of corruption in governance, when you think out nepotism in politics, when you think about the separatist issues within plaguing the sovereignty of the country and when you think about them all day, the taste of independence sours and the joy in its celebration dims. Never-the-less, I say

Happy Independence Day

So, at the end of the day, when you ask yourself, are you an independent people? I say, I have my own style, I live my own way, I know my own mind. Indeed, as an entity with no internal shackles, I am my own person, I am independent. And this way, each person is independent. We are proud to be a nation of free persons. But, are we a free people? I hope you had a whole day to think about how independent we are as a country. Never-the-less, I say

Happy Independence Day

Our prime minister gave a well-rounded speech that assuaged several tragic incidents and flawed plans with mere words. To name a few, let us take the example of how “ the last 9 years have been good for communal harmony” despite naxalites and maoists, the Telangana issue and the J&K issue. Let us consider “About 11 crore children being provided afternoon meals every day in schools under the Midday Meal Scheme.  This programme is of immense benefit for both education and nutrition of children.” despite the 23 children poisoned to death in Bihar, which was downplayed as an incident which should “not be repeated anywhere in the country”. Also, in the mid-day meal scheme, school going children are entitled to only about 150 grams of food grain and 30 grams of pulses for one meal. And as for statement “The Food Security Bill is now before Parliament and we hope it will be passed shortly. This law will benefit 75 percent of our rural population and half of our urban population. Under the law, about 81 crore Indians would be entitled to receive rice at 3 Rupees per kg, wheat at 2 Rupees per kg and coarse grains at 1 Rupee per kg.” Food Security Bills have ripened and rotted away for years in the parliament and the one they hope should pass will actually incite further harm by reducing entitlements of below poverty line families from 35 kg of food grains per family to 25 kg per average family of five, forcing them to buy the extra 10 kg from the open market. Never-the-less, I say

Happy Independence Day

Furthermore, let us examine claim that in “the last 9 years, our economy has grown at an annual average rate of 7.9 percent. This pace of development is the highest in any decade so far”, when in fact the growth rate has, except for a steep increase in 2010, progressively decreased since 2007 due to slow progress of economic reforms, incessant taxation and business bottlenecks to a 6-6.5% in 2012 and predicted to be 5.8% in 2013 by ADB.

Lastly, we have to wonder that despite the ‘wonders’ of the RTI bill which “frequently brings to light irregularities and corruption and opens the door for improvements” why the freedom of expression is unabashedly stifled by political factions as in case of Kamal Haasan’s film Vishwaroopam being banned in Tamil Nadu for some unacceptable scenes or catoonist Aseem Trivedi on charges of sedition for “insulting national symbols.” Nevertheless, I still say

Happy Independence Day

However, if we only look for the shortcomings in a country, they are all we find. So, despite the ‘state of affairs’, the media’s word-power can match a politician’s money-power in swaying people, which in its own twisted way keeps a tab on government’s programs, policies and vote-banks. At any time, if we have the cunning, we can always collect resources and tools to bring about amendments to the system, as decreed by the constitution, because however decrepit, the institutions to initiate such changes shall always exist. Indeed, India is a free country; freedom a power, and however Indians continue to abuse it,  the fact that we can still be called democratic is in itself worthy of praise and celebration. This is I must say,

Happy Independence Day

Quoting Oscar Wilde, “You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes or their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.” We too hear the song of our land. And as long as we can, we are proud to be Indians, an independent people for 67 years now and still running.

 – Akanksha Gupta