Tryst with Destiny
To say that the Father of the nation was the be all and end all of the struggle for Independence would be wholly incorrect. It was a whole nation at the move. Men who were legendary in their own right, for whom the mother land was nothing less than an obsession – mortal men, immortal memoirs.
Swaraj, liberty, democracy – all are but the same basic feeling voiced in different ways. Thoughts that dispel and defy the fear of Jean Jacques Rouseau who had said, `Every where, man is born free but lives in chains’. And in the process of independence and Swaraj, emboldened steps emanated. The princely states were merged into the Union of India. True, the process of acquiring independence and the framing of our constitution were epochal, but would have yielded little or no results had the free India been once again divided into small fragments. After all, it was the presence of so many small `Kingdoms’ that had made the task easier for the British. Out went the Princes and in caome the rule, `for the people, by the people, of the people’.
The saga of the past 40 years is a story of a nation picking it self up from the crumbles of colonisation, gathering momentum and striding ahead. 40 years are a negligible time in history. But for us, are a treasured memory of struggle to overcome the odds to surge ahead.
Be it a man or a nation, inspection-intro and retro gives a picture of the objectives set and the goals achieved. But to gauge a nation’s progress is an immense job. For to beginning what to choose as the yardstick? Economy, science and technology, modernisation political stability, development of culture welfare of the citizens and downtrodden, international diplomatic ties, stand on world issues, strengthening of the basic cherished dreams et at.
Research scholars could effortlessly spend their lives fathoming the progress (or recession, if any) on each of the issues in depth. Our purpose is not that, it is only to critically analyse the post independence era as an Indian and as one puts it, `to see whether we have justified the great sacrifices laid down by our forefathers lowering the Union jack and raising the tricolor on the ramparts of the Red Fort’.
Our economy, heavily dependent on agriculture and thus, on the whims of the Rain Gods alias monsoon. Drought and floods spread panic throughout the agrarian community, reflecting in toto on the national economy. But we have come a long way, the country is now, self sufficient in most of its grain requirement despite its burgeoning population.
The five year plans have been instrumental in bringing about a facelift, but what leaves a sour taste in the absence of a long term fiscal police due to the policies of the government changing colour as frequently as a chameleon. In a way conflicts between the capitalistic and socialistic outlook towards policies, backfire on the economy.
We often turn towards the west Instead of looking left, what we might to do is to look right to the group of 4 small islands in the Pacific Ocean. They too had begun contemporary to us, right from scratch. But their bottom line reads different. Japan, though microsized in comparison to us and absolutely barren in the natural resources of which, we have a bounty, is a saga to behold. Productivity and a goal-oriented, dedicated and persistent hard work, over looking political skirmishes’ and trifle differences in the simple key to the story. And what rich dividends! Todays, Japan is right on the top, neck to neck with the west on even issue, and way ahead in the field of automation and electronics.