Tomorrow will be the 63rd time we celebrate the precious moment of our freedom from the shackles of foreign rule. Apart from the exhibition of our pride and happiness by painting flags on our faces and forwarding patriotic sms, it's time for some serious individual assessment of how far we have developed as a nation. Today there is no doubt that Indians are great intellectuals and have improved socially and economically. But what about India? It is sad to accept the fact that Indians are rich but India is poor. Today Mother India has 114.8 crore children out of which 30 crores are living (or merely existing) below poverty line (i.e) they are dependent on the government for their health, education and other basic needs.
Now is this what we call freedom? We made our people free from outsiders and had later enslaved them in their own nation. We say India is a democracy where people are the rulers. Whereas in reality India is ruled by the politicians with vested and communal interests, and it's economy is ruled by 60 billionaires whose net worth occupies 31% of our Gross Domestic Product. All that the successive governments have done is to waive the loans of farmers who commit suicide and provide stimulus packages for the sake of garnering votes. It is a widely established truth that the money never reaches the target population.
What the poor need is not a waiver of loans but a waiver of their burdens. They should be taught to use the limited resources they possess efficiently. Stimulus must be provided only for such purposes and also for their education. What is peculiar in the millions of farmers suicide case is that only the male members take off their lives. The women of the family are left to fight the bitter world around them alone. They deserve a great salute for having the courage to survive and strive against all odds of life to bring up their children even after their husbands had left.
At this time, when India is proudly announcing it's entry into the list of great nations of the world, when Indian entrepreneurs are recognised as super brains, when India competes the US, China and Russia in every field of research and development, I feel proud in paying my tributes to the silent heroes living in the unseen, unheard corners of my country. I salute the soldiers who guard my peaceful existence in India, I salute the bold wives and mothers of those soldiers, I salute the courageous women of the farmer families... In them lies the true pride of India...
