Independence Day And The Making Of A New India
14-08-2018 18:58:14 2794
 During the days of the freedom movement, the leaders of the country had dreamt a great future for the country. They made broad contours to create a new India.
Though they had envisioned multiple paths to create a new India, all of them had a common goal. The goal of taking India to the zenith of development. Every Indian should have access to food, roof over their heads and arrangements for complete well-being. Every child must get holistic education. No farms should remain dry due to lack of irrigation. The feeling of high class- low class must cease to exist. Any form of exploitation and atrocity should not be allowed in new India. The nation builders contributed with all possible capacities in this direction.
We must remember the dream of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi in this regard. He dreamt of an India where the poorest people feel a sense of belonging to the nation - where their voice too has a role in nation building. He said he will strive for an India which won't have any discrimination of higher and lower class and where diverse communities will exist in complete harmony. Such an India will have no place for untouchability, alcohol and other addictive scourges. Where men and women will have same rights. We will have peaceful relations with all the countries of the world, which means neither we will exploit any other country nor allow other countries to exploit us. Gandhiji outlined this dream in 1931. We attained independence 16 years later.
In next four years we will be celebrating the diamond jubilee of our freedom. The idea of a new India has again come into the limelight in this regard. 75 years is a huge time period for any society or nation. In Indian tradition too, the period of 75 years is considered as very important. Diamond jubilee is regarded as a part of the glorious sequence of silver jubilee and golden jubilee. Hence it is an opportune time to imagine a new India. The circumstances are way better this time. India has more than 130 crore people as of now. 62% of this population is below 59 years. Maximum number of youth is also in India. In the light of all this, we can also consider India as the country with the maximum potential. Young age is the most capable time of life and hence the country with the maximum number of youth has maximum potential. We have maximum number of hands for work and maximum number of minds to think. No other country can match India in terms of human resources.
India has ample amount of natural resources, which will be helpful in realising the idea of a new India. 19,94,555 square kilometres land is cultivable. This is 56.76% of the total land in India. India is also wealthy in terms of mountains, rivers, forests and common land. It also has the distinction of the being world's fourth largest country in terms of coal resources. Keeping all this in mind, it can be considered as a land of opportunities, which has ample resources for everyone. What Gandhiji said about nature stands true for India as well. He said that nature has ample resources to fulfill everyone's need but not for anyone's greed. In other words nature can fulfill everyone's real needs but can not be sufficient for anyone's greed.
The deadline to realise the idea of new India has been set to be at the time of diamond jubilee. By that time housing for the poor, doubled income for the farmers and security to the women have been promised. Strategies to eliminate casteism, corruption and terrorism have been formulated. New India will be completely clean. Black money will be brought back. Economy will be digitalised. Make in India and Clean India are two important aspects of this new India. Everyone will have freedom to work. Such an atmosphere will be created where young entrepreneurs will be able to utilise their talents for the development of the country. The fulcrum of this new India will be the freedom of the people to fully develop their skills. It will create such great India where none of the previous problems would exist. All the households of new India will have LPG, electricity, internet connection and air conditioners. All the houses will have toilets too. The citizens of new India will be highly educated. The whole country will have a network of ultra modern and huge infrastructure. Every-one will have automobiles. These automobiles and material resources will be manufactured keeping environmental concerns in mind. The chasm between urban and rural areas will be filled. In both the areas, air and water will be clean and healthy. Rural areas will also have all the facilities. Cities will be peaceful. In this manner, new India will be an influential nation in the world. Free of poverty, unemployment and corruption, new India will be one of the world's rapidly developing economies.
The concept of new India is beautiful and in accordance with the values of freedom. But it is not that easy. It has many hurdles to cross. It is true that India remained largely unaffected from global recession of 2007-08. Its economy is also rapidly developing. But has this development been successful in removing the inequalities of society? The answer to this question is unsatisfactory. This situation is a big challenge for new India.
New India has another big challenge in its way. Half of our population is employed in agriculture. It is disguised unemployment. Due to partial employment of such big population, human resources are not being fully utilised. This huge unskilled population impedes the wheel of development. It is also a challenge to train such huge population for skilled employment. The advancement of technology has replaced human labour. There are various works which used to be done by labourers but are now being easily executed through technology. One machine overtakes the work of many human labourers. New India has great emphasis on technology. It is imperative to reach the level of global development. Balancing out between technology and big population is a huge challenge.
Connecting half of the world,that is women, to nation building is another major challenge. The question of women presents us with a good parameter to assess new India as well as the idea of freedom. No nation has ever developed itself by neglecting the contribution of women. The patriarchal system prevailing in Indian society kept women inside the walls of homes only. Though their situation has improved in comparison to the past, their full potential is yet to be realised. Even after all these impediments the conception of new India has helped in extending the spirit of Indian independence. The conception of new India is logical as well as well planned. Many schemes are helpful in achieving the goal of new India, namely Jan Dhan Yojana, Skill India- to train human resources, Food Security Mission- to get rid of malnutrition and E-governance and Digital India- to eliminate corruption and nepotism.
The youth is the connecting link between new India and and Indian freedom. The average age of Indian population is 28 years. Facilitating youths' partici-pation in new India means giving them full opportunities of freedom. It is also notable that Inde-pendence and “swaadheenta” are different concepts, according to Gandhiji. While “swaadheenta” focuses on developing own consciousness, independence emphasizes on materialistic freedom. The ideas of self control and satisfaction differentiate between the two. If this Gandhian element is added to new India, it will become more holistic.
- Dr. Rajiv Ranjan Giri
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