The True Meaning of Independence in the Light of India's 75 years of Independence.

By Tamasi Biswas

“Where the mind is without fear

and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not

been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls…

…Into that heaven of freedom, my father

Let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore

Written in the eve of struggle of independence, this poem by the legend Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore, who was honored with Noble Prize and the luminary who proudly refused the ‘Knight’ title, can best pen down the depth of the very word “Independence”. The worth of independence can only be justifiably understood by a nation which has witnessed a long span for over 200 years of slavery and grasp. Our nation has more often witnessed the color of the blood that is shaded in the process of gaining independence. A country where freedom fighters are treated as preachers, manifestly appreciate the worth of independence in greater depth. Historical layout is corroborative of the fact that our nation is such a rare nation which has never initiated any conflict with fellow nations. A nation with secular attitude like India is undoubtedly infrequent. Indian rich culture, heritage and philanthropic ideas not only enrich its citizens but also attract immigrants and non-natives. Apart from stringent laws and norms, India has deep roots with highly enriched customs that ensures respect for its nation state and foreign states as well.

Independence, fundamentally speaking, implies a state of affairs wherein a nation is free from the control or influence of any other nation. The citizens are granted with their righteousness that ensures a bundle of rights- like freedom, equality, liberty, justice. Apart from these, independence also assures a sense of self-determination, self-governance, self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Absolute Independence is a utopian concept. But, achieving a requisite degree of self-sufficiency is exactly the need of the hour. India has stepped in its diamond jubilee of its independence and is still a developing nation. The growth is very subtly witnessed. Evils like poverty, illiteracy, violence against the weaker sections of the society, practices of ill-mannered customs are still apparently discernible. India is still molded with poverty and illiteracy. 22 per cent of the Indian population fall below the poverty line and it has been estimated that more than 25% of the nation’s population in the world lacks basic literacy skills. The literacy rate has hyped from 12% to 74%, nearly six times since the end of the British Era. But, the scenario is rural India is still miserable as compared to urban India. A total of around 10.5 % of the government’s fund is allotted for the “Right to Education”, but the sad fact is that the fund is not evenly spread out. The obvious fact is that poverty and illiteracy, hand in hand bring forth a bundle of hindrances and strata in the society, like- economic classification, religious and spiritual stratification, sexual preferences, racism, gender based work categorization and a lot incidental brackets. Now, the question really arises, in spite of these drawbacks, are we really independent? As stated earlier, absolute Independence is utopia. Thus, the thrust of independence is necessary for a nation to develop, as it initiates an urge to experiment and accommodate to changes. In this highly technical era, we live in a dynamic state and the more we learn to adapt the changes, the more vibrant a nation would become.

Some measures that would possibly result the best to bring out the proper implication of the term “Independence” can be laid down as:

• We have well-designed legislature to fight with crimes. In this hour, we need some strong and efficient implementation agencies for the implementation procedure;

• An uniform Civil Code is the need of the hour, that would surpass the religious boundaries of age-old customs that have been acting as an hindrance to the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society and guarantee equal rights for all the citizens of India;

• India needs a better detection agency that would outperform the maniacs of corruption and related crimes. Since, now the world has been confined in a screen, with the advent of technology, a tech savvy crime detection agency is required in a efficient basis right from the grass-root level.

A strong, independent an impartial judiciary has been established in India and it is effectively showing its efficiency. The judiciary has fought against various mal-practices and held the prestigious position intact. Mal-practices like sexual harassment at workplace, invading of one’s privacy, acid-attack, child marriage, human trafficking, financial scams, etc have been brilliantly curbed down by the Indian Judiciary. Piles of cases and the deficiency of quantities of judges is surely a challenge, which the government is striving to diminish by using quasi-judicial methods and settlement mechanisms.

We all grew up listening to the story of the rabbit and the tortoise. Simply, we can walk slowly, but the fact we do not want to stop developing ourselves is the best possible way to achieve that degree of “Independence”. The last seven decades has given us the opportunity to fulfill the dreams of the Constitution Makers and freedom fighters, who toiled for more than a century to sketch an India that we strive to make today. The more we move forward and the more patience we tend to inculcate will gift us the true meaning of a INDEPENDENT INDIA, which we strive to visualize.

By Tamasi Biswas