What 62 years of Independence has brought for India Part 2(Cont)~~~~

The date is 1st January,2009 almost 62 years after achieving Inpependence in 1947 little Chinki is busy packing her bag to leave for school in a little village 55 Kms from Bhuj, Gujarat, India. Lured by promises of free Mid-Day Meal and other freebies thousands of children like Chinki are attracted to attending school 5 kms from her village. Every morning 100's of children from the nearning villages travel by foot/cycle to reach a District Centre where under a banyan tree and a small hut in shambles is the village school. The lone education centre for the next 150 kms. Seated under a banyan tree with a broken slate in her hand Chinki and her friends recite Ka,Kha,Ga religiously. Chinki is just in the 1st Standard and in the tree next to hers children in the 5th Standard recite A,B,C,D. Some are simply strolling or fooling around. All are waiting for the clock to tick 12 and there is time for lunch. Rice and Vegetables the scheme launched by Congress Govt to lure children to school in 2003 having a budgeted outlay of Rs 12,000/- crore in 07-08 has been highly successful. Yes it has been successful not in spreading literacy and education levels in the country but in filling the deep pockets of corrupt officials whose primary motive in life is to siphone off funds meant for the poor.

India once an epicentre of education and knowledge with world class universities like Nalanda and Taxila which were ruined by the Mughals and the remaining infrastructure was destroyed by the British. Gone is the ancient system of Gurukul education and the Guru-Chatra relationship that existed. The British enslaved us and prevented any education of our growing population as awareness and education encourages people towards revolution. Thus this system has stuck with us till date. Just have a look at our village schools and our you would be reminded of a cow shed. With no books, no teachers schools in rural India have become a canteen where children of the BPL families come to fill their belly and the entire purpose of the Central Govt gone down the drain. With no progress in the sphere of education taking place India stills lacks a lot behind. The education levels in India is as low as 61% as recent as 07-08 according to the UNDP report. And here by educated we don not mean to say very fluent in English or Spanish. In India education is when a person is able to write his/her name in basic HINDI. The point to lament is that still 49% of the Indians do not know how to read or write ven in Hindi. They instead prefer to use their thumbs.

Rapid investment in Rural schools an infrastructure is the basic need of the hour. Today more than 50% of the village lack basic pukka roads and have to walk over mud and sometimes cross even rivers and lakes to reach their schools only to find no basic education or knowledge addition taking place. With no rules, discpline, principals, the tyrant village headmaster with a thick stick in his han reins supreme in the rural villages even today. The Headmaster instead of fulfilling his duty and teaching the little kids is busy selling food grains and other grants and aids provided by the Govt. He is more interested in providing private tutions in his village than teaching the kids and thereby doing his work.

India is corrupt down to the very core and we Indians have taken corruption as a way of life here. Not aware about our rights we prefer to bribe the officials than to take burden to find out officially the correct way of doing the work be it getting a ration card, driving license or any form of work. The fact remains that we Love to Bribe and Cheat the system. We like doing smart rather than hard work an it is this mentality tat has rotten the entire system of governance in India. Unless you grease the palms of the babus no progress in our work takes place.

India has to concede lessons from its neighbour China and that too fast. The GDP of China and India were comparable in 1980 but today China's GDP has swollen to 4.5 times that of India and growing faster day by day. China is all set to emerge as the next global economic power  its GDP will take over the GDP of US by the year 2026 and thats not too far away. China embarked on the road to liberalization in 1973 and the task has not been easier there too but China has what India lacks the Political Will to reform. That has been the basic difference in the ideologies of the two countries. With vote bank politics ruling over everything in India and still the political will to clear the hurdles and bring about reform not present due to fear of criticism and hue and cry by the leftist, India is stuck in the track.

Thus enslaved by the Britishers India still is afraid to dream and reform without foreign aid. It is still wating for IMF or the WB to bring about economic reforms in their own country but the matter of fact is that reform has to come and that too fast. But the staus quo policies of the present Congress Govt doing no good to iniate reforms the future does not looks very certain and bright. With loads, and loads of reports, recommendations, suggestions by the best and the brightest minds of India and the World pilling up on the PM's desk he is seemed the least concerned. Being a babu of the central govt he is most experienced in carefully arranging piles of papers all around him afterall he has 30 years of experience in the very same job.

We dont know what the next decade(s) will hold for India but a starking question still remains Is India afterall FREE????? I have severe doubts.....wat abt u?????

What 62 years of Independence has brought for India~~~~~

15th of August 1947 was surely an auspicious day for most Indians. After years of struggle with the British we finally got our freedom but the primary question that remains before us is that is India actually free???

You all must be wondering what is that suppose to mean.... But years of slavery has robbed from us the very institution that made India a great country and which attracted the Britain’s from there homeland to establish a haven for themselves here Our Creativity~~~~. We Indians were known for our Creativity and our Literary and Artistic supremacy. Indian artistic goods had a huge demand and attracted people from all over the world. Gone were the days when India was known as the homeland where Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Vedas were written. Where Arthashashtra or Modern day Economics as we call it today was born and we lost it all to the years of slavery under the British. We Indians were accustomed to be ruled by the wishes of our masters and had lost the very seed of creativity and innovation which earned our country the title of “The Land with Golden Wings".

The British Won and we lost. We timid, conflict fearing Indians under the influence of our Ahimsa influenced leaders allowed some foreigners to snatch away our rights, our creativity, our imagination and our love for our motherland all away and become there slaves. "Dogs and Indians not allowed', these were the consequences and influence of our timidity and our conflict avoiding personality spurred by our Non-Violence driven national leaders. India had most everything. Its economy was ruined, its trade and handicrafts industry vanished overnight, its Gold siphoned off, and even our Prestige the Kohinoor diamond taken away with great pomp and show and which now adorns the jewels of Queen Elizabeth and we Indians just stood on the sidewalks watching the fun while the British made merry.

After all this when British finally conceded defeat as a result of the consequences of the World War II they granted freedom to us. But the question that props us is that Are we really free???? Did we Indians actually achieved freedom on the 15th of August 1947...I have several doubts that India actually achieved freedom....

Years of British rule had completely destroyed we Indians and the spirit inside us and we became slaves to the policy of seeing what happens around us and copying the same. None of us Indians did ever dare to use their imagination and creativity to create something novel and new. The spirit of copying moneys were engrained deeply not only in our minds but also in our Genes and which continues even till date. Today most of us would not mind copying anything be it our exams or our classwork and the mere thought of doing something on our own makes us feel dizzy. Similarly when the task of Drafting the Constitution was handed over to our Late Dr. Rajendra Prasad he also sought the easy way our and started copy pasting the ideals of other nations including our Parent country Britain. What he did was very simple copying and pasting the ideals from USSR, Britain, US and several other countries the similar stuff we do when we are handed over an assignment but the only difference was that he didn't have complicated tools to his aid as we have today and his work was more manual and time consuming compared to how we do it today. And by his work India became Democratic Republic of India a phrase whose meaning I bet 70% of Indians do not know till date. But even though India became a Republic and Dr. Rajendra Prasad installed as the President of India the result of his very hand work.

After Independence Indian Leaders began to rule the country with little knowledge of governance and once again imposed the British Raj on Indians with a Hindi name and called it License Raj. Control over the entire economy in the hands of the Govt Of India. If Mr. X a resident of Free India wanted to produce anything in his country he had to gain approval from Mr Nehru and not only that Mr Nehru would also decide how much Mr X could produce and what price he could sell his produce with no right over his produce Mr. X a resident of Free India was once again a slave and the master today is none other than the Indian leaders and notably Mr Nehru who ruled as the Prime Minister for 16 consecutive years. Mr Nehru a Fabian Socialist and a propagator of the Marxist Ideas and principles was convinced that extreme market control was the only way for prosperity for India and his ruinous policy did nothing but added further destruction to an already aggrieved country. India once a flourishing and prosperous country not became a land of famines and droughts even the Rain Gods withdrew there support from India but our leaders were adamant that extreme controls were the only way to achieve prosperity and inclusive growth which our current Prime Minister calls it today. Then came Mrs Gandhi who was more inspired by Marxist ideas than Karl Marx himself and pursued her policy of ruin. First by kicking out all MNC's from India and bringing all Industries under State Control thereby inducing corruption and inefficiency to the very bottom of our State owned Concerns. Together with her policy of Emergencies added further ruin to the poor and fragile economy of India. Thus India a sick and ailing patient admitted in the ICU ward awaiting and crying for mercy and proper treatment gets nothing but rebuke and insult from the doctors attending to her.

India a golden bird with its wings clipped was not caged securely in a cage with the spirits of Nehru and Gandhi closing watching over her and not letting any chase to allow her to fly and achieve her true potential. The ruinous policies continued for decades when finally in the year 1990 India could bear it no longer. Years of ruinous policies had destroyed India economically and all its foreign reserves were exhausted. India with its very able leaders approached the IMF and spread its hands for mercy. IMF declined to provide any assistance and India had to pledge her gold with IMF.

India then under the directions of IMF was forced to open its economy and adopt the so called LPG policies( Liberalization ,Privatization and Globalization) by virtually a gun on her head as placed by IMF and the then Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh a market economist was credited for his role in opening up the economy. But the stark reality remains that even after 4 decades Indian leaders were still reluctant to open their economies and adopt a free market. When India was literally bankrupt with no money for even 10 days of imports left it had to other option but to cede to the demands of the IMF and adopt the LPG policy.

The impact was visible and unavoidable India just could not break away from the Chains tied on its feet by the British Rule but finally a blessing in disguise allowed India to at least have a bigger cage to live in~~~~~~~

(To be continued)