63 Years Of Freedom. Are We Really Free?

This 15 August, 2010, we are going to celebrate our 63rd Independence Day. Its been 63 years since we gained freedom from the claws of British Raj. There are going to be celebrations in Schools and Offices. Almost all the TV channels will do an Independence Day special. But one question that arise in my mind is that "Are we really free?".

Or are we still stuck in the chains of may social evils, prejudices, social divides etc. ?

We live in a country where we can get rid of a Rs. 500(my laptop doesn't have the new rupee symbol) traffic challan by bribing the traffic officer with Rs. 50. Where we can't get any of our work done without "chai-paani". Yes, corruption is one of the biggest problems faced by our country. And be it anything big or small we'll always find corrupt politicians and officers easily involved with it. Be it the 'Commonwealth Games' or the much popular 'Indian Premier League'.

Our political parties don't know any way other than 'bandhs' of protesting against anything. And these supposed peaceful 'bandhs' usually end with people gathering up and burning 'roadways buses' and breaking windshields of cars and trucks.

And when we thought 'Terrorism' is going to be a big problem to fight against, 'Naxalism' rose and spread through entire nation like forest-fire. Neither the government nor the armed forces were prepared for this and as a result we lost many jawaans at the hands of naxalites.

Poverty and Illiteracy have still not been dealt with. With the rich becoming richer and poor getting poorer, this rich-poor divide is becoming larger and larger with each passing day. And even today, though we claim that one day our nation is going to be a superpower, around 33% of the total population is still illiterate.

Talking of population, population explosion is also one of the major problems. As of April 2010, the total population in India was 1.18 billion.Already containing 17.31% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing China.

We can still see young children cleaning plate and serving meals in small 'dhabas' and restaurants when they should be studying in school. When they should have a book in their hands, not broomsticks.

Many politicians and political parties still use caste and religion as a means of attracting their 'vote-bank'. And if it does't work they use language, state, north-south etc. to divide people making mockery of the so called secular nation.

Then there's the Jammu and Kashmir Issue. After the unrest in 2008, the movement for separation has gained a boost.

Obviously there are many other problems faced by our country.We can only be free and completely Independent in the true sense of the word only after we get rid of these problems. We dream that we will be a strong country by 2020. The vision 2020. But going at this pace India is going to be a developed nation only after 2056(maybe later than that).

Now it is up to us (as we know almost all the leaders are good for nothing) that we work towards finding solutions to these problems and break free from this mesh of big and small problems. If we all work at individual level, the vision 2020 is quite achievable. We just have to work for it.

At last, Wishing a very Happy and Prosperous Independence Day to all the Indians out there. :)