MY VISION OF A MODERN INDIA
India has seen some tumultuous times in the past. We were oppressed during the British rule and had to struggle to attain a state of freedom. This was mainly possible due to the untiring efforts and focused aim of our forefathers. The people of India rose to the occasion when it mattered and succeeded on overthrowing the British. This past clearly exhibits the courage
and conviction of the people of India.
Our leaders had a vision of a free and peaceful India. At the time of independence and the period immediately after that, we started planning for our future. All the people who mattered got together to chart the road ahead. They had ambitious plans, though not impossible. But what has happened to us fifty years later? Why haven’t we succeeded in translating our initial spirit
to something concrete? This calls for a lot of introspection on our part to identify the element that is jeopardizing our march unto glory.
We shall try to examine why we haven’t yet become a developed nation, attempt to identify the stumbling block and ultimately design the vision of a modern India. As a first step in that direction, let us assess what makes a country developed? The obvious indicators are the prosperity of the people, the wealth it possesses and its status internationally. The wealth of the nation is determined by the GDP, rate of inflation, growth rate, forex reserves and the share in the global market. However all these are just numbers. They can camouflage the real human misery.
The real ‘wealth’ of a nation is its people. People who are skilled, talented and focused in their efforts to achieve what they want to achieve. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam once said:” a nation is made great by its people and the people in turn become important citizens of the great nation.” We must therefore concentrate our efforts on producing people who have the vision and the urge to achieve the impossible.
I dream of a modern and developed India that is second to none. We must be the top in every field and every Indian must be respected the world over. Can India attain the status of a developed and modern nation? The answer is a big ‘YES’. If the other countries can, why not India. In fact India with its rich and varied culture, vast resources and hard working people can
surely become one. But the path to glory is full of thorns. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. We have achieved awful little in the years after idependence.
This clearly indicates a lot of shortcomings on our part that need to be rectified and removed.
My dream of a modern India is one in which every individual has a reasonable lifespan, a secure income, basic amenities and access to cheap and good health care. The purchasing power of the rupee must increase and the inflation must be close to zilch. Every Indian must get nutritious food and a clean environment to live. Death caused due to malnutrition must be eliminated. It is a pretty sorry state of affairs if you are not able to provide your people with food that have the basic nutritional level. Another thing that we need to ensure is pure and safe drinking water for all. Many people, especially in the rural areas die due to contamination of drinking water. It is
only in India and other under-developed nations do we hear of people dying because of poor nutritional levels and unsafe drinking water.
We must also be able to provide a disease free environment for the people to live in. Most places have open ditches that are harmful as well as fatal, open garbage and litter. These prove to be a good breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects that spread diseases to humans. The sanitation and the sewage amenities need to be improved as well. The people must be educated to keep their surroundings clean and free of any litter. Education must be given prime importance and become free and compulsory for all. Many children do not have access to a good education as they cannot afford it. Therefore they go in for jobs at a very young age resulting in child labour.The noon meal scheme that was introduced earlier must be enforced more stringently so that many more children go to school rather than to work. In this way we can tackle the problem of illiteracy and work towards a time when every Indian is literate. Apart from primary education, we face a crisis in higher education as well. Many of the bright young lads discontinue their studies after a level as they can no longer afford it. The countries in the west have free education even at the higher secondary level and upwards. Also the quality of education is better in those countries. It is no wonder then that many of us leave the country in search of greener pastures abroad. Is it because we lack in terms of quality education, or we do not have institutions that are world class, or teachers who are dedicated in serving the student community or our people really not bright enough? This is surely not the case. We do have institutions of world repute like the IIT’s and the IIM’s that have succeeded over the years in bringing out the best talent. The IIT’s are as prestigious as any other institution in the world. But such institutions are far too less. The students who pass out of these institutions hold top positions in the global arena. But most of them don’t want to work or do research in India. As a result we haven’t been able to create new technologies but only try to improvise on existing ones.
A modern India of my vision is one that is able to create products indigenously that can compete in the global market. Most of the high caliber scientist that we managed to produce have settled abroad and are enriching the economies of those countries. A modern India must be able to stand on its own without the help from other countries. It must be capable of making decisions on its own without succumbing to exterior pressures. A modern India must have a crime free society, a corruption free government that cares for its people and politicians who are honest and sincere to their cause and not a single youth is without a job. Equal opportunities for all and no discrimination based on gender, caste or creed. A tolerant and secular society in which the people are united and compassionate towards fellow human beings and follow the doctrine of ‘live and let live’. Even the Mahatma once said: we can call ourselves a nation only when we have wiped out the tears from the faces of all. My modern Indian should have tackled the entire problem with panache and aplomb and make a mark for itself in the global arena. We must restrain from blaming the system for our follies. What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for someone to come
along & work miracles for us. Or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards, hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experience unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the Indian government. We first need to change our attitude towards our nation. India is a nation of a billion people. A nation’s progress depends upon how its people think. It is thoughts that transform into actions. An endless pursuit towards our goal will surely yield the desired results. The great Indian dream of fulfilling the aspirations of every individual must live on and provide the necessary impetus to every Indian to achieve something so that we can well and truly proclaim ourselves as a great nation. Let us all have a vision-A vision of a modern and prosperous India.
JAI HIND
posted by Sharath @ 8:35 PM
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