By Arun Tiwari
On August 15, India celebrated its 75th Independence Day. It was a great occasion for 1.4 billion people living with freedom in peace.
While I was an Independence Day enthusiast since childhood – it used to be like a festival -- as I grew up, I saw festivities regressing into superficial ceremonies. Even now, we play 50-year-old patriotic songs, as new songs are not being composed. Have we outsourced our nationalistic fervor also to event managers?
I want to believe that we have not. But I am a little confused about which ‘we’ do I belong to. There is immense disparity among people. During the economic slowdown enforced by the pandemic, the stock market rose to new heights, migrant workers who walked hundreds of kilometres on deserted streets meekly returned as if they were indentured labourers of the colonial era. Election rallies, cricket matches, and religious gatherings returned, and people thronged hill stations as if Covid-19 was some bad dream.
Rabindranath Tagore’s famous poem ‘Where the mind is without fear...’ has now been condensed to: A house for every family, oxygen cylinder in every hospital and everyone vaccinated for Covid-19. It is not into any heaven, but to a world where corporations rule, money decides political loyalties and revolutions happen on the internet, that India has awakened.
There is no cynicism here, but no optimism either. House for every family, drinking water from taps, internet connectivity in every village, universal education ... There is hardly any goal that has been missed by the well-intended leadership. But when these goals are implemented, there are glaring holes. Privatisation has hijacked public education and healthcare. The great PDS is being eyed now. So, where have we gone wrong?
It is a sordid fact that the political class, administration, and the elite liberals have all become self-serving machines. So, whatever we do, there are loops and delays and wishful procrastinations. Our business people seem to have mastered the art of rotating money within the system and money is invested within companies very cleverly to multiply by itself. Apparent owners of private universities, hospitals and industries are mere custodians of real owners who are faceless and hidden from public view.
What could be our resolve in this 75th year of independence? Let’s go back to the five areas that Dr APJ Abdul Kalam identified in his book, India 2020. He saw five areas to measure the development of India: Agriculture and food processing; Education and healthcare; Information and communication technology; Reliable and quality electric power, Surface transport and infrastructure across India; and Self-reliance in critical technologies.
What work do the five areas need? Firstly, self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds. The Green Revolution has led the country into grain production and most of the money goes into this ‘machine’, neglecting other critical segments. Let us work towards zero imports of processed food items. Secondly, dismantling of the commercial education system by scrupulous technology-based monitoring of fees, quality of teaching and integrity of the examination system. Thirdly, freeing up of the Indian telecom from Chinese investment and technology. Fourthly, operationalising waterways by cleaning all major rivers of silt and construction of canals. And finally, making India a leader in producing nuclear energy from thorium technology. It was Dr Homi Bhabha’s dream, and succeeding generations of scientists know how to do it. Let it be done without ifs and buts.
For, if we continue with ‘business-as-usual’, there is no hope of India becoming a developed nation even by 2050. Let Independence Day in 2022 see India sitting in the UN Security Council; be a part of the G-10 (expanding the current G-7); and every district in India have a government medical college with a 500-bed teaching hospital.
Let us seek nothing more, and not settle for anything less.
(The writer is an eminent missile scientist. He has co-authored the book, India Wakes:Post Coronavirus New World Order, with Bart S Fisher)
