WHILE I was in the ninth standard, I read an eminent personality’s quote in our (compulsory) history book that sent a shiver down my body and mind. That great personality was none other than Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India. People heard him on All India Radio on that much-awaited midnight of August 14, 1947. They heard him say, "Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.... We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again." Since then 60 eventful years have passed. India has also been growing gradually. Now, into the 61st year of its valued independence, I would like to draw your kind attention to some issues that have been haunting the nation.

The first and foremost issue that frequently crops up is how independent we are in reality; are we really independent? Before Independence, we were ruled by the British; for everything, we had to bow down before the foreign power. After much bloodshed, we secured independence from the British but an undivided India was divided into two– India and Pakistan. Though both the countries swore by secularism at the time of independence, Pakistan turned Islamic. India has stuck to secularism till date as assured in the Constitution, ignoring all heinous attempts by some political organisations to make it a ’Hindu’ land. Every five years, we, the proud citizens of India, cast our votes and elect those who will represent us in the Parliament (the very citadel of democracy) and the legislative assemblies. But the overall procedure of election is well known to us. Except in some major cities, especially where the proportion of the highly educated and socially-conscious people is higher, elections have been neither fair nor peaceful. Booth-capturing, rigging, forcing the masses to stay away from the ballot box and other malpractices are commonplace; vested interests thus secure maximum votes in socially and economically backward areas. Casting a vote upon being pressurised by some goons is equal to staying inside a prison and acting like convicts. After the voting, when the winner along with his/her supporters holds a victory rally, an imbecile like me can’t suppress laughter.

Earlier, we were under British rule. Post independence, the oppressed, deprived and neglected people continued to remain so. No change is discernible in their plight. The ’Sun of Liberty’ has risen only for those who can wield the stick and thus ride roughshod over the less fortunate by any and all means. After 60 years of independence, the Central government is yet to fulfil the three basic needs of the common man, viz, food, clothing and employment. At least 9.05 per cent of the youth are still confronted by unemployment. Yojanas after yojanas have been implemented; a number of policies and plans have been implemented, but the stagnation continues.

Our Central and state governments make a lot of noise about development, but it is limited to metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and a few more. But what becomes of the villages? Shortage of potable water tops the list. May be the residents of A-1 cities / metropolitan cities get copious potable water regularly courtesy the municipal corporation but those who dwell in remote villages strive daily for a bucket of potable water. Keeping apart Rajasthan, the only desert state of India, until you visit the villages of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, you will not realise the level of distress. Everyday, groups of women in these states, cover long distances just to collect one or two buckets of potable water.

During my university days, I had to visit Malkangiri, Raigada, Koraput and Ganjam districts of Orissa to complete my project. I found acute shortage of potable water in these places. My friends and lecturers, who visited other places in Andhra, Tamilnadu, MP and Chhattisgarh for the same purpose, encountered the same problem in those places. Lastly, the potable water that the poor villagers are supplied is not at all potable and I am confident that it is arsenic-infected too. Even if you visit districts like Purulia, Bankura and Birbhum of West Bengal, a state I belong to, you’ll find acute shortage of potable water. Frequently, I have seen the municipal taps in Kolkata turned on all the time and gallons of potable water squandered. What a contrast across the same country?

Electricity is the next issue. India is a country with over six lakh villages. But alas! After sunset, most Indian villages go under an impregnable curtain of darkness owing to lack of electricity. Thermal power, hydro power, nuclear power - so much power and yet a large proportion of the Indian population is denied electricity.

Now comes the next issue - food. I came to know from a renowned Bengali daily, ’Anandabazar Patrika’ that some people starved to death in Amlasol, a village in Bankura, an impoverished district of West Bengal. Such news is nothing but a shame on India, which is globally known as a developing country. It is a striking fact that while a large proportion of food grains is wasted each year, people starve to death owing to its non-availability. Later, ‘E-TV Bangla’, a regional channel, operated by E-network, Hyderabad, beamed gruesome and live pictures from some remote villages of Bankura that showed people eating ants to keep away hunger.

While I visited Malkangiri in mid 2007, I could not believe my eyes when I noticed some people moving around completely naked, as they had no clothes at all to cover themselves. When I asked the government official concerned, he replied smartly, "They belong to the Bonda tribal group; they are primitive." Initially, I believed his words, but when I asked one naked ’Bonda’ where he stayed, he answered as any civilised person would: "We stay under the trees. We heard that the government had allotted some houses for us, but we never saw them." Now whom should I call primitive? We, the well-dressed people, wearing the tie of civilisation around our neck or the Bondas who stay naked for want of clothing?

Surat is known as the Manchester of India - Reliance, Gwalior, Shiyaji, DCM and Raymonds are some of the renowned Indian garment factories, known throughout the world for their quality products. Can’t these companies spare some rags so their brethren can at least cover themselves? If you take a nocturnal walk along the streets of the metropolitan cities, you’ll find a number of homeless people sleeping under the sky after working hard the whole day. Each day, these homeless come to your house to clear your dustbin, clean your car or polish your shoes. But we fail to provide a shelter for these people; the people with whose help we are able to move about comfortably. If your air-conditioned car stops at the traffic signal on a busy road, little hands holding some popular magazines appear outside the film-coated glass, seeking money to buy some bread in exchange for these magazines. Girls fear to come out alone at night in cities and villages since they fear rape and molestation.

Children are kidnapped for money; people vanish and then their dead bodies are found without kidneys and other rare organs. Blinded by religious fanaticism, one community mercilessly kills the other and gives the impression that it has achieved a feat. So, are we really independent? We were under the bondage of the British and now we are under the bondage of poverty and darkness. If we are really free, then why are we still shackled by poverty and backwardness? Crackers worth millions of rupees go off on the eve of the 61st Independence Day, perhaps hoping against hope that all these scars will be wiped away by the light and sound the firepower generates. Hope a new India, a real ’Independent – India’ will take birth again.