Let’s all be proud of our beloved Nation. We all have to collectively strive to make India vibrant, strong and supreme.

Wake up fellow citizens! It is Independence Day… it is the day when the nation celebrates the victory of the struggles of our freedom fighters, so that we may breathe free from foreign domination – the British Rule. It was a daunting task requiring a long arduous and relentless struggle. Hence the day assumes great importance and ought to be celebrated with due respect to those leaders who were in the forefront like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Asaf Ali, Rani of Jhansi, MangalPandey, B.R. Ambedkar, Jawarharlal Nehru, BalGangadharTilak and hundreds of others. These were the pioneers who gifted free India to her citizens.

Today we celebrate 73 years of Independence! India stands proud as a mighty nation among the comity of nations. Undoubtedly, over the decades we have made a headway. Our Governments through various policies, laws and schemes succeeded to a great extent to make the nation self-sufficient on the agricultural front. Tremendous progress has also been observed in education, industries, science and technology, including digitization, infrastructure development, modern means of transport, military, etc.Sounds rather gratifying! But of all that we read and hear how much of it has been of benefit to the masses to improve their quality of life? The proof is before our eyes from what we saw from the exodus of migrants no sooner the lockdown was imposed. Do we need to see more?That could be the tip of the iceberg.

Recently a number of huge multi-crore projects have been approved in a jiffy by the Central Government and the State Government as well. I ask? Are we moving towards a corporate India which will be a springboard for the rich while the poor will continue to grapple in the dark? This will only widen the gap between the haves and have-nots and the middle class will be the ‘beast of burden’ having to pay taxes and more taxes. In the words of Swami Vivekananda,“Let new India arise out of peasant’s cottage grasping the plough, out of huts, cobbler and sweeper.”

There is still much more left to be accomplished. So long as poverty, unemployment, communalism, illiteracy, corruption and inadequate health services persist, we cannot claim to be a developed nation. All the governments in each of our states should channelize their efforts on a war footing to wipe out all social, communal and such other issues that blot the fabric of the nation and act as detractors to the peace and unity of the people. It is indeed regretful that even after 73 years those in the lower strata of the society live a life of fear and uncertainty in their own homeland with no hopes for a better tomorrow.

India is a secular country as enshrined in our constitution and spiritualism is the very soul of the nation where different religions co-exist along with all the other diversities be it cultural, linguistic or regional.

Today secularism is at stake with communalism raising its ugly head in every nook and corner of the country. Corruption, exploitation, suicides, rapes, crimes and rampant destruction of the environment has become the order of the day. “We may think of freedom not as the right to do as we please but as the opportunity to do what is right”

Unlike many countries, India is blessed with an abundance of resources not to be enjoyed by the powerful and the greedy but to be shared as per their needs by each and every individual. “Every citizen of this mighty nation must remember that he is an Indian and he has every right in this country but with certain- duties”Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

In our day to day life, we confront the degeneration of values where human dignity and respect has lost its place and citizens find it cumbersome to protect their rights as even the legal system does not always come to their rescue.The time is now before the pit gets deeper to assert our rights and raise our voices to uphold what has been granted to us by the Constitution. We can achieve this with love and compassion in our hearts and not by fear and hatred. Let India regain her lost glory of a harmonious and peaceful nation.

On this auspicious day as we salute our leaders. I close with the words of Atal Bihari Vajpayee “Our aim may be high as the endless sky but we should have resolve in our minds to walk ahead hand in hand.” Jai Hind!

Ms. Celina Menezes
Administrator
St. Sebastian English Primary School