Happy 74th independence day India - reminiscing through a review and looking for the road ahead. This is a short broadcast address created to look behind the 70 years as a nation and what we have to look for as we move ahead in the 2020. Seventy-four years on, we have come a long way. An amusing and arduous journey indeed. Today is a moment to pause and to reflect on the journey so far, its triumphs and travails. Through the seven decades, at times, we inched ahead with tepidity, and at other times we marched with caution, and yet there were times we galloped with bravado. We had our share of strife, struggles and success, as we trudged along, to reach where we are today. The path had its share of twists and turns, due to domestic and international political climate, due to natural factors as well as due to the mood of its citizens of that period. The way forward As we celebrate independence in 2020, the needle has moved, a new generation is hungry for bigger action. The recent generation may have seldom heard or may have forgotten the journey of travails of their 74-year-old but the challenges in front of them today are uniquely similar. This is a new-independence movement of sorts. We may be connected to the world 1 GBps data connections, 48 mega-pixel flashy camera phones. Our fellow Indians could be CEOs of the world’s largest companies. But we must not forget our beginnings and our journey. Our grandparents and parents walked miles and to attend school. 74 years later, millions do not have even have access to school or affordable, high-quality education. The mortality rate in pre-independent India was extremely high due to the lack of adequate heath. 74 years later, thousands die each day unable to get the timely or affordable hath care. The society is divided on the case and social and religious lines. The later part colonial rule started showing fractures with corruption across. Today corruption has plagued the society so much that not just citizens, but our elected representatives are traded for a few hundred crores each, making a mockery of the entire election process and thus the foundations of the democracy. The British did not hold any elections and imposed their views without citizen participation. Today, seven decades of elections are manipulated and rigged through non-transparent electoral funding and the crores required to get a ticket. Barring few, there was no free media during the British Raj. 74 years the compromise on our media is 100% complete and possibly at a point of no return. A fair judiciary for the c’mon people did not exist in the colonial days. Today 70 years later, our judiciary is corrupt to the bone and has become a mouthpiece of the rich and powerful; The poor must wait a lifetime to get justice. The future is left to us again. We are witnessing a generational shift. The institutions of repute are being compromised. We seem to be blinded by nationalism and disdain of the past. A change is essential to recognize ourselves as freedom fighters of 2020. We must absorb the good of what our ancestors stood for – their determination and grit. We must not allow the same mistakes to happen again. A British rule must not be replaced by an equally overbearing elected government under the garb of democracy. And we cannot keep glossing over the past without a vision of the future, we will be responsible for what happens in the future—we and no one else to blame, not us. Freedom was not born at midnight on August 15, 1947. It was preceded with of profound struggle to be free as a nation. It was an untiring effort of freedom fighters. Today 74 years later, despite all the success we are at a stage in history, where we are not watchful of the reasons for freedom. We are frittering away our hard-fought freedom.
