Vineeth, employee at Honeywell:These days it is not so difficult to get a job as it probably was five years back. Unemployment has gone down at a considerable rate. There are plenty of openings now. Earlier there were problems of being underpaid or underemplyed but now one can get a good job. This may not be the case in rural areas but in the cities anyone can be easily employed. Probably more programmes and projects should be undertaken in rural areas to ensure that they are empowered as well.

Varsha, Public Relations: India has definitely made quite a number of achievements but it has not at all reached its full potential. Women are still being marginalised and are yet to make their mark in various fields across the country. There are several reasons for this.  Reservation for women in different areas is spoken of a lot but this seems to be true only on paper. The reality is that women continue to be a minority in the country and are unable to reach their full potential.

Rahul, student: After 60 years of independence I personally don’t feel that India has achieved much. They say that India will become super advanced in 2020 but I don’t see that happening. True, there has been a lot of development in cities like Bangalore and Delhi but what about rural areas? Their conditions only seem to be getting worse. Taking infrastructure and education into consideration, you can’t really say that people in the rural areas have benefited much.

Manoj, employee at Datacraft: India still has a lot to learn. We should try learning more from countries like China and the US. India has the talent but we lack leadership. Indians on the whole have a casual, laid back attitude. We need better leaders at the government level who are educated and can communicate efficiently. We are being led by people who can’t even speak English properly. Educated people should take initiative and emerge as strong leaders.