India at 60 has much to celebrate. Given the enormity of problems that confronted the country at the time of Independence few expected the country to survive its first year as a free nation. Not only has India survived six decades, it has moved from strength to strength in the decades since Independence. India remains a secular democracy despite the strong stresses and strains it has  undergone over six decades. Few expected a country of its size and diversity confronted with complex problems, that it would remain democratic. That the overwhelming majority of Indians remain committed to secular-democratic principles is no small achievement. It merits celebration. India’s transformation from one of the world’s poorest countries to a rising power, likely to rank among the top three largest economies in a few decades, is another triumph. Famines and mass starvation deaths that India suffered under colonial rule are now history. From a food deficit nation India has emerged an exporter of grains. Some of its institutions of higher learning are world class. India can justifiably pat itself on its back for the significant strides it has taken in the fields of science and technology.

And yet, there is a disquieting feeling that political independence from colonial rule has not transformed lives for the better of a significant majority. Over a quarter of India’s population live in extreme poverty. The foreign exchange reserves might be robust and its granaries overflowing but millions  go hungry every day. A sizeable number do not have access to safe drinking water, healthcare and sanitation. Total literacy remains a distant dream. On several development indicators India’s performance is worse than that of sub-Saharan Africa. Sixty years after Independence, India’s Dalits await freedom from discrimination. To them and India’s religious minorities, the Constitution’s commitment to equality, justice and secularism rings hollow.

When India won independence 60 years ago, the future seemed promising. But it is only sections of our population that has gained from independence. Our freedom fighters won us political independence. We need to move it to the next level -- give it depth to mean freedom, to ensure that every Indian is free from hunger and want, deprivation and discrimination. Unlike in 1947, India today is no more a poor country lacking resources to tackle its gigantic problems. Its economy is robust. It has the money and the manpower to address these problems. What is needed is the political will.