Gen Free of modern India

Gen X, Y and Z dominate discussions in social circles, especially on social media. Encyclopaedia Britannica terms Gen X as being born between 1965 and 1980, and those before as ‘baby boomers’ – because of the sudden population growth after World War II. These are Western classifications that have become generalised worldwide. However, being called a ‘baby boomer’ does not gel for someone born in the 1950s (like this writer) in a newly independent India; in the present drive of decolonisation of ideas, being called Gen Free of modern India would be more apt. Now, the arrival of Gen Alpha accelerates our antique value.

Life was not rosy in 1947 when India was unshackled. Poverty was omnipresent. My school life began in 1960 in a small town, Shahdol (MP), sitting on a taat-patti (coir strips placed on the ground) with students writing on slates with chalk. The blackboard, if there was one, was given a coat of coal slurry by us kids every few days to keep it black. A move to Bhopal brought in notebooks and pencils – just around the time when the Ambassador car displaced the old Landmaster. 

Gen Free are the human equivalents of the Ambassador car that carried India’s load for four decades, before the glitzy Maruti 800 displaced it. So, it hurts us ‘oldies’ when many present-day youths say that we didn’t do much to modernise India. If the foundation laid by our leaders at Independence had not been strong, we would not be sitting on a $4-trillion economy now. A look around at the state of our neighbours (who became independent with us) would show what great men and women helmed us; that we have stayed a democracy is all due to them. We, the Gen Free, grew up in the IITs, IIMs, National Defence Academy et al and were the foot soldiers of those visionary leaders who established these institutions in the initial years of Independence.

Independent India was fortunate to have temples of two kinds – the religious ones and those that the Bhakra Nangal Dam, the Bhilai Steel Plant and the Indian Institute of Science came to represent. And as we aim to send Indian astronauts on indigenous launch vehicles, Gen X to Z must remember that ISRO’s foundation has its roots in the Ambassador car era. We were the children of the 1950s and 1960s and grew up on that iconic Mohammad Rafi song, Hum laaye hain toofan se kishti nikal ke, is desh ko rakhna mere bachhon sambhal ke. Yes, we did not have social media to broadcast our nationalism, but we had the sagacity to take out prabhat pheris (morning processions) in our small towns on Independence Day and show our love for the country. An Eknath Solkar, breaking into a smile and hitching up his trousers on taking an Australian test wicket in the 1960s, spoke as much as a Mohammad Siraj going on a wild celebration spree after bowling an English batsman out in the 2025 cricket test series.

Gen Free has seen social mores change rapidly these past seven decades, which is normal, unless you Talibanise your society and stay in the past. The joint family has given way to a nuclear one, with the hum do hamare do slogan spearheading the family planning drive. The medical field has been a big beneficiary of scientific discovery, with the average life span of Indians increasing from 32 years in 1947 to 72 years in 2022. One big blot, however, has been the use of technology to target the female child. While the female form is worshipped as a goddess in many religious rituals, the well-being of the girl child and women needs special attention. Here, I have a suggestion for one particular Gen Free Indian who can make a big difference to help remove this societal stain.

The government has made rules for gender equality, but religious preachers, who have a major say in shaping societal views, play an important part by becoming gender neutral when they wish something good for young couples starting their life together. In all religious rituals, why should it only be a boy and not a girl being requested from God by a pujari? I posed this question to a panditji during the naming ceremony of our grandchild, but all I got back was a stare. If religious preachers lead the way and invoke the Almighty in our pujas for a gender-neutral wish, then it would be one big step towards moulding societal attitudes towards a girl child – the beti bachao, beti padhao campaign would get a real boost.

In the New Year, the progenitor of this slogan, a Gen Free himself, may like to exhort religious teachers through his Mann ki Baat to use this idea. All other governmental initiatives aside, this changed approach in religious rituals would be one reform that would be remembered in perpetuity – the ‘Reform Express’, mentioned by him recently, could have this change as its vanguard.

(The writer is a former Additional Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.