Much has been achieved, much needs to be done

History does not pause to take a breath. Yet, as we complete 75 years of freedom, we must pause to look back, breathe in some joy, and exhale some optimism as we look ahead, confidently and resolutely.

The Constituent Assembly envisioned an independent India that would be everything that British India was not -- a sovereign, democratic republic. Not many gave the fledgling country that was born at the midnight hour of August 15, 1947, much chance of survival, leave alone success. Yet, the people of India and its leaders proved all of them wrong. Even the jibe “India is a geographic term. It is no more a united nation than the equator”, characteristic of Winston Churchill, was proved spectacularly churlish and wrong. Seventy-five years is not long, in the life of a country, but there can be little doubt that independent India matters. If she is attaining her economic aims and is steadily improving the quality of life of millions of her people, she is also demonstrating to the world her ability to do so without sacrificing democracy.

Two factors, above all others, have shaped independent India’s progress: the development of science and technology, and hence the economy, certainly a great success story of our time; and the ideological storms of both the Left and the Right, the nationalism and, in some instances, religious bigotry. But taken together, the unmistakable strengthening of democracy.

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Consider India’s transformation from 1947 to the present day: The literacy rate in India was 12 per cent then, it is 80 per cent in 2022; 70 per cent of the people were in abject poverty at the time of independence, while less than 20 per cent are below the poverty line today; India’s food production was just 50 million tons, it was over 315 million tons in 2021; a mere 5 per cent of agriculture was under irrigation, it is now 55 per cent; electricity generated was a measly 1,400 MW in 1947, it is 4 lakh MW now; the road length in India was 2 lakh kilometres, it is 62 lakh km in 2022; there were 19 medical colleges then, there are over 615 medical colleges and post-graduate institutes now; while we were not manufacturing even a bicycle, today, India manufactures fighter jets, tanks and missiles. From being nowhere at the time of independence, India has since emerged as one of the five largest economies in the world. This list can go on.

To fail to recognise that for a country so big, our progress has been substantial, if not spectacular, would be to betray a poor understanding of India’s transformation, besides being uncharitable. Of course, we have a long road ahead, but these are achievements that have few parallels in democratic countries, achievements that all Indians can be legitimately proud of.

Now, consider the challenges that we must meet and overcome in the years ahead:

First, India has long been a diverse society, and after independence embraced a constitutional framework that recognised group-differentiated rights, presaging multiculturalism in some respects. However, a normative deficit remains in practice. The idea of fraternity is not fully seeded in the minds of all Indians, and India faces the challenge of preserving pluralism and consolidating the fragile political consensus around it.

India’s demographic diversity is significant in at least two respects: First, it offers an example of extensive cross-cutting diversity along the lines of religion, language, caste and tribe. But in recent decades, religious and caste divisions have sharpened in national politics, fomenting conflict. The Constitution, despite its flaws, remains a source of inclusion and continues to elicit a high level of support from across the political spectrum. The vision that the Constitution presents is to secure justice, liberty, equality to all citizens, and to promote fraternity. It is imperative that all of us discover how important these values are.

We are still a work in progress and far from realising this vision. Things that we don’t want to go on can go on for much longer than we think. The human costs of a limited-access society are significant. The necessary condition to reverse this is to enable the development of social capital, recognising that science and humanism are asymptotic curves reaching ever upwards.

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Second, to foster scientific temper if we are to grow as a modern, rational and progressive society. Will knowledge liberate society from oppression and injustice? The view of many, if not all, is that it will, because knowledge restores to me the locus of control over my life and destiny. For, once I have uncovered the oppressive forces that impact my life, I can seek to direct them or resist them. The growth of knowledge is the basis for the freedom of choice.

However, real obstacles stand in the way. To begin with, the subversive impact of unscientific patterns of thinking on our outlook on life and its values is pervasive. Consider the degree to which superstition and magic continue to capture the mindspace of a vast population, regardless of the level of education. This is made worse by pseudoscience passing off as science.

The work of science is to expand the worldview that values reason, eschews mysticism and magic, rejects unexamined dogma and authority, and provides a scientific basis to explain how the world around us works.

In the next 25 years to the centenary of India’s independence, we need to do much more as citizens, governments, and as a society. Even as we celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav, a broad-based reform programme going beyond the narrow confines of self-congratulation and jingoism -- signaling a paradigm shift in emphasis to advancing universal education, focusing on science, public health focusing on preventive care, and political decentralisation focusing on the principle of subsidiarity -- will serve us well. This imperative, above all, must spur us, each in one’s own way, to do what we can to leave our country a little better than we found it. That would be a fitting tribute to our freedom struggle.

(The writer is Director, Public Affairs Centre, Bengaluru)