India at 75: Kya khoya, kya paya; ‘We have progressed but fruits of development yet to reach deprived’

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): This Independence Day, Free Press talked to prominent city residents, who were born when India was still ruled by the British, to know about the achievements and the failures over the past 75 years.

The 75-plus people agreed that India has progressed in all spheres - from education to industry and from roads to health infrastructure. The country has also been able to sustain democracy but the deprived and the poor are still suffering. Corruption is growing by leaps and bounds and the Indians are yet to break free from the mental slavery of the British.

Excerpts:

People can walk with their heads held high

Today, the children of India can walk with their head held high. Hindustan is developing in every sector. Today, the people can freely visit any religious place. ‘Hamara Bharat duniya mein number one banega ( Our India will become No.1 in the World). Even officers have to listen to the people - whether they are IAS officers or IPS officers. Today, our children are going to school. They are learning new things.

- Habib Nazar, 103, President awardee freedom fighter

Rich are getting richer

The biggest achievement is that we could establish and sustain democracy in the country after Independence. But our failure is that instead of the people, we are being ruled by mobs. We have grown in economic terms but the distribution of wealth is unequal. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Crores of rupees are being seized from the homes of politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and others. From where has this money come? Isn’t it the money that was meant for the welfare of the people? As a nation we have failed to put a stop to this.

- Dayaram Namdev, 80, Secretary, Gandhi Bhawan Trust

Deprived are still suffering

Yes, we have overcome many problems. But the question is whether the development has reached the last man in the last row of society. Has the condition of those who have to do back-breaking labour to arrange two square meals a day improved? It doesn’t seem so. As for our education system, the condition is the same as it was in 1947 or even earlier. Why do the passouts from leading institutions fly to the West at the first available opportunity? This is a major failure of Independent India.

- Padmashri Ramesh Chandra Shah, 85, litterateur

Corruption is growing

As a nation we have achieved a lot - whether in the field of education or communication or industry or agriculture - today, we are much better placed than we were at the time of Independence. Look at roads. Could we have imagined that one day we will have such a huge network of wide expressways? As for failures, politics has slowed down our progress. Political rivalries, political battles - they have impacted our development. One major failure is that we have failed to control corruption. It has grown by leaps and bounds.

- Devisaran, 94, retired government officer

Hindi still neglected

Winning independence is the greatest achievement of our nation. We were slaves to the British for centuries. However, our failure is that mentally, we are still slaves. The British have quit the country but they have left the English language behind. Speaking in English is still considered a status symbol. Still, you cannot succeed in life without a good knowledge of English. We have failed to accord its due status to Hindi. It is yet to become our national language.

- Padmashri Mehrunnisa Parvez, 78, Novelist