A day to pledge

India celebrates it’s 62’nd independence day today. I think that it’s now time for us as a country to not just remember this day as a day of great sacrifices made by our freedom fighters but also see to it how India can be built going forward. Though here’s a question I would like to ask all of you… Would our freedom fighters who gave their life for our nation be happy seeing the state of our nation today? Forget freedom fighters, would somebody like a Vikram Batra be happy today? If you don’t know him then shame on you, immediately google and find out…What better day to do it anyway. Coming back to the answer of my question though, it would be a big NO!

I honestly believe instead of parading our jawans and saying Jai Hind three times on top of one’s voice atop the Lal Kila is just not enough. I know the P.M also makes some genuine statements of what he is going to do in the near future…but is it enough? Does that mean things like malnutrition would end? …Gap between the rich and the poor would narrow, terrorism would be eliminated soon? I could go on and on about the issues facing our country…Does that mean all will stop? Why is there no execution of a plan in India? If we as software engineers fail to deliver in a project that we are working on, we are shown the pink slip the next day, why not our ministers likewise? Where does the accountability come from? Is there any accountability anyway?

I am also not denying the fact though that we as young individuals also have a role to play. India has an advantage over other countries as in 60-70 % of our population is young.So the future does look bright if you do look at it that way. But then one can't really shy away from the fact that India still is a poor country.The young population that we are talking about... out of that 40 % are actually unemployed and poor.There are floods , there is drought, there is farmer suicide...Many such things which face our country today.

Really these are issues, issues to be thought about in this particular day, not only this day , in general too, but the point being that after 62 years of being independent, India still remains a poor country and that’s a fact.Though I am not a pessimist ... I think India does have a good future but that can only be done if we empower the needy in this country.

So,When you go outside on the streets today, there will be this kid on the road side having flags or a batch of flag in his hand. Buy that. You will serve three purposes by doing that

1. Wear that batch on your sleeve. A form of patriotism.
2. You would have helped that little kid earn something.
3. You would have at least done something on Independence day and not just have treated it as a mere holiday.

Two Words. Jai Hind!