happy independence day

It has been 70 years since India was declared Independent and the 70 times that we’ve celebrated the Independence day, but the biggest question is—are we REALLY independent? Well, there are many reasons to prove the statement WRONG! What does independence mean? Does it mean announcing our patriotism by hoisting the tricolour for a couple of days every year? Independence day is not a wedding saree or a festival dress that we shall only wear on an occasion and keep closed inside the wardrobe for the rest of the year.

There’s no doubt that by the grace of our prestigious Indian Army, we can sleep every night without fearing an attack the next morning we wake up.

India is the world’s 7th largest country, we have the 3rd largest army in the world, our literacy rate has risen from 35% to 75%, our nation is the world’s fastest growing economy, we’ve joined shoulders with the most powerful nations in the world by reaching the moon and Mars. But there’s always more to achieve. What we’ve accomplished is just a drop from the ocean. What we’ve achieved is political independence. What we need is financial independence, economic growth and ethical growth.

We don’t have to worry being enslaved by a foreign country. We don’t have to guard our borders under inhumane conditions. So, what’s the thing that we ought to do? Study? Get a degree? Get a job? Settle with a family and finally, die? That’s what everyone is doing, and if not, planning to do. Where’s our country in the picture?

Time has come to ask ourselves, “What can I give to my nation?”

Today. I’m going to speak out my heart’s deepest intuitions, ambitions and my vision for my “MOTHER INDIA”; what I think should be the vision of every budding student sitting right here and every citizen of the nation.

Each and every breath you and I are taking, we owe it to the nation; then why doesn’t our life have even an ounce of motivation for the country? Independence doesn’t just mean living in a free country and having a bunch of rights; Independence doesn’t mean just mean exercising one’s right to vote; Independence doesn’t mean just mean celebrating the Independence day.

I always think that if today the sons of the country, Shaheed Bhagat Singh or Mahatma Gandhi look at us, would they be proud of us? Corruption rules the country. Poverty, illiteracy, child labor are still prevalent across the length and breadth of the country. Hundreds of children die of malnutrition every year. A feasible population doesn’t even know where their next meal is going to come from; where the farmers are committing suicide because of the scarcity of water. Why is it that after 70 years of freedom, India is still a developing country? What is it that is holding us back from being the superpower of the world? Our freedom fighters laid down their priceless lives for it so that we could breathe in this air of freedom!

So let’s pledge today, to dedicate our ever action, every day, every breath for the betterment of the nation. This Independence day, I want everyone of you to take this commitment that we would create a nation that we’d like to live in. We would create a nation that we would be proud to pass on to our future generations. Let this Independence day be the moment of commitment and the moment of dedication toward what all of us care for.