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From India: “Are We Really Free?”
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OPINION FROM INDIA
Indian Independence - Are We Really Free?
I was driving down a busy street in Hyderabad a few days ago. At the crossroads a red traffic light made me stop. Soon a bunch of street children emerged from another side and one of them started tapping on the window of my car. Others spread out to the other cars that were pulling up. Each held tiny flag pins, the kind you can pin up on your sleeve or on the collar, slightly bigger tricolor flags that you can put up on the car dashboard or another bigger size that can be put up on tables and in offices and living rooms. 15th August was approaching. The day India got her independence 61 years ago. Unfortunate way for those street children to be independent I thought. They are apparently assigned traffic junctions and sell flags from 8 am to 9 pm starting from about a week before the independence day.
Yesterday one of the political parties of the country enforced a nationwide closure (bandh) protesting against a decision taken by the government to withdraw the free land that was given to a religious board to accommodate pilgrims. This closure resulted in the death of innocent people across India who struggled to reach a hospital after they were blocked by the protesters. In all these cases prompt medical attention could have saved their lives but that was not to be. This is what the citizens of India got for being in a free and independent country.
In India, freedom is an illusion. And unlike an elaborate hoax, this illusion is staring everyone in the face. People just refuse to see it and acknowledge it. They have no problems living under a nanny state that forces everyone to use seat-belts and helmets. Sure these save lives and should be worn by everyone traveling but the state shouldn’t be enforcing this on people. At most it can create awareness about these issues and let the people judge.
People employed by state owned firms and even private companies are forced to work without pay for over three months every year. Thats right. Most of us work without any pay for over three months. The government takes this hard earned money in the form of taxes and simply gives a large chunk of it to people incapable of earning on their own. Sure a part of the taxes go in boosting defense, improving roads, improving water supply and other infrastructural benefits, but most of it goes in public welfare programs and freebies for the poor. Every product we buy is inclusive of taxes. Every service we get is taxed. At every point in an honest man’s life, he is robbed by the state. His own child may be sick but it is his duty to pay taxes and ensure a stranger fills his stomach before he can help his own child.
The leaders of the country roam around in long convoys paid for by the people of the country and behave as if they own the country. Honestly, they are not far away from reality. Given the mindset of Indians, these leaders or politicians do own the country. That is why we have political protesters burning buses, blocking roads, pelting stones, destroying property and bringing the country to a halt at the smallest of provocation. They can because they own us.
India is not free. In fact it is going further and further away from freedom. I have seen people argue that we are much better off than a few Arab countries and most African nations. True. But that still does not make us free. Sure we are less miserable that most countries. That we have better living conditions than some disease infested countries. Better stability than most of our neighbors. But all that still does not make us free. Freedom is a dichotomy. So there is no such thing as we are more free than we were in the past or that we are more free than most other people. Freedom is two fold. You are either free or you are not. Indians are not.
There is very little we can be proud of in this country. People will argue that India has a glorious past and a rich culture. That no other country can claim such a vibrant heritage as India can. Now it is arguable as to how glorious our past was but even if one assumes so, in the words of Plutarch, “It is a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors”.
Most of the modern day developments we see have come despite the government policies and working. Not because of it. Brave industrialists and great minds like Tata, Ambani, Murthy and Premji are slowly leading India out of its shackles. Foreign investors and companies have helped us more than our own government. The reason – their aim was profit not welfare. They came here to earn a profit and knew they had to deliver. They are accountable for their products and services. If only this were true of our government.
Independence is the freedom of a man to live his own life as he sees fit. Not in servitude to others. Not with a gun pointed at him. Not by sacrificing his mind to serve the state, religion, society or his neighbors.
On 15th August 2008 we will celebrate the successful completion of 61 years of a self made Indian government. It will be called Independence Day but we wont be celebrating our independence. That, we still haven’t got.
~Nikhil Pawar
Nikhil Pawar is an India-based writer and blogger of http://lostreality.wordpress.com/ and has lots of interesting things to say on and from the perspecting of a growing continent. He is a member of that nation, with no illusions.
admin @ August 19, 2008
Firstly, let me make myself quite clear. I disagree. India is a free nation, and we are free, independent people.
According to what you say in this article, it seems you wish to say that freedom means not having any duties or compulsions to fulfull, no taxes, no diseases, no poverty, in short, nothing wrong at all.
Mark this, “NOTHING IS PERFECT, NOR CAN IT EVER BE!”
The meaning of independence is not the right to buy things, or to not be paying taxes, or not having poverty either, the meaning of independence is the right to work for one’s own welfare. And in an independent nation like India, we do have that right.
But, as it is said, ‘Freedom is not free!’
May I ask you, if you see your children playing with siccors, what do you do? You stop them, right? Then, how can we let people do something like ride a bike without a helmet, or drive a car without a seatbelt?
We were born not only of our mothers, but also of this land, then, being the sons and daughters of this mother, India; how can we let our brothers and sisters endanger their lives; how can we cause this mother pain by letting her sons and daughters die for no proper reason?
And if you think that this is merely rhetoric and Indians do not reaaly feel so, then may I ask why every Indian calls every other fellow ‘bhaiya’ or ‘bhaisaab’ (meaning ‘brother’), or every other lady ‘behenji’ (meaning ’sister’)?
It is the feeling deep down in our hearts that shows through these simple gestures. Surely sometimes it can be masked by the more earthly feelings like jealousy or anger, but in times of need, it is these feelings that come out to make us stand together as one people, one nation, India.
Now, for the taxes. If you have such a problem with the taxes you pay, maybe you shouldn’t pay them, but then again, if you don’t, you’re going to see quite a lot of those kids at the junctions. You see, what you call ‘freebies to the poor’ actually help you by not straining your eye looking at impoverished kids. And if you have a problem having to help a stranger by paying taxes before you can help your own child, let me remind you as I said, that stranger, somewhere, is your brother or sister. Oh, and you probably have a problem paying taxes for people who are incapable of earning themselves, well that’s already been thought of, and that is why a major chunk of the taxes go into the education sector, so you and, in the future, your children, don’t have to pay taxes for such people!
Finally, I would like to tell you that if you have a problem that leaders in this country think they own it, why don’t you join politics? You see, it’s quite easy to complain about not having this or that, and quite difficult to work for it, but unless we, as Indians, make an effort ourselves to improve the situation, it cannot change.
I do not say that India is perfect, but its a start towards that, a fine start judging by what we’ve acheived in the past 61 years; but if we’re to remove those children from the junctions and into schools, if we’re to make everyone capable of earning themselves, if we’re to make sure that we’re served by an educated government, if we’re to be perfect, we have to do it ourselves, nobody else is going to come to do it for us.
Its upto Indians where India goes, whether it becomes a ‘worldpower’, or it shrinks to a ‘third-world country’
Its upto us!
And we will make it a worldpower!