75 years of Indian independence and the next 75

For the subscribers of this newsletter who are not from India or are not aware of its freedom struggles, 15th August 2022 signifies the celebration of 75 years of independence from the British rule in 1947. This article is about my perspectives on the concept of independence of a nation state, the current state of affairs and how I see this evolving over the next 75 years.

Introduction

I should start with an honest confession here before writing anything about India and it's independence. I had given up my Indian nationality in 2019, and since the past 3 years, I hold a Dutch passport. I do hold an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card that allows for most practical situations (except holding political positions, buying farm lands, and access to certain critical facilities) to act and function as a regular Indian citizen. I have spent 22 years (out of 33) in total from 1989 - 2010 and end of 2021 to now in my motherland, India, and the remaining 11 predominantly in the Netherlands with stints in different countries and continents at different points. In the past 12 years, I would have stayed cumulatively for not more than 2 years in India, with the current stretch of 10-11 months being the longest. Honestly, that makes me one of the least qualified to write such an article. With that full disclosure, I am going to give it a best shot and share my humble opinions on this sensitive but very important topic.

Born in 1989, I was obviously not part of the pre-1947 era, and also given my parents were born in the late 1950s and early 1960s, even they didn't experience what it was like to be under the British rule. There are countless movies and history books, and years of education at the school level that tell us all the ugly sides of those days and how the freedom struggle was such a heroic achievement. I am totally aligned with all that, there is no other storyline or perspective I have been ever presented to or that even I looked out for. In general, and also specifically for the sake of this article, I have taken it as a given that 1947 was a watershed moment for the history of India, and the freedom struggle was necessary beyond all doubts.

Are we really independent?

When I ask this question, the first thing that needs to be done is to define what independence is in the first place. Looking up at the Cambridge dictionary (how ironic that even for this we need to visit a website made and serviced in the UK), the following definitions come up,

1. freedom from being governed or ruled by another country
2. the ability to live your life without being helped or influenced by other people
3. freedom to make laws or decisions without being governed or controlled by another country, organization, etc
4. the state of wanting or being able to do things for yourself and make your own decisions, without help or influence from other people

In addition, or parallel to this, the concept of sovereignity comes into place, which is defined as "the power of the country to control it's own government."

Let us analyse each of the above definitions in the context of India and its 75th independence day. Broadly speaking the above definitions and also the general concept of independence can be thought about at two levels:

1. On a nation level
2. On an individual citizen level

On a nation level, I am aligned that India does have the freedom to make laws or decisions and is not being governed or ruled by another country. On a practical note, I struggle with the actual implementation and exercising of this freedom. Of course I am not part of any bureaucratic or political or foreign services class, but as a critical observant there are several areas where we are influenced indirectly and significantly that can cause us to shift our decisions one way or the other.

Energy - In the financial year 2020-21, a whopping 84% of India's petroleum products demand was met by imports. This also contributed to 31% of the total import bill which includes all other products (energy and non-energy related). This makes the energy import bill by far the largest component of the energy imports. Products such as coal, natural gas, mineral oils, waxes in addition to the crude oil and its substitutes contribute to the above number. Persian Gulf, Africa, Russia, and South America are the main countries we are dependent on for these products. One thing is for certain, if there is no energy, there is no survival. The economy will come to a grinding halt, with millions of people diving into poverty. What if the governments/kingdoms in any of these countries decide to curb exports? None of these regions can be termed very stable in nature or are like-minded democracies as India.

Other key equipment such as semiconductors, electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, nuclear reactors, and chemicals are also heavily imported. China is the biggest exporter and contributes to more than 16% of the total import bill for all products to India. The relationship between these two countries is also not in the best of conditions, and there is a continuous rhetoric at a political level on that front. Inspite of that, the dependency on China remains very high, and this poses a significant risk on multiple levels. Again, independence at a nation level with such exposure - I have my doubts.

On an individual level, I believe that we are even further away from the definition as that at a nation level. There is significant influence of the national and state governments, international community, geo-political landscape, and large international and national companies. There is not a single thing, right from energy to food, electronics to chemicals, and several others for which there is any sense of independence for an average citizen.

Future of independence

I have written in the past around independence (here ) and interdependence. I would like to re-state my hypothesis which I have mentioned in parts in the past,

"True independence is a myth, and there is no point chasing after it."

The first step before doing anything on the front of future is to accept the fact that we, after 75 years, are not independent, neither at a nation level, nor at an individual level. This doesn't only apply to India as a country, but most other nations who are in similar state of affairs. The only independence we have is that the ruling class is elected from the people of India via a democratic process, which results in independence at a very miniscule level.

Once we have accepted this fact, the next steps are going to be transformational. Herewith, I am proposing a few ideas, not in any specific order, that can actually move us to the direction of true independence,

• Address the root-cause - I strongly believe that one of the main causes of why we are less independent than we even were has to do with the market economics the way it is run right now. The primary aim of the capitalistic approach is to strive towards maximizing the value and profits of individuals with vested interests. These individuals, would be in most cases, shareholders or promoters of small and large companies. This automatically results in a system wherein a high level of dependency is created with the primary aim of making more money. The how to address, I will deal in another article, but the hypothesis I am proposing is that "capitalism in its current form can never lead to true independence".
• Microcommunities - we have to move towards the direction of building and nurturing communities with its own systems that can operate as much as possible in an independent nature. There will always be certain level of interdependency with other communities, but it should be equitable and not driven by the greed to make more money. Such communities should be independent in everything from energy to food, and healthcare to education.
• Decentralisation - there has to be a move towards massive decentralisation of almost everything we depend on for our livelihood and survival. Right from at an individual level to a nation level, everything should be as decentralised as possible. There will always be certain things that need to be centralised, if not, they become unviable. These should be dealt with on a case-to-case basis and promoting independence all through. A bottom-up view of independence is essential.
• Automony - independence always includes autonomy. As long as the power is in the hands of a few individuals or companies, or in the hands of a political class, one cannot expect any level of independence on an individual level. We need to find ways to transform the current system and move towards one wherein there is a high level of autonomy. I am not suggesting no law or order, but there has to be a bottom up and "from-within" sense of importance for things.
• Unlearning - a lot needs to be unlearned. The acceptance of the current way of thinking and life is not independent and sustainable is a pre-requisite before we can even think of a new future where-in true-independence could be a reality. This is not that easy, and needs to be taken into consideration before considering any shift towards a future society

India - the next 75 years

I have always seen India as a land full of opportunities. There is so much to see, learn, discover, eat, and imagine that one possibly cannot find in any other country. We are at an important moment in our history, wherein we need to make a choice. Marching on the same path as we are will lead us further away from independence, and put us in a situation similar to many of the most advanced countries in the world, which are in crisis for reasons we all know. We have to take a different approach; we have to consider a bottom-up approach to independence. Swaraj in true sense of each of the 1.3 billion people living in the country can only be achieved by a systematic shift based on some of the ideas proposed above. As already mentioned, let us start with accepting the fact that we as a nation and all its people are not truly independent after 75 years. Once the acceptance is there, solutions will come galore. A concerted effort towards true independence is required, and the nation and its citizens should start now, with an aim that in the next 75 years we become truly independent, if not earlier.