India at 75 ! Its time for India

India at Seventy-Five : It is the time for India

I had a dream. I woke up in the morning of 15th of August 2047!! The digital headlines screamed India @100!! A 12 trillion US$ giant economy in the East! An India which has been fueled by its strong macroeconomic fundamentals, robust domestic consumption, and is a leader in the global knowledge economy. In 25 years, India has quadrupled its GDP!!

The growth has been inclusive, and we have ensured that there is no poverty. We are a much cleaner country, as the great Mahatma had envisioned. Our land, air and water are as pure as they can get. We use clean technology for our mobility, fossil fuels being a thing of the past. We are a healthy country, adequately investing in being the wellness capital of the world. Yoga is something India taught the world and every Indian lead by example, spending an hour on their wellness routines. We lead the new knowledge economy and the land of a million Unicorns. We have leveraged technology and fintech to make banking accessible for all. We have happy and healthy relationships with our prosperous neighbors. And the icing on the cake, we are the happiest country in the world, sharing the title with our neighbor Bhutan.

And then I woke up at The Jalianwalah Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab. It was the place were, on the 13th of April 1919, the British troops mercilessly murdered hundreds of Indians, some as young as a few months. Stunned and tearful, I could imagine what would have happened a hundred years ago, in that small ground with a narrow entrance. Unfortunately, the Britishers never apologized for the atrocity, General Dyer, died a sad death on his own back in England and the brave Sardar Udham Singh, avenged the massacre by killing the then Governor of Punjab, Michael O Dwyer, on 13th March 1940. Subsequently I was at the partition museum in Amritsar. The horrors of partition suddenly were not some stories I would hear from my grandfather, but something I could feel in the old town hall of Amritsar, now hosting the museum.

The reason to mention the incident is simple, my generation, the one born almost 30 years of independence, was never fully aware of the struggle which went into getting the British out of our country. And the British, following the true doctrine of divide and rule, left two scorched nations, divided by a line drawn by an unwilling Radcliffe, in less than 30 days. To be honest, my generation and the subsequent one’s don’t understand the full value of freedom and the struggle to help the Indian Phoenix, rise from the ashes which the Britishers left us with.

Yet, here we are, at 75 years of age, India leads the world as its new Growth engine. We are also the shining example of a thriving democracy, the largest one we have on our planet. In our Seventy-Five years since Independence, while our neighbor Pakistan has seen more Generals than elected representatives at the helm, Indians have always been governed by the democratic process.

“Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.” said the great Pandit Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister in his famous speech, Tryst with destiny at the midnight hour on 15th Aug 1947.

As India celebrates, 75 years of its independence, it is experiencing one such landmark moment. A moment when a new India is taking shape. An India, which is ready to assert itself, an India which is ready to lead the new world order, an India of 2.8 billion hands, confident of making the 21st century, the century of India. When I say this, I am not just being patriotic, or being wishful, I say this knowing fully well the challenges which are there which may derail us. Yet, the optimist and faithful in me, knows that it’s the time for India.