We should celebrate Independence Month

|
  • 0

We should celebrate Independence Month

Monday, 27 June 2022 | Balakrishnan Satyam

We should celebrate Independence Month

Individuals celebrate birthdays, but a nation ought to celebrate its Independence for a month, not in a single day

To understand a certain concept better, we expect that a paragraph about it will help us better than a single sentence. Likewise, we say that to achieve greater skill development, our practice sessions need to be longer. Thus, when we accord something more time, we hope to have given it that much more attention.

Generally, in our minds the expression ‘a day or two’ suggests a quite short duration. ‘Day’ is such a familiar word, and so casually used that we rarely reflect on it. It is an important unit of time. If an individual celebrates his or her birthday, shouldn't a nation celebrate Independence Month rather than only a day?

Many kinds of organisations played a role in our gaining Independence; they were quite different from each other, and unique in what they did. You have heard it said that we should also render proper respect to many movements and sacrifices across the country. An Independence Month, organised as themed weeks, or even as distinct days to recognise and highlight various aspects of self-governance would also spread greater political awareness among the people.

There are of course programmes on the day of official and ceremonial significance, but in practical terms, Independence has meant our own currency without colonial insignia, that our houses of legislature are sovereign, our own Chiefs of the Armed Forces, our own Election Commission, and various Indian Councils for research, our Central Universities, and national corporations in the Energy and other sectors. Showcasing each of them and celebrating their progress is something that can be done in greater detail than through only a few tableaux over three hours in a single day. It can be a richer, longer, more informative experience through an Independence Month.

The opportunity to organise a number of exhibitions on progress will not only inform our citizens about the energy sector, the telecom and ITES sector, the space sector and so on; it will also help the youth.

Now, for argument’s sake, someone could say that a much larger country in terms of area and with about twice our number of states is, after all, observed on one day with a lot of fireworks and parades. Their struggle for Independence, while admirable for many things, was quite different. It was concentrated in a few battle arenas, and basically under one command. Their nation itself grew in territory over the mainland over several decades, and largely drew upon the progressive political ethos of Western Europe as its main source.

While we thus appreciate the US’s particular history, it is plain to see that our own liberation from the colonial yoke has been a different kind of process. Given our geography and ancient heritage, our Constitutional spirit includes elements from Western and indigenous frameworks as we had an equally illustrious and forward-looking team of authors as were the Founding Fathers of the US.

In fact, the project to draft the Constitution is itself an undertaking about which more information can be shared. From inception, there has been a strong inclusivist orientation in the Republic of India. Cabinets at national and state levels have sought to have members from under-represented or marginalised communities, or from places far away from economic and political hubs.

On the contrary, it is much rarer to find Native Americans among Secretaries or in the House of Representatives. Representation for them was initiated only in 1924, and it took till 1965 for them to even properly participate as voters across most States. Given our own greater diversity and many regional and district cultures, India is more representational in its political culture from the beginning.

Much more remains to be done, yet the Constitution adopted within three years of Independence got us off to a flying start. There is in it a pluralism and coexistence of doctrines—there are some curbs on exploiting fellow humans for profit even while incentivising industrial growth. The mixed economy approach of having some utilities undertaken and operated by the State, a broadly welfarist outlook, a planning model suited to the developmental needs of a Third World country (typical for most recently decolonialised)—all parts of a unique ‘middle path’ policy, in itself a marvel. There was advocacy of a scientific temper and promotion of modern education for all. In an ethos where both consumerism and spirituality have been pursued parallelly!

The generation of leaders and experts who determined and agreed upon such a choice was a generation that could boast of knowledge and practical experience. While no set of principles may be such that a further adaptation cannot be considered at all, what we’ve had already so far is not narrow, and any fault is actually about weak implementation.

A month, therefore, would not only be a celebration, it would be a thanksgiving, a reaffirmation and a renewal of our commitment to our fair polity. With the passing years, we won’t have people any more who had known how things were, prior to 1947. The domination by the European, the severely limited participation in governance in those times, the inadequate infrastructure across sectors, will all be long forgotten. Our present rights and freedoms had been dreamt of for decades before they were ushered in 75 years ago.

The very theme of Independence can lead us to reflect, as families and citizens, on how it can be practically maintained. There’s an important aspect of economic freedom, which Gandhiji had underlined.

In the US, a lot of ordinary people are groaning under the yoke of steep debt—for housing, healthcare and education. A small part of it is due to heedless use of credit cards, but much of it has to do with the lack of a sense of society, and with the adoption of a view of people as customers first, and only then as humans. Student debt, and steep cost of university education are formidable barriers to opportunity and social mobility. It helps to remember something here that is often forgotten.

Rather than being accorded our freedom, we have to realise that we are born free, and as Rousseau famously said, the chains get forged only subsequently.

For India, decolonisation halted the robbery of our natural resources by an imperial power. It brought us into the modern era of representative government, and put us on the path of inclusive development. It shook off past shackles and at the same time, launched visions of a prosperous and progressive future for all strata in our society. The Directive Principles, as enshrined in the Constitution, undertake to uplift large numbers living in various kinds of deprivation, whose circumstances in recent generations had offered little or no scope.

This is a socioeconomic gap that a positive governmental agenda can bridge. Yet, independence is really all about people being kept out of debt, than being placed in debt. We reciprocate by serving national interest in many small ways for the broad support we receive. This is what President J.F. Kennedy, in his 1961 White House inaugural, said, “Ask what you can do for your country.”

An Independence Month of thirty-one days would offer enough time to ask these questions, and to discover enough answers.

(The author is a creative director, advertising faculty, and an amateur epistemologist. The views expressed are personal)

Sunday Edition

CAA PASSPORT TO FREEDOM

24 March 2024 | Kumar Chellappan | Agenda

CHENNAI EXPRESS IN GURUGRAM

24 March 2024 | Pawan Soni | Agenda

The Way of Bengal

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

The Pizza Philosopher

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

Astroturf | Lord Shiva calls for all-inclusiveness

24 March 2024 | Bharat Bhushan Padmadeo | Agenda

Interconnected narrative l Forest conservation l Agriculture l Food security

24 March 2024 | BKP Sinha/ Arvind K jha | Agenda