1947 – 2008 …61 years of Independence… But “Whose Independence” is a question I often ask to myself.
It is a matter of fact that we have made decent progress in several areas during the last 61 years. Of course we have produced world-class scientists, engineers, journalists, soldiers, bureaucrats, politicians and doctors. We have built complex bridges and dams. We have sent satellites and rockets into space. We have increased the number of doctors ten-fold. We have increased life expectancy from 32 years to 65 years. We have built about 20 Lakh KMS of roads; we have multiplied our steel production by over 50 times and cement production by almost 20 times. We have increased our exports from a few million dollars at the time of Independence to more than $125 billion now.
But then, at the same time a whopping 350 million people are illiterate; 260 million are still below the poverty line; 150 million people lack access to drinking water; 750 million lack decent sanitation; 50 per cent of the children are below acceptable nutrition levels, and basic medicines are unavailable in 75 per cent of the villages. It seems to be that only a minority has really benefited the fruits of independence while the life of a majority continues to be bleak. Therefore, the pertinent question that surfaces often is can we really claim to be independent, when 80% percent of our population have more appetite than their dinner while 20% have more dinner than their appetite. Or in other words whose Independence are we speaking about.’
If we really need to become independent we need to have a system that can transform the lives of people — by securing their livelihood, by abolition of poverty and the structures of exploitation, and providing equity with economic growth. The Constitution of India, in its Directive Principles, directs the state to promote the welfare of the people by securing “a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.” It calls for the state to strive “to minimise the inequalities in income” and to see that the “control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good” and to ensure that the “operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to common detriment.”
It is here that the church in India has a great responsibility on her shoulders to become a channel of transformation. For this the Church needs to reclaim her mission to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed free (Luke 4: 18-19). Moreover, it is high time that we re-appropriate our original identity as a Church, as referred in Acts. 4: 32 –”Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” If the Church in India dares to affirm her unique identity as the Body of Christ - ‘The Self-Emptied and Crucified’ - I am sure that India will be a better place to live in.
Yes,
As Indians we are called to be free ... free to be responsible and responsible to be free.
As Christians we are called to be free…free to love, free to care and free to share.
And then…INDEPENDENCE, to a great extent, will not be an abstract dream, rather a concrete experience.
It is a matter of fact that we have made decent progress in several areas during the last 61 years. Of course we have produced world-class scientists, engineers, journalists, soldiers, bureaucrats, politicians and doctors. We have built complex bridges and dams. We have sent satellites and rockets into space. We have increased the number of doctors ten-fold. We have increased life expectancy from 32 years to 65 years. We have built about 20 Lakh KMS of roads; we have multiplied our steel production by over 50 times and cement production by almost 20 times. We have increased our exports from a few million dollars at the time of Independence to more than $125 billion now.
But then, at the same time a whopping 350 million people are illiterate; 260 million are still below the poverty line; 150 million people lack access to drinking water; 750 million lack decent sanitation; 50 per cent of the children are below acceptable nutrition levels, and basic medicines are unavailable in 75 per cent of the villages. It seems to be that only a minority has really benefited the fruits of independence while the life of a majority continues to be bleak. Therefore, the pertinent question that surfaces often is can we really claim to be independent, when 80% percent of our population have more appetite than their dinner while 20% have more dinner than their appetite. Or in other words whose Independence are we speaking about.’
If we really need to become independent we need to have a system that can transform the lives of people — by securing their livelihood, by abolition of poverty and the structures of exploitation, and providing equity with economic growth. The Constitution of India, in its Directive Principles, directs the state to promote the welfare of the people by securing “a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.” It calls for the state to strive “to minimise the inequalities in income” and to see that the “control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good” and to ensure that the “operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to common detriment.”
It is here that the church in India has a great responsibility on her shoulders to become a channel of transformation. For this the Church needs to reclaim her mission to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed free (Luke 4: 18-19). Moreover, it is high time that we re-appropriate our original identity as a Church, as referred in Acts. 4: 32 –”Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” If the Church in India dares to affirm her unique identity as the Body of Christ - ‘The Self-Emptied and Crucified’ - I am sure that India will be a better place to live in.
Yes,
As Indians we are called to be free ... free to be responsible and responsible to be free.
As Christians we are called to be free…free to love, free to care and free to share.
And then…INDEPENDENCE, to a great extent, will not be an abstract dream, rather a concrete experience.
2 comments:
Neatly written, achen, thought provoking to the very end, including the colour scheme used.
Good thoughts on our current situation. 61st year of independence must be a time of introspection. Has India become the home of "headless chicken" as our ambassador to the US said?
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