Happy Independence day!

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
To celebrate Independence Day in style and mark the beginning of the 66th year of India's freedom, the patriotic at heart are thinking out of the box ideas. From donning the colours of the tricolour, to cutting I-Day cakes, August 15 is a colourful day packed with many activities. 


New Delhi: With country celebrating its 65th Independence Day, the term 'Freedom' has got number of meanings attached to it. Its meaning has gone through complete change in the new social and global environment and the challenges being faced by us. Growing menace of corruption has deformed its very essence but fresh thoughts are pouring in a hope of better tomorrow. 

Today every individual need to give it a serious thought and shall find sincerely find out how far we have been able to achieve our freedom fighters’ set goals and making it a sustainable, sovereign, fair, thinking and a developed nation.

Certainly, we have attained freedom but issues plaguing our society still exist. Freedom fighter Rameshwar Dayal simply puts, “It is not a question of freedom movement any more but how people manage their own affairs.” 


"For the first few years, it was well, particularly during emergency when everything was on time. Deterioration set in soon after emergency," Dayal told.

The freedom fighter spent six months in jail - three months in Delhi and three in Lahore - in 1942 for taking part in the protest march in the capital, when he was a student of Class VII at a gurukul.

Dayal advocates "reforms from top-down". "The crusade against corruption is right, but you cannot clash with the government. The solution has to come about with dialogue. Corrupt officials have to be given a time-frame to reform or should be dismissed. Action should be instant. The good aspects of emergency have to be adopted once more," he said.

Writer and language activist Namita Gokhale says "India is a republic of ideas".

"In a diverse and plural society like ours, real independence comes from co-dependence and the ability to respect and accommodate differing points of view," Gokhale told IANS.

Younger Indians like 30-year-old entrepreneur and gallerist Anubhav Nath, the brain behind the Tihar Art Project, say post-2000, the opening of opportunities in the country has been phenomenal. "This is like a phoenix. What we are seeing right now is tomorrow's history being made today," Nath told IANS.

"The country is maturing at 65, becoming a senior citizen. The people of this country are astute. The corruption crusade is good but the people involved in it have vested interest. We need freedom from both," Nath said.

Freedom for professor Simi Malhotra of Jamia Millia Islamia is "basically about an important historical and symbolic signpost in our lives". "We need to move beyond this symbolism of freedom and translate it in our everyday lives and see to it that it extends to the margins of the society," Malhotra told.

Malhotra said the "principally and practically all players in the society have a big role to play in making the government accountable".

Lalit Dubey, a white-collar corporate executive in Delhi, however, advises caution against investing hope in the idea of freedom.

"Development on the ground may be a recent reality, but the middle class is in a dilemma. Politics is a sham, controlled by a select dynastic few, and we are being held captive by neo-imperialists. They come in every colour," Dubey told. 

He added: "Injustice is rampant and equal opportunity for sexes is a myth. Economic disparity and poor awareness have created a new underclass, which cannot balance the legacy of freedom with misplaced aspirations. It has to change. A new freedom has to come from the empowered roots."

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