Mumbai: On 26th January 1950, India celebrated it’s first ever Republic day, when Governor General C. Rajagopalachari declared India as a Sovereign Democratic republic. This day brought another proud incident in the form of Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s sworn ceremony as the first President of India.
On 26th January 2018, India completed it’s 69 years as a Republic nation. Pt. JawaharLal Nehru had quoted, “Our republic shall include the whole of India. India is bound to be sovereign, it is bound to be independent and it is bound to be a republic. If it is to be an independent and sovereign State, we are not going to have an external monarchy and we cannot have a research for some local monarchies. It must inevitably be a republic,” Even today the country remains an enigma for the world. After all, these years, the question which every Indian had, is how republic are we? Was the constitution which was enforced years ago, for which many freedom fighters lost their lives, a success or failure.
To answer that question, we bring you top 6 successes and failures of country’s 69 years of Republic –
Democratic Power
In 1951, when Indian democracy got provided with the right to vote, it was not taken on serious note by the west, as for them, it was the country with the largest number of Illiterates and Illiterates running Parliament was a major joke of the time. But the same Indians from 54 political parties in the 1951 general election, had moved up to 464 in the 2014 general election.
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Economic Development
The country is said to be the fastest and leading economic power. India is the third largest economic power in the world after the US and China. India’s GDP averaged 509.35 USD Billion from 1960 until 2016, reaching an all time high of 2263.79 USD Billion in 2016 and a record low of 36.54 USD Billion in 1960. The figure itself tells India’s growth in economy expedition.
Green Revolution, Rise of Sovereignty
The now strong economy was facing a lot of trouble during the 1960-70s, leading us to get help from the US and the World Bank. With the advent of Green Revolution, we not only became self-reliant but was also able to export many produce to different countries. Introduction of modern machinery, hybrid seeds, etc. has also contributed to the progress in this sector.
Military Strength
The 1962’s Sino-India war changed the mindset of the world and India from being a peaceful country became the country with peace and power. Today, the Indian military has a combined 4,207,250 active and reserve personnel in service, making it the largest with the US and China. Some details of the military strength is provided here by us
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Power Index: 0.1593
Defence Budget: $51,000,000,000
Active Military Personnel: 1,362,500
Labor Force: 513,700,000
Total Aircraft: 2,102
Total Naval Strength: 295
Failure in Parameters of HDI
Human Development Index, the composite statistics, which includes different parameters of living standard, education, and other parameters, ranked India 131st among 188 countries in latest rankings. Its such a shame that even after all these years, the basic necessity is neglected and the country still falls short of minimum requirement. According to reports, public spending in healthcare has improved only marginally in the last two decades from 1.1 percent of GDP in 1995 to 1.4 percent in 2014.
Security and Lawlessness
After fighting 200 years for our freedom, we are still fighting. But this fight is not with outsiders but within our country. Increasing crimes against women, children, the number of road accidents, terror attacks, murders, kidnappings, etc. are defaming India at international scale. India is said to be no more a safe country. According to the National Crime Reports Bureau, rape cases saw an increase of 12.4 per cent from 34,651 cases in the country in 2015 to 38,947 in 2016.
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These were our top 6 successes and failures, which need to be paid attention to. Being the country with a population of more than 1.3 billion people is the largest democracy in the world. India stands out for its stability. The country that aspires a seat in UN Security Council, boasts of nuclear weapons and is keen on joining the rarefied Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), still have some major issues which need to be solved.
Having said that, ending today’s article with few words
Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge. “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” – Jawaharlal Nehru.
