The topic is locked.
Like it on Facebook, Tweet it or share this topic on other bookmarking websites.
My answer to this question is no

India got independence from the British rule, fought with Britishers to get freedom, but still India is not free, India is not free from corruption, crime, and corrupt politians etc. There are many villages in India where people are uneducated and back ward. India will be free when there is no corruption, crime and all the villages are advanced like towns and cities, and no communal riots.

http://beautytipsforflawlessskin.blogspot.com/

I agree with Chinmoy that issue of governance and fact of independence are separate. There are many who claim that British rule was better because of better crime management, honesty and law and order. But nobody can say that India was not a slavish country then. There were separate roads or streets exclusively for British. there were even insulting sentences like 'Indians and dogs not allowed'. Now whatever be the state of governance or crime position, we are a proud sovereign and independent nation. If there is anything wrong with our government or system, we are free to change.

It is good that we are democratic. But even this is not a necessary ingredient of 'independent nation'. If we accept this, we were never independent before British left. There was no democracy at any time either during Moghul rule or in ancient India. Always, the 'Khrishtya' or warrior class ruled on advice of Brahmin or intellectual class. We hold that India was independent in ancient time and during Moghul period. The form of government is not relevant to fact of independence. If our territory is not occupied by foreigners and they have no control in governance of our country, we are independent. The matter of atrocities on so called lower castes is an internal matter of Indian society and this is unrelated to independence.

We may recall that even during British rule, Social reformer like Raja Ram Mohan Roy brought revolutionary reform of ending Sati system. We cannot hold that everything in foreign rule is bad or everything in independence is good. Independent status only means that we are maters of our own destiny and foreign countries have no right to interfere with our affairs.

G. K. Ajmani Tax consultant
http://gkajmani-mystraythoughts.blogspot.com/

Friends,
So Gulshanji says "...Independent status only means that we are maters of our own destiny and foreign countries have no right to interfere with our affairs."

Is it right ????

Visit my blogs:

http://abidareacode.blogspot.com
I agree with his statement but the GD is all about true independence but not independence from British rule.

It is true that we have acheived independence from british rule but we have not acheived the true independence which includes everything not only government.
I also think that our freedom fighter and martyrs have done justice by attaining freedom from british as that was the main objective at that time. But after becoming independent (free from interference from other countries) what ever we have acheived is not satisfactory in any way.
As stated by me earilier that even Gadhiji who was also a main person for acheiving independence said that real independence is only when women can be safe.
It is a fact that India got its independence on 15th August, 1947 from the British rule but when we give a little jerk to our mind and think in deep we might come across this question arising in our mind, that is, Is India really Independent? If we go by the dictionary meaning of the term "Independent" it simply means not dependent on others. So now the question that arises in my mind is that is India self sufficient in all aspects when it comes about development and meeting its own needs? The answer to this question is simply NO of course because there lies enormous problems in the form of shortage of water, inadequate supply of electricity to cater the domestic and industrial needs, uncontrolled and unchecked level of starvation among the masses. Besides, most of the Indians are homeless and has to spend their lives in pavements and footpaths of big metropolitan cities.

Beggary has taken its toll on the poor and has become a part and parcel of their lives to win their daily bread and butter. Further, to add to the above list unemployment of the educated youth is another burning example which shows that India is not only helpless but failed by a huge margin to solve these problems.

You might go on and say that India has got her independence long back and I would certainly agree with you but then I would like to add yes India is an independent country only for those who are rich and belong to upper strata of the society and are self sufficient to cater their needs individually. But the bone chilling fact is that majority of her population lives and breeds below the poverty line and for them whether India is Independent or still under the oppression of foreign rulers doesn't make much of a difference for if you say India is really independent then this independence has bought them nothing but a life of worm and insects, just to pass their life in hell and thrown down and forgotten when life seems to be succumb under the wombs of death.

The overall Indian system is corrupted to an extent that there are bribes, illegal transplant of kidneys and other vital human organs are very much prevalent in the society. Yes, doctors are there but they also seem to settle abroad for better income and living for they consider India not congenial to suit their needs and growth. Finally, I would like to add that before India could claim herself as an Independent country in the true sense of the word it needs to get over these shortcomings which look like several strains or black spots on her beautiful mantle or wardrobe...
To my mind the same confusion is prevailing in the minds of some of our members who are still grappling with what Independence stands for!
The mass illiteracy, crushing poverty,ignorance - all these are stark facts of life today. But it has got nothing to do with the fact that we are independent. Those who fought for independence had the sole mission of freeing India from the yoke of foreign rule.

The fact that our leaders have miserably failed to rise to the occasion to address the issues that the nation has been facing is a naked truth. We have malgovernance everywhere and as a result some countries which gained independence after India were able to solve some of the basic issues of life. Some people nurture fond memories of British Rule but they forget that they were the subjects of foreign masters and this basic self-respect fired the imagination of young and old alike. If India is facing so many problems at this hour their linkages to Independence are simply non-existent.
I find that there is utter confusion about meaning of 'independent nation', with sole exception of Chinmoy Mukerjee. Let me reiterate that when we talk of independence, we mean independence of Indian Nation as one entity. The entity of Indian Nation is distinct from citizens.

There is no doubt that our ancestors and freedom fighters fought not only for independence but they also had goal for economic and social justice, emancipation of women and downtrodden, development of industry and self sufficiency. It is agreed that we have to go miles for fulfilling dreams of freedom fighters. Pt Nehru had written the words- 'There are woods dark, lovely and deep. I have miles to go before I sleep.' from poem of Robert Frost. This indicated that he believed that we have much more to accomplish.

However, gap in achievement of objectives of justice, equality, progress cannot be cited to claim that we are not an independent nation. Possibly, we are in grip of mafia, muscle power and money power. This will only indicate that our democracy is still imperfect. But as I stated in earlier post, imperfection in political and social system can not make us less independent.

In fact, no country in the world is perfect society in terms of material progress, justice, human rights, democratic rights. If this is considered as absence or deficiency in independence, there is no world that may be called independent.

Independence of nation is more a matter of international relations rather than internal affairs. System of government and governance are matter of internal policy of a nation. If any foreign power has no right to interfere, the country is fully independent. In this connection, let us recall that British were initially inclined to give a 'dominion status' to India. This would mean autonomy but we would be still under British crown. Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave a call for 'complete freedom' with the slogan- Freedom is my birth right.

The fact remains that we are a fully independent nation and have a proud place in the world community as a sovereign independent state. As long as you agree that we are sovereign independent state, we are independent irrespective of any deficiency in our social and economic system, which we the people of India have the sole right to correct.

G. K. Ajmani Tax consultant
http://gkajmani-mystraythoughts.blogspot.com/

Now coming to the issues which some members have cited to be reasons for harboring doubts about our true independent status. India's corruption record,for example, is leaving us red-faced at the moment.Should we be blaming independence for it.Was this absent in the pre-Independence years? What was the response of our foreign masters? Althouhg oldtimers still recall the kind of ruthlessness with which they used to deal with cases of administrative corruption but the whole system was based on feudalism which spawned it. Zamindari system which was founded by Lord Cornawallis was the fountain-head of it.

As Gulshan rightly points that many of freedom struggle luminaries saw in the British Rule the main causes of poverty and other social ills which even resulted in man-made famines claiming millions of lives. To them freedom or total independence from foreign rule was the only answer to all our problems.

That things have not panned out the way our great leaders of those foresaw only mirrors the criminal failures on the part of our leaders as well as that of us. Why should we should be hesitant in accept this glorious fact that we are free. We are free to make or break!!
Well i agree with chinmoy and Gulshaji that freedom and independent country is the only thing we have acheived but what exactly is called true independence is my question? At the time of freedom stuggle the aims of leaders were high other than getting independence from british rule as stated by other members also. They were facing some governacy problems and social problems which have improved after independence. But the leaders are constantly fighting for acheiving sometime or the other in our country even till now then what will we call that? the struggle for acheiving some thing can also be called as freedom struggle whatever be the purpose. Here the fight is to get independence from particular system though it is intenal. So, the change from the time of freedom struggle is at that time it was external independence struggle and now it is internal independence struggle.

I want to conclude that though we have acheived freedom from british rule and became independent country there is still may issues which need independence and the fight is still going on which is condemning the fact that true independence is acheived.
I think what applies to an individual is also true in the case of a nation. At the individual level do we feel independent? Our perceptions tend to be clouded by old baggage of supersititution, caste, creed and language. Similiarly a nation too has similar problems.

A nation and its people get the government they deserve.It might be interpreted in a negative light but its significance lies in the fact that the power of the people has to be asserted in a functioning democracy like ours. We have the power to vote and show the doors to a corrupt government or by not electing the representatives who have thoroughly disgraced themselves!
You do not have permissions to reply to this topic.