60 years of independence------------ really?

A brief candle; both ends burning
An endless mile; a bus wheel turning
A friend to share the lonesome times
A handshake and a sip of wine
So say it loud and let it ring
We are all a part of everything
The future, present and the past
Fly on proud bird You're free at last.
Charlie Daniels

We celebrate diamond jubilee of India's freedom this year. The hoi polloi are rejoicing and celebrating the country's proudest day with pomp and splendour. But do we understand what it means? Are we really liberated or is it a phoney notion? Do we take our freedom gravely? Do we take it a bit too casually? These are some of the thoughts hovering in my mind though the answers are hidden somewhere in the questions themselves. We live in a democratic country which is said to be for the people, by the people and of the people. No doubt there is no alien power ruling us but something is amiss even after all these years of independence. Everyone of us suffers from some kind of bondage. Our mind is not free. Our government is supposedly very flexible but it has always stood in the general masses call for freedom.

H.L. Mencken rightly says, “I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.”

It cannot be ignored that India is still struggling for freedom from multitude of social problems. To be completely free-there have to be changes in the way we look at women, fixing the educational system and actively participating in its democracy.

When it comes to economic freedom, it so happens that many of the great truths of economics are deeply unintuitive. The spontaneous order of millions of individuals working separately towards their self-interest can produce and distribute goods far more efficiently than central planning can. Also, most of us have grown up in a socialist framework, and instinctively look to our ‘mai-baap’ state for solutions. We look to the government to provide jobs, to lift people out of poverty, to provide free education to all, and so on. “What does a poor man care about freedom?” an IAS officer friend recently asked me. “All he wants is food.” And indeed, the connection between economic freedom and jobs and food on the plate is not one that is immediately obvious.

When it comes to personal freedoms, we are so used to living in a country where they are denied to us that we don’t even notice their absence. As a matter of routine, films are censored, books are banned, and our personal and sexual preferences are restricted. Free expression is endangered in this country, and whether it’s MF Hussain painting a Hindu goddess nude or an Orkut forum about Shivaji or a comedian making fun of Mahatma Gandhi, our default reaction is to ask that it be stopped. How can free speech thrive in a country where giving offence is treated as a crime?

Am I hopeful for things changing? Yes and no. Yes, because as the cause and effect of economic freedom becomes clearer, people will see through socialist rhetoric and realise that only free enterprise can provide jobs, lift our living standards, and raise this country out of poverty. On the other hand, such a clear-cut utilitarian case is harder to make for personal freedoms, and political parties, in any case, thrive on catering to special interest groups. They are, thus, generally likelier to restrict freedom even further instead of removing existing restrictions.
Pankhuri Sood