India’s Independence was not easy
For everyone got busy
Fighting for Freedom
Against Surfdom!
Independence is the most important fundamental right for the human beings and our Constitution has provided this right to each and every citizen of the country. I feel independent as we have the right to participate in the democratic process of India. We can raise our voices, and put forward our demands in front of the government. We are free to choose our government. 15th August inspires me to follow the path shown by our freedom fighters. They showed us how to fight for our rights no matter how weak and poor one is, no matter if one doesn’t have any resources. Many of us don’t realize the importance of this day as we have not been a part of the freedom struggle.
India is celebrating 75 years of independence but women in our country are yet to win that same freedom. Women, here, are still oppressed in some or the other way. Rape cases are on an increasing scale yet only a handful of sex offenders are punished. Marital rape is not even recognized as crime even in 21st century.
For me, independence is meaningless if the nation cannot provide food to every person in the country, if there are people sleeping empty stomach, even after 75 years of the success of the freedom struggle. Thousands of people still sleep on footpaths without any proper living conditions and no survival necessities like water, hygiene, food, shelter, clothes.
We proudly claim that we are independent from a foreign rule but we are still not free from jealousy, intolerance and hatred towards our fellow country-men. We are full of bitterness towards other religions, traditions, and always try to suppress the growth of the other. Ware tied in shackles of terrorism, false ideologies, corruption, communal violence, and class-caste distinctions. We tend to forget that independence is not just living freely but also allowing others to live freely.
On one hand we talk about independent India and on the other, regionalism plagues our country. True freedom for me is when every Indian considers himself/herself an Indian and not a Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Tamil. This language barrier always existed, sill existing and will always exist however, it on us how we treat this difference. Do we make a friend out of other fellow citizens or a foe?
Caste and Religion go hand in hand in India. It is as important to know a person’s caste, who is sitting beside you in a park or working with/for you, as having tea in the morning for Indians. Caste based violence are also a thing here. Caste is a descent-based and hereditary in nature yet degrading treatment of over 165 million (approx.) has been justified on the basis of their caste. Even in 2021, we are not free of untouchability and of this mentality that certain castes are supposed to clean our washrooms and not work with us in a corporate environment.
Furthermore, as a student, we will be truly independent when we are allowed to dream freely. The day our parents will stop forcing their unfulfilled dream onto us; the day our teachers will stop demeaning our passions and begin accepting that every child has different interests and ideas, that day will be the Independence Day for the students.
We celebrate Independence Day but are we really free?
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.
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In the year 2021, we wrote about 1000 Inspirational Women In India, in the year 2022, we would be featuring 5000 Start Up Stories.