Happy Independence Day!

"Our next speaker is Ananya Sankaran."

"Good morning, respected Chief Guests, Principal sir, all my teachers, and everyone present in this assembly. Today we have gathered to commemorate India's 75th Independence Day. I am here to give a speech about the Father of our Nation- Mahatma Gandhi. But I have decided not to do so, as I know well that many of you present here are well versed about him and his life. Honestly, I think that talking about a dead person's life story for 5 minutes would be boring. Instead, let's talk about his ideas and the freedom he truly believed in. My elder sister, who is sitting among the audience, is sternly eyeing me. She has helped me mug up this long speech about Gandhiji. But today, let's talk about her, let's talk about you and me, let's talk about us. Let's talk about my India- our India. 

Yesterday, when my elder sister returned home late at night from her office, Maa was almost numb with anxiety, and Dad was furious with her. It is, however, common in every Indian family. No one noticed my sister's face that night. But I could understand that something was not right because she woke in the middle of the night and started crying. For some days, a few men in our locality were catcalling and eve-teasing her when she returned home late at night. But that day, their habitual molestation went out of hand. My sister cried all night. Even after 75 years of India's independence, women from all walks of life have been discriminated against by men. They become victims of atrocities in several ways. There are cases of rapes, sexual harassment, molestation, kidnapping, dowry harassment in our society. 

Our housemaid's son, Chintu, is only six years old. He works at a tea stall from morning till night and earns Rs 50 per day. Sometimes he comes to our house. He says that he wishes to go to school. Though he is enrolled in a government school, his mother does not let him go to school to get an education. Our housemaid's husband is a drunkard. He often comes home, beats his wife, and snatches away all her savings. It pains me to see Chintu's bright and curious eyes when peeping into my books. So, I taught him to read. He is a fast learner. I wonder how many 'Chintu's and 'Chhotu's are there in our country.

 India is home to the highest number of child laborers in the world. Children are employed in various small-scale industries, restaurant service, domestic aid, shopkeeper’s assistant, stone breaking, bookbinding, tea stalls, garbage pickers, and in the household industry. That is because children are paid considerably lesser wages compared to adults, which saves lots of money for the employers.

My distant cousin is an IT engineer. It has been three years since he graduated from a renowned college, yet he is jobless today. Though he is qualified to get a decent job in any good company, he could not get one due to job unavailability, which has worsened during the pandemic. So, frustrated and to sustain his family, he opened a small shop selling sarees. He says that this embarrasses him, but he is hopeless. An estimated 20-33% out of the 1.5 million jobless engineers in India are passing out every year to run the risk of not getting a job at all. I am in standard 11 now. Within five years, I aim to graduate from a good college. But if this is the condition of youths in our country, I fear that I might have to face the same fate as my cousin. 

Corruption in Indian society has prevailed from time immemorial in one form or the other. Earlier, bribes were paid for getting wrong things done, but now bribe is paid for getting the right things done at the right time. Today, if a person wants a government job he has to pay lakhs of rupees to the higher officials irrespective of satisfying all the eligibility criteria. In every office, one has either to give money to the concerned employee or arrange for some sources to get work done. 

This year when COVID was surging uncontrollably throughout India, devastating big cities and villages across the country, heart-rending images of funeral pyres burning an endless line of bodies, was exposed by the media. A bitter truth was uncovered to us - the dilapidated health care in India. India’s health care system was envisaged soon after its independence in 1947 as a three-tier system that could cover the entire country. It was to have a primary care system at the village level, a secondary care system to cover smaller urban centers and tertiary care for specialized treatment. Over the years, though, better amenities have been provided for the urban rich, neglecting the poor masses across the country. 

Seventy-five years back, India gained its freedom from British rule. The definition of freedom, however, has changed over the years. What does the word 'Independence' mean to my generation?

The fruits of freedom have not been distributed equally, but have been disproportionately available to the elite, and the masses who made an equal contribution to achieving freedom are still a neglected lot. Living the dream of an independent India seems far-fetched at the moment. The India of my dreams is free from corruption, communalism, casteism, and all sorts of exploitation. I dream of a country where women can walk fearlessly at night, not afraid of being victims of molestations, rapes, catcalling, eve-teasing, and acid attacks. I dream of a country where a woman does not have to hang herself when unable to bear the dowry harassment meted out by her in-laws, where a female fetus is not killed in the womb, where men and women are treated as equals. I dream of a country with no deprivation of basic needs like food, clothing, housing, education, and health. I dream of a country where the government focuses much on agriculture, irrigation, and creating infrastructures like roads and railways, free of child abuse and labor, where people should be aware of sanitation, pollution control, wastage of water, electricity, and other amenities. Freedom is not something we wait for somebody to give us; we earn it and then defend it passionately and have the ability to do the above without any fear. This year we have entered into the 75th year of our Independence and it’s time to analyze what India has achieved in the previous years. And for sure, our hearts swell with pride, oozing love and respect for our mother nation when we look at our achievements as a nation over the years. There is a lot to achieve, a lot to progress and shine as a nation. And we can do this all as one. Happy Independence Day!"