Edition # 7 -Awakening Indians to India BY Ryan and Amanda D’souza TE IT

Awakening Indians to India
BY Ryan and Amanda D’souza TE IT
“Swaraj is my birth right, and I will have it”
-Bal Gangadhar Tilak
These words were said by one of Indias most prominent freedom fighters, words that still inspire. Our freedom fighters fought endlessly to free India from British rule. Today, we too fight, only for different goals now. At that time, it was for an independent India, and now it’s for an independent YOU.
Freedom, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “to not be ruled or controlled by another.” So, technically speaking we have achieved freedom, but are we free?
Our constitution says that, “India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic and republican country.” The idea of democracy as given by Mr. Abraham Lincoln is, “government for the people, by the people, of the people.” That means we the people select our government to work for us. Does this happen? Yes, we do select our government, but does it work for its citizens or for its own selfish purposes? I’m not saying this is the scenario of the government as a whole. But it is quite evident that corruption has crept into every level. We do find honest and hard-working ministers who do believe in taking India to great heights but there are so many miscreants that you hardly notice these good ones.
India is said to be a socialist country, I.e., we stress on equality. Also, we stress on which caste do we belong to, we have seat reservations in colleges; we want to know which class you belong to, and so on. Truly, so much of equality! If we were to equal how come we know terms such as ‘minority’ and ‘majority’? How does our religion take over who we are? Our religion is supposed to bind us and not blind us.
And it is not just religion. Our ideas about anything should be such that it allows us, as well as the people around us to grow. That brings us back to freedom. We should be free to express ourselves but at the same time not say or do anything that could cause conflict. We should be free to move but not cripple someone else while doing so.
Such ideas sound so good on paper but will do us good if put into practice. India works with the slogan, “Unity in Diversity.” Let’s change the emphasis from Diversity to Unity. And, there are no better people to do this than the youth of today. Let’s grow towards the goal of a “Socialist and Secular India.”
Let’s awaken Indians to India!