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August 15, 2012

65 Years of Indian Independence

Today when India is celebrating 65 years of its Independence, it has many noteworthy achievements. However, unfortunately there are some who are indulging in painting negative and pessimistic picture of the country. As an Indian, I am proud of writing some of spectacular tales of achievement in this blog.

If we look at happenings in the country after 1947 we will find that in many cases we are far ahead of others in the world. We have heritage of Himalaya and Tajmahal which are excellent examples of natural prosperity and beautiful creations. There are also incidents of rare things being taken away from the country before Independence. India boasts of distinguished unity in diversity despite having variety of religions, castes, languages and natural diversity.

India has maximum number of spoken languages in the world. There are 29 languages each of which is spoken by population of more than one million. Still we never had any problem on this issue during the last 65 years. On the other hand in Canada where only two languages – English and French- are spoken there was such a massive conflict in 1960 that the country was virtually divided into two. Unity in diversity is distinct characteristic of Indian culture. We have 1650 spoken languages. Proverbially, language changes every 12 villages in India..

Ours is the only country which has adult franchise from the first day of Independence. If we talk about other countries USA which is the second largest democracy of the world, introduced India like adult franchise after 150 years of its independence. Adult franchise at the time of independence is a unique achievement of Indian democracy. The draft constitution of India was prepared by a committee headed by Dalit intellectual Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. After independence, 500 small and big princely states were merged into the country without shedding a drop of blood. Ours is the country in the world where 560 princely states could merge into the country without firing even a single shot or shedding a drop of blood.

Indian democracy is a mature and healthy democracy in the world. In the world’s biggest parliament, people of India have brought changes as many as 15 times using their right to vote without indulging in any bloody confrontation. We have maximum number of different cultural groups. We are also number one in the world in the diversity of caste and communities. We have maximum number of elected persons in the world. As a result Panchayati Raj system we have more than 10 lakh elected representatives. Credit goes to our country for giving reins of the country to a woman.

If any prime minister has got the title of Mr Clean in the world, it is former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Country’s young Prime Minister who had addressed two super powers like Russia and USA was targeted by some people who maligned him alleging that he had taken money in the deal of Bofors. Those who had claimed that they would bring evidence of Rajiv Gandhi’s corruption within eight days of coming into power could do nothing even after being in power for more than eight years. On the contrary, a General who was engaged in Kargil war has said that in the treacherous terrain and atmosphere of Kargil, only Bofors had come to the rescue of Indian force. We got victory because of Bofors guns. It was the foresighted vision of Rajiv Gandhi who bought Bofors guns which brought victory to the country.

Many historians and writers have listed distinct achievements of our country and I am happy presenting some of them in my blog.

(1) Has elected woman as Speaker, and President. Four major States have women CM, so also leader of Opposition.

(2) One of only three countries that refused to sign Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on matter of principle.

(3) Developed nuclear technology indigenously under world boycott.

(4) Lowest cost producer of nuclear energy ($ 1700 per kilowatt).

(5) Only country to develop thorium-based nuclear power.

(6) Among first country to develop satellite for domestic communication.

(7) Lowest cost launcher of commercial satellites into space.

(8) One of only five nations to launch nuclear submarine.

(9) One of only five nations to send unmanned mission to moon.

(10) Lowest cost producer of steel.

(11) Of aluminum.

(12) Of cement.

(13) Of fertilizer.

(14) Largest single location copper smelter.

(15) Lowest cost delivery of wireless telephony.

(16) Fastest growing telecom market.

(17) Biggest user of the “missed call”.

(18) World’s lowest cost supercomputer.

(19) Lowest cost car (Nano).

(20) World’s largest producer of two-wheelers.

(21) Lowest cost high-quality eye surgery.

(22) Record number of daily cataract operations, at one per cent cost of UK.

(23) Largest single location oil refinery capacity nearly 70m tonnes.

(24) Largest milk producer (100m tonnes).

(25) Largest butter producer.

(26) World’s largest milk producing cooperative (2.6 million members).

(27) Among the largest producer and consumer of pulses.

(28) Second largest producer of sugar.

(29) Third largest producer of cotton.

(30) Largest importer of gold (700 tonnes).

(31) Largest consumer of gold.

(32) 90 per cent of all diamonds polished and processed here.

(33) Third largest stock exchange (by number of transactions).

(34) Largest No. of post offices (1.5 lakh).

(35) Largest number of bank account holders.

(36) Largest number of agricultural plot holders (100 million).

(37) Largest inward remittance receiver from non-residents ($52 billion).

(38) Largest intra-country remittances.

(39) World’s third largest railway network.

(40) Largest single employer Indian Railways (1.5 million).

(41) Highest number of daily train passengers.

(42) World’s second largest airport (Delhi).

(43) Among world’s highest bridge (near Leh).

(44) World’s highest motorable pass (Khardung La at 5600m).

(45) World’s largest number of movies produced annually.

(46) India’s mid-day meal scheme is world’s biggest school lunch programme (120 million meals served daily).

(47) National Rural Employment Programme largest in the world.

(48) Third highest run getter in Test cricket.

(49) Highest No. of Test and ODI centuries.

(50) Winner of cricket World Cup twice.

(51) Kumbh Mela is world’s largest religious congregation – 30 million pilgrims. Event mostly incident free.

(52) Largest number of independently owned newspapers.

(53) Home of the sachet revolution and micro finance.

(54) Among a handful countries with fundamental right to information.

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