THE RELEVANCE OF INDEPENDENCE TO MODERN INDIA

India is a colourful country well known for its own kind of people all around the world. India is considered to be one of the fastest developing countries in Asia along with China. However in order to compete against developed countries like the U.S.A, Germany and England, India has a long way to go.

The struggle for independence has a long history that we often studied in our schools. We students learnt that we got independence in the year 1947 but are we really independent? We celebrate our independence on August 15th but the fact is that we still are struggling for our own independence. The Indian person's mindset has to change as the people of independent India are turning out to be bad assets to the society. Since 1960 the suicide rate has been increasing drastically all over the country. Our country is the second most populated country in the world. For every 5 births per second we have 3 deaths.

Asian countries like India, China and Japan together account for the 40% of the total suicides in the world. In China for every 1,00,000 people there are 99 people who commit suicide while in India the suicide rate is 98 per 1,00,000 people. The tragedy here is that most of these people are aged around 16-40 years!

The more we dig into India's suicide history the more gruesome things get. South India is considered to be the suicide capital of the world. Considering that this side of the country is also the technology hub of India, it’s a shame that we have been tagged as the suicide capital of the world. In 2002 there were around 11,500 suicides in Kerala, 10,500 in Karnataka and 11,000 in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Kerala is one of the first fully literate Indian states and yet around 35 people voluntarily end their lives every day. On the other hand if we consider states like Madhya Pradesh and Jharkand where the literacy rate is low, only 2-3 people commit suicide. Psychiatrists say that around 60% of these suicides can be avoided with proper counseling. Modern generations of students are under severe pressure to compete with the external world. The funny thing is that people are giving up their lives for no reason. We have learnt that people sacrificed their lives to support a good cause during the struggle for Indian Independence and yet we shame their sacrifices in this meaningless way.

India is an independent country, yes, but we have to wake up and begin helping our country grow. We must treasure our lives. We must respect those unsung heroes who sacrificed their lives for the sake of our country and contribute to developing it rather than hanging ourselves!

                                                                                                                      

Akira Chinuva

III B.Sc