जननी जन्म à¤ूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी
Our motherland is more
precious than the Heaven.
How true these beautiful
words are. Giving the most sacred place of all to the motherland, the place of
our birth, keeping it even above than the deities. These words carry with them
the emotions and sentiments of countless Indian soldiers currently standing
guard against the enemy frontiers, protecting this Incredible nation of ours.
The lines simultaneously echo the pride and honour of 1.324 Billion people
across the world who identify their nationality as Indian. And today, we are
all gathered here to celebrate the auspicious occasion of the 69th
Republic Day of this Motherland.
India as a Nation and
moreover as a Republic, the nation of the People, has come a long way since the
days of post-independence immaturity after the partition. In the ensuing 68
years that we have had a privilege of having a written constitution, the
longest one in the world, for that matter, we have made substantial and
noteworthy progress in the direction of complete self-reliance and indigenous
manufacturing of products. Especially, our growth in the agricultural sector to
become a self-sustainable economy, is most laudable. From a struggling young
economy in 1960s we have today risen to a position where we can declare
ourselves a Superpower not only in Science & Technology but also as the
global leader of cross-country diplomacy. More recently, the numerous achievements
of ISRO in space research, weather forecasting etc. have reiterated our
capacity to work towards scientific advancements.
Amidst all the diversity
that India has with its 29 states, 22 Languages, 1652 Mother-tongues and more
than 2000 ethnic groups, it is just fascinating to see the unity in India. In
fact, only the continent of Africa exceeds the linguistic, genetic &
cultural diversity of India. Certainly, there are some tiny disturbances in
this equilibrium every now and then, but such occurrences are so rare or are
representative of so small a fraction of the population that they can very well
be disregarded.
Present day India is a
picture in Contrast. Where we have such successes that we boost of, there still
remain a vast majority of unsolved problems prevalent in the society. However,
with India having more than 65% of its population below the age of 35, the
tides do seem to be in our favour. Imagine what this young power is capable of,
if given the right opportunities at the right time. Indeed, the possibilities
are immense.
Surely, the India our
founding fathers dreamed about is not up yonder. We need to go much farther
away. But there is something in the Indian skies, as Max Muller aptly remarks
when he says –
“If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life and has found solutions, I should point to India.”
Thank You. Jai Hind. Jai
Bharat.
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