Independant India is 61 today...

Today is the 61st anniversary of Indian independence and it comes at a time when the prospects for the country have never looked better. The country has reformed its economy and has grown, in real terms, at a rate of more than seven percent a year for the last decade. Indeed, there is a strong argument that in the medium to long term, India has better economic prospects than China. 

One of the issues that will shape this century is how strong the Indian-American relationship is. A strategic alliance between the world’s strongest and the world’s largest democracies would create in Asia—a continent that will grow even further in its importance in the coming decade—a phrase, a balance of power that favours freedom. Indeed, in years to come the Bush's administration's decision to move US-Indian relations onto another level will be seen as one of its most significant acts. 

But it would be remiss to post on Indian Independence Day without directing Coffee Housers to Nehru’s ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech delivered as midnight and independence approached. It is one of finest, short addresses ever made and well worth reading in full. This particular passage never fails to move me: 

"There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action."

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See also: Indian minister urges poor to eat rats to combat food prices!!!

And this: India goes gaga over first-ever individual Olympic gold medal...

And this: WTF! They throw babies from roofs in India!!

And this: India: "dead" man asks for water, or how the medical officers messed up after the Naina Devi tragedy...