India will be a unified nation in new millennium

IT’S New Years day and one can literally smell the excitement in the air. As I walk down the street I can’t help but notice how impeccably clean and well-laid out our roads have become. There are trees every where and a ‘Use Me’ bin has been carefully placed at every corner. And of course, there is not a single beggar in sight. The government has long provided them with jobs. As I pass a small housing society (You see, the slums are no longer existent), I see a large group of little girls poring over what looks like home work to me. I stop by to have a look and a small little girl runs up to me. "Look didi" she says with pride, showing off her neatly written composition. "I have written this poem myself". I smile at her. It feels so good to see so many girls go ing to school nowadays.

In fact, the female literacy rate is nearly as high as that of the boys. It is ensured that every child is given free education, and the Government has made it a point not to leave out anyone. Women have also become incredible career women. No longer is a woman taken as a vulnerable, worthless being. Her status in society has become as important (if not more) than that of a man.

I look back as I hear a loud whistle. It is a traffic policeman stopping a car. Lately, traffic rules have become so strict that it has become close to impossible to cross a light or have a vehicle that has not been pollution checked. And of course, bribery is simply out of question. The new policemen, officers and politicians are all such wonderful people with perfect moral values. One can’t even think of their doing any wrong. Corruption is a thing of the distant past. Our country is far beyond that now.

India is now completely self-reliant, and has all the latest technology. One can actually buy the latest gadget invented, without a Made in Japan sticker on it. Things have changed tremendously. Instead of emulating the west, Indians are proud of their culture and take pride in the fact that they belong to this beautiful country.

It is getting dark now, and I hurry back home. Not because the roads are unsafe (Infact crime is almost dead in our country), but because I have to attend a New Year’s party. When I reach, most of my friends are already there, partying their hearts out. Ijoin in, and before I realise, it is close to midnight, and the seconds countdown has already begun 10, 9, 8,.... 3, 2, 1, and the year 2000 has begun. As I hug my friends in joy, I can faintly hear the latest pop venture of A.R. Rehman Vande Matram 2000 playing in the distance. My heart swells up with pride.

This land of such beauty, culture and religion belongs to me.A few tears of utter happiness run down my cheeks. "What’s wrong?" one of my friends from the USA asks (Like most foreigners, she loves coming to India). "Are you unhappy? "Oh no!" I say, hugging her. "It’s a new millennium, and I can’t tell you how happy I am to be a part and parcel of My India — the land of dreams come true.

— Nandini Bhalla
Class XI-C
Vivek High School, Chandigarh

II

Although I have a deep love for my country, it does not prevent me from realising how ugly and sordid the conditions of life are in this country. There is widespread dissatisfaction in the country with all aspects of life here. Even foreigners, in spite of their anxiety to humour us as regards the progress that the country has made, often paint a black picture of our people at all levels and of the way the government is handling the numerous problems that comfront it.

Being an optimist, I often sit down in my leisure moments and dream of what this country can and might become in the course of time, say a millennium. I look at the India of my dreams from various points of view for instance, politically speaking, the India of my dreams will be a highly developed and successful democracy. Not only is democracy the best from of government in theory, but experience has shown that it eminently suits the genius of our people. However, the democracy in this country needs to be greatly improved. It is necessary also for politicians to shed their selfish ambitions and to adopt the noble ideal of service to the nation. In the India of my dreams in the next millennium, democracy will not only be well established but will also function in accordance with the highest possible standards of public conduct.

Needless to say the India of my dreams will be economically independent. The present state of affairs in the economic sphere is most depressing. The India of my dreams in the next millennium will be economically so prosperous as not only to ensure a decent standard of living to its own people but to supply considerable economic aid to the backward countries of Asia and Africa. India will be highly industrialised. And age of computers will set in but it should not lead to unemployment of people. This all is possible only if people undertake family planning programme.

The India of my dream in the millennium will be a unified nation proud of its oneness and solidarity. The present slogan of "Unity in diversity" will no longer be an empty slogan. It will have been translated into actual reality.

A word about the state of education in the India of my dreams in the next millennium. I look forward to the time when the stage of experimentation in the educational sphere will have ended. We have not been able to decide firmly upon a medium of instruction for university education. Science education is still in this infancy in our country. I do hope that student unrest, which has been caused by a variety of reasons, will have completely subsided and that a stable and fruitful system of education will be evolved by the energetic efforts of right thinking policy makers.

People will have a clear idea of the meaning of "character" in the India of my dreams. By character I mean integrity, honesty, conscientious performance of duty, loyalty to the country and to contain noble ideas, fellow feeling and the spirit of service.

The India of my dreams will be no paradise, I am one of these who are keenly aware of the limitations of human nature and human effort. Human beings cannot turn into angels. It is for this reason that the picture of the India of my dreams in the next millinnium is based on the known and accepted potentialities of human nature and not on the flights of irresponsible fancy.

Saru Kumar
Sacred Heart Secondary School,
Chandigarh.

III

"India in the millennium will be what we make it and how we make it".

It is difficult to predict the India of tomorrow or to make forecast about the shape of the things to come. But coming events cast their shadow before so from the present political, economic, military and social setup we can foretell that India in the next millennium will be happier, richer and safer than it is today.

There is no doubt that we are free but there is no glow of freedom on our faces. Our motherland is bounded by various chains, which are constantly hindering her progress. Poverty, starvation unemployment, over population, illilteracy, economic crisis, social in justice stare into our faces and are rampant today. Nor in case of politics India is neat and clean. The condition of our democratic form of government is very pathetic.

In the international sphere, India will occupy proud place in the comity of world powers and hopefully move ahead of all the nations which have developed and are still developing. Recently, India conducted second series of nuclear test and has got herself recognised as a N-power states. These were necessary for self defence of the country. India has got herself secured and will never hesitate to use these for self defence.

Millions of rupees have been spent to raise the standard of living, nutrition and eradicating poverty, hunger and illiteracy. But we haven’t fully achieved our goal. We will be able to control our population. There will be change in political field and politicians. With democratic outlook of put the country ahead. India will be able to recover from economic crisis and compete with other nations economy.

Technology will be giant step in millennium. People will be governed by scientific knowledge. It will witness revolution in the field of education. Technical education and practical knowledge will receive tremendous fillip every where. New machines appliances and inventions will come into existence. Millennium will truly be the age of computers.

Now renewable resources of energy will be replaced by renewable sources Coal, petrol etc will be replaced by natural resources like sun’s energy, solar energy, light wind and water. As India has committed to peaceful use of N-energy, it will play major role in its advancement. In agriculture, it will witness a great reform to increase the yield per hectare. It can also be used for medicines, running industries, digging canals, diverting rivers etc. Thus, there will be progress all around.

So, India of my dreams will be ideal to live in. There will be an all around progress and prosperity and people will be mentally, morally and physically better. Corruption and inefficiency which today is eating into the vitals of our country will take wings.

Shaveta Mahajan
Std. X
Little Flower Convent School,
Sohal-Dhariwal

IV

Everybody loves one’s country and I am no exception. My love for my motherland knows no bounds. It is the largest democracy in the world. And more people live in our country than anywhere else on the globe except China. We as a people are warm and cheerful. We respect all the religions and believe in non-violence. There are all great qualities and I am very proud of my countrymen but then there are some negative points that need to be set right.

India of my dreams has no place for corruption in public life. Year after year we are being mis-ruled by corrupt people. Our political system has been all but ruined. We elect people, who are only fit to be kept in jails. And there are the people who make our laws. Our politicians are looters and chief law-breakers. But who elects them?

And that brings me to the saddest factor in our character as a people. We have gone to deep sleep and we are refusing to wake up. Other countries are racing ahead. Even tiny countries like Singapore are more advanced and prosperous than us. It has happened because of terrible policies and faulty planning by our rulers. And things have now become so bad that to set everything right seems a miracle. We are looking to others to perform some miracle. It will never happen like that . It is we who have to perform all the miracles. We have to change ourselves. We have to set our priorities right. We have to fight corruption, injustice and illiteracy. The day we do this that will be the turning point for our country. My India will then become the strongest country in the world. The day we wake up India will race ahead and become the most advanced country on the planet earth.

So what are we waiting for? Why are we allowing rotten men to rule us. What are we afraid of? I love my country too dearly to let it slide into fragments. The India of my dreams has equal opportunity for every citizen. It has food, shelter and clothing for everyone. India of my dreams does not have a Laloo or a Sukh Ram at the helm of affairs.

India of my dreams also does not have a Laloo ruling by proxy. India of my dreams does not have a rapist go scot free. India of my dreams does not have a pavement dweller. India of my dreams does not have a woman being forced to perform sati. Instead, India of my dreams is a land of super computers and high speed transport. In short, India of my dreams has dignity and well being for everyone of its citizens.

Namrata Goel
Class IX A
Convent of Jesus & Mary, Ambala Cantt

V

"The old order changeth, yielding place to New" and in India of my Dreams in the next millennium, there is complete decay of the old order and its replacement by the new system in almost every sphere.

Smile on every face, twinkle in eyes, serenity in life, joy and plenty is what I perceive in the India of my dreams. It will be a nation without corruption, overpopulation, unemployment, social evils, illiteracy and backwardness. It will not be a country where:-

"Youth languishes and age crouches
Zealots design and blood spills
Bombs blast and mothers cry
And laughter dies deep inside"

Moral values will reign supreme in the India of my dreams in the next millennium. Social ills that plague my country today will fly off as bad dreams.

In the India of my dreams, computers and communication satellites will connect every home with a world wide network of information, and entertainment. The production of goods and services will entirely be automated and run by computers. So farming will be by robot tractors and other automatic machines. It will produce yields and no person will die of starvation or lack of medicines. Scientific knowledge, nuclear technology and space technology will make India a self-sufficient and strong nation. The image of weak, struggling, starving nation with begging bowl will vanish.

Julian Huxley once said that "The noblest function of science is to banish poverty, unemployment, ignorance and dogmatised prejudices from the earth and create an ideal social order. In the India of my dreams, science will lead to enrichment and emancipation of society.

Politicians in our country are generally selfish, and out to make hay while the sunshines. Deceit and duplicity are writ large over the faces of most politicians, even though they swear by principles, and ideologies. In the India of my dreams in the next millennium, the whole political system will be different. In order to bring about social and moral progress, political leaders would sacrifice personal interests at the altar of public interest which exclude deception and double dealing.

Political morality would prevail in the country. Communalism would never raise its ugly head. The civilised man would live in peace. He would be fascinated by nature. The song of birds at daybreak, the whimpering light of the setting sun and the twinkling stars of mid-night sky would convey and message of God. This is what I feel about the India of my dreams.

India of my dreams in the next millennium would see the school children having enough time for fun and frolic, free from the burden of heavy school bags and constant fear of low achievement in the school exams. Perhaps, there will be a more rational approach to test the intelligence of a child. Teachers will be respected as Gurus. Elders will be given consideration and care, sympathy and love for animals would be seen in the India of my dreams.

—Sameer Bhatia
Class VIII C
Apeejay School, Jalandhar