India's Republic Day- My thoughts

We in India are very keen on celebrating many Anniversaries such as Independence Day, Republic day and so on. But we are not trying to know the actual history behind these important days.

During these days, you hear “patriotic” shouts and screams from “aam admi” but try asking one among them what the importance of Republic day is for instance, they just babble.
On the other side, our education system is systematically and effectively stopping the students in knowing the history of our own country- the usual logic is: can our history provide us jobs?
My answer is: you don’t have to study your history, if you know that’s enough.

There is a saying “If you don’t know your history, it is bound to repeat”.

So the only way to know our history and also letting our future generation know our history is by reading it and letting the children read them too- of course, those “busy” souls can read them in their free time.

Since I strongly believe in “Practise before you preach”, I have started to read Ramachandra Guha’s “India after Gandhi”.
This books explains in detail about the happening before, during and post Independence. It is certainly a very informative book and a guide. A MUST read for all Indians I would say.

Also I happen to read an article by Ramachandra Guha in the magazine outlook- http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?263878 called Ambedkar’s Desiderata

In this article Guha have mentioned a quote by Ambedkar:

Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. On the social plane, we have in India a society based on the principle of graded inequality, which means elevation for some and degradation for others. On the economic plane, we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth as against many who live in abject poverty. On January 26, 1950, by adopting a democratic constitution, India upheld the principle of “one man one vote and one vote one value”. However, our society continued to be deeply iniquitous, “deny(ing) the principle of one man one value”.” How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions?” “How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously built up.”
-Dr B R Ambedkar

I would also like to quote few other inspirational quotes by inspiring people:

Do we believe in a National state which includes people of all religions and shades of opinion and is essentially secular.. Or Do we believe in the religious, theocratic conception of a state which considers people of other faiths as something beyond the pale? This is an odd question to ask, for the idea of a religious or theocratic state was "given" up by the world some centuries ago and has no place in the mind of modern man. Yet the question has to be put in India today for how many of us have tried to jump back to a past age?
-Jawaharlal Nehru.


Constitutional mortality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic.
-Dr B R Ambedkar


The Indian people have to choose whether they will be educated or remain ignorant; whether they will come into closer contact with the outer world and become responsive to its influences, or remain secluded and indifferent; whether they will be organised or disunited, bold or timid, enterprising or passive; an industrial or agricultural nation, rich or poor; strong and respected or weak and dominated by forward nations. Action not sentiment will be the determining factor.
-Sir M. Visveshwaraya, 1958


In India you do not cast your vote; you vote your caste
- V N Gadgil, 1995


Happy Republic day!