What does Freedom Mean?

Everyone talks about how India had got freedom 63 years ago... but has it really? I don't think so. It's not free yet, bound by the shackles of corruption, illiteracy and a hundred other ills. But then, what does freedom mean? When can we say that India has got total freedom? This piece got published in Hindu Young World [August 18, 2009]:

"When skills are valued more than money, when education achieves its goal of creating a change in every child, when votes are cast keeping the welfare of all in mind, when farmers smile at the face of drought and laugh at heaven's follies, when politicians care more for their country than for their parties, when one can walk into government offices and get jobs done without having to pay any 'extra money', then India will have got its real freedom.

Freedom to develop, to prosper and to rise above all nations as she once did centuries ago.

The day when people see me neither as a Hindu nor as a girl, but as an Indian, that day day, my friends, our country is truly free."

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