Independence DayPledge
15th August is observed as Independence Day every year in India. It reminds us about the innumerable sacrifices made by our forefathers to win freedom for us. The cherished goals of the leaders of the national freedom movement have almost perished in the din of poverty, communalism, corruption and environmental degradation. While political and voluntart forces are somewhat engaged in fight against poverty, corruption and communalism, the struggle for mitigating adverse impact of ongoing process of climate change has not received desired momentum in consonance with the magnitude of the vast array of problems generated.
It is an occasion that makes every Indian proud of being free from the servility of the imperial power that ruled us for about three centuries. However, there are several unanswered questions that make us uneasy and squirm as we happily move on mouthing platitudes of having attained independence.
This solemn occasion of Independence Day makes most of us putting questions to ourselves and to our leaders who guide the destiny of this great nation, “Are we really independent even after 68 years of independence? What does independence mean to most of us or how independent are we? Have we strived to achieve the ideals we had set for ourselves?”
Long before India achieved independence, Rabindranath Tagore had expressed the wish ‘‘Where the head is held high and the mind is without fear… into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake!’’ Ironically today, our heads have risen so high that we command every other head to bow before us, our minds have grown so fearless that we terrorise our fellow brethren and we have so realised the joys of a heaven of freedom that we wish to have a separate such ‘‘heaven” for each of us.
There is need to generate heightened awareness amongst the people about climate change and make them capable of adapting to the changing climate, improve their livelihoods by imparting them adequate skills. Generation of awareness amongst the people is a gigantic task which cannot be accomplished by government of its own because the governments have resources and technology and not resource persons; whereas this task is better accomplished by the civil society. On this auspicious occasion of our Independence Day, let’s pledge to make India safe from adverse impact of climate change and this can be better facilitated by close cooperation between civil society and government agencies.
