What do I feel proud of about India?
Over last few months Whatsapp chats have made communication
with friends easier and more convenient – much better than emails or the social
media tools. So we have now school groups and college groups which allows us to
be friends with old friends again and share jokes, thoughts and ideas.
In one of such chats, last night, one of my IIT friends, whom
I have not met for years asked me :
Having seen America, what do I feel proud of about India?
That led me to think. Yes, I am proud of my country. But what
is it specifically?
When I thought deep, I felt that even though most of us
despise our politicians and polity a lot, it’s our democratic values and the
Constitution that we adopted some 64 years ago, that has stood by us. We are
not a simple nation. We are actually a commonwealth of nationalities – more akin
to the European Union – than to the US. We have distinctions of castes,
religion, regions, languages and cultures. Yet, we do survive as a nation with
a strong Centre, like we have never done in history. Every region – Every State
is represented in our polity and that gives us the strength to survive.
Regional aspirations have led to growth of regional political parties and fall
in strength and influence of national parties – but then, it’s fair. And come to think of it. The countries in our neighborhood - Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar - are all struggling. Given that, we have done pretty fine.
I am truly proud of our democracy and polity.
The other thing that comes to my mind is our family system
and the focus on hard work and honesty. Even though, we don’t rank very high on
corruption indices, there is a great deal of focus on honesty, integrity and
hard work in our day to day lives. We have a strong family system which teaches
children to respect elders and to speak the truth. Parents want their children
to be hardworking and sincere. That has led to the growth of a very dominant
and strong middle class in India which will help guide our future growth. It’s
one of the key strengths that we have.
I am proud of our family values and focus on hard work and
sincerity.
The other key feature of our nation is our youthful
population. Last week a friend shared some insights into our census data. As
per the census data almost 39% of our 1.21 billion population is below 18 years
of age and that’s a huge 472 million people. Another key feature is that almost 25% of our
population lives in UP and Bihar. The proportion of population below 18 is
around 45% in UP and 48% in Bihar. These two States have been slow to grow.
However, the youthful population is expected to drive growth in Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar and that will help us grow faster in the years to come. Such a
youthful population, full of energy and enterprise is unique to us and holds a
great potential for us in future.
I am proud of our youthful population and its energy.
So I would list these three as the top three things that I am
truly proud of India.
