India is celebrating 70^thRepublic Day. What a day! Congratulations!

Indians celebrate the Constitution of India- the most well written Constitution in the world, it is said. There is a plethora of rights and guarantees for all citizens of a wonderful country, gifted with Nature’s bounty. God’s own country, one may as well say. And Indians are legitimately proud of the work done by Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar and his colleagues in giving them  a wonderful Constitution.

India has a political system which has weathered all kinds of storms. India has a system of governance which can be functional under any person and party. India is growing in numbers, in wealth, in influence in the world. India truly is progressing. And Indians must be proud of the achievements India can boast of.

India has some of the world’s wealthiest people. Indians  have  the best brains. They may not have opportunities in India. But they are all over the world. Some of them head the largest companies in the world. Some are the top scientists. Some others are the best-known academics. Name any profession, they are among the top.

But then how it is that India is hungry, 73 years after independence, and 70 years after becoming a Republic? When you have the manpower, intellectual power, wealth and all kinds of means in your armor, how is it that there is so much poverty in India?  In 2012, the Indian government stated 22% of its population is below its official poverty limit. The World Bank, in 2011 based on 2005’s PPPs International Comparison Program, estimated 23.6% of Indian population, or about 276 million people, lived below $1.25 per day on purchasing power parity.

According to Global Wealth Report 2016 compiled by Credit Suisse Research Institute, India is the second most unequal country in the world with the top one per cent of the population owning 58% of the total wealth. And this gap is widening, day by day.

On this Republic Day, I will like our political and thought leaders to please put their heads together and find ways to end poverty, and, next the unjust economic inequality,  in the interest of the great nation that India is and the equally great people that Indians are.