75 years of Quit India Movement

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TOPIC:

General Studies 1

• The Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different parts of the country.

General Studies 2

• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

In brief

Celebrating the 75 years of Quit India movement as a national event without linking it to any political party is a tribute to the determination of nation and also making it a landmark in India’s freedom struggle and subsequence.

To mark this event, PM talked about Quit India Movement in a special session in Parliament where he spoke about how the freedom fighters have fought for the country and that there was a need for such a movement to fight some challenges currently faced by the country.

Mahatma Gandhi wanted the country to be united and thus invited all segments of the society and not only political parties during Quit India Movement. The aim was to collectively work towards the ‘Quit India’ slogan.  Similarly for the present challenges, the people are expected to follow “Sankalp se Siddhi” slogan wherein they not only make commitment towards these goals but also accomplish them in the time frame of 5 years.

PM outlined 6 major challenges which are being faced even after 70 years of independence. To tackle them, PM has said that the nation should inspire from Quit India movement where within just five years of this movement, the country got independence. Similarly, the following challenges out to be fought in a way that by 2022, they are driven out.

1. Poverty
2. Cleanliness
3. Casteism
4. Communalism
5. Terrorism
6. Literacy

Quit India movement although given by Mahatma Gandhi later on became a mass movement. As a matter of fact, the leadership of the movement was taken over by the people and therefore that time nobody perhaps even thought that Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Quit India Movement will result into freedom in 5 years.

It is true that many of the issues like poverty eradication, cleanliness, education have been priority issue for different governments in the last 70 years. Many programs, central government program as well as state government programs including flagship scheme are being run for these sectors. The plan budget is about 2.5 lakh crore for most of the schemes and the government in last 2-3 years with NITI Ayog has come up with programmes to tackle these challenges. But 5 years is a short period to remove them.

Is it possible today?

The leader’s job is to involve people, enthuse them to do something. If entire nation gets into that and somehow resolve to do it, it won’t be unachievable. There is need to have a determination, a will to follow the slogan ‘Sankalp se Siddhi’. Sankalp is people’s commitment to remove the evils of society and Siddhi will be being accomplished in it.

• Some of the challenges are fresh, like cleanliness. It’s the very first challenge because of the growth in population and industrialization has resulted into non-achievement of goal which actually should have. Now, the cleanliness campaign is branded up as a mass movement where unless there is peoples’ participation, there is no achievement. Therefore making it a campaign, the idea is to involve people and make it a collective effort.
• To be realistic, poverty alleviation can’t be achieved in 5 years’ time but quite a lot can be done to towards that. And once again, people can’t just depend upon the government policies alone. The society has to become a part of it.
• Certain things can be achieved in 5 years’ time like cleanliness and not seen as a very distant target like casteism. Casteism can’t be fought and completely rooted out in 5 years’ time but there can be awareness. The recent government data does suggest that there has been increased in the incidents of lynching, marginalisation of the weaker sections. The government has to make efforts to make a peaceful society.
• One major issue is corruption which has deep rooted into the society. To expose corrupt people and practices, the citizen and government should target higher echelons of the society, like political corruption. Today, such atmosphere has been created where a government servant is not quite willing to engage into bribe or any other corrupt practices for fear of being caught. Setting an example all these things in particular in place of corruption the example has to be set on a highest level. Prime Minister himself has set an example that none of his Cabinet minister has to indulge into corruption and anybody who does will be thrown out of the Cabinet. Thus, the leadership has to take a call and set example for the people to percolate down the system.

The whole project and the mission is to create awareness among the people. Once people realize that it is their duty, the things become more easier to cope up with. All these things can be taken as a mission, launched as a campaign and increase more awareness amongst different section of society. The role of media is extremely important in this aspect.

Role of state government and private sector

India is federal country and no targets can be achieved without the help of the state government.  The 6 six issues are such that hardly any political party can afford to disagree. There will be need of public support and it has to be visible that they are fighting against these evils. How they fight it and strategies adopted to fight can be different but it is necessary to fight. Many state CMs and their government have been voted out on issue of corruption in irrespective of the party.  These fight against evils will send out the message that politicams are working for benefits of the people. Hence, different political parties will come into in getting credit for that but here it’s not something which should be done merely for political gains but basically to improve the society.

The private sector has a huge role to play. For instance, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan alone in the last 3 years has seen varied participation from private sector, enterprise and people in general. Infact the leaders association, resident welfare association have come forward and are contributing. Private sector can also help in other sectors such as poverty alleviation by adopting villages, adopting areas where they can do some kind of the growth. So the role of the private sector particularly the corporate sector is important.

Conclusion

India today is seen all over the world as an emerging power. India is an IT super power but on this 6 fronts there really lacks lot of cooperation from the people. Together will all, the challenges can be overcome. Now it is about determination and action performed should be in sync.

Connecting the dots:

• What are the most pressing challenges faced by people in recent years? Analyse their impact and way forward to tackle them.