It has been aptly said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. In his speech, Tryst with Destiny, Former Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, by stating 'At stroke of midnight, when world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.' expressed his views of what independent India should aim at in the future. What he meant by iterating the Service of India was the Service of millions who suffered.

What he meant by equality was the equal opportunities to the most impoverished section of the society. The dreams which he expressed are not similar to switching on of a bulb. It requires a considerable amount of energy and time to be spent upon. It may cost our sleeps as well. As our Missile Man Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has said "Dream is not the one which you see during sleep; Dream should be the one which should not let you sleep". Our dream of a prosperous nation will be accomplished when, as the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi said, no one will go to bed with an aching stomach out of hunger. We need to aim at achieving eyes without tears.

India, after independence, no doubt, has achieved what is still a dream for many nations. It has witnessed extraordinary growth in form of Green Revolution and White Revolution and has depicted itself as a strong nation by eradicating Polio. Even the area of Space and Technology has not remained untouched. Aryabhatta, Chandrayan are the leading examples of the same.

In fact, India is the first country in the world to reach the Mars in its first attempt. Success has also been achieved at grassroot level by eliminating social evils like Gender Discrimination as India has witnessed Smt.Draupadi Murmu as its first Tribal Women President of India. Despite achieving a lot, India has failed to achieve what the need of the hour is! It has failed in achieving what has been embedded in the Part IV of the Indian Constitution as Directive Principles of State Policy. We have either made no attempts in achieving so or the progress has been so obtuse to be of negligible effect.

Social Issues:
India has always been the land of diversities. It has varied culture, practices and beliefs. In the wake of such beliefs, some irrational superstitious beliefs give rise to certain social evils which includes Untouchability, Female Infanticide, Violence against Women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Practice of Dowry, etc. In fact, the number of rising crimes in the society depicts the extent of social evils prevailing in the society. Though the Indian Constitution makes untouchability a punishable offence but disappointedly it still sustains.

The report revealed that atrocities or crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) have increased by 1.2% in 2021 with Uttar Pradesh reporting the highest number of cases of atrocities against SCs accounting for 25.82% followed by Rajasthan with 14.7% and Madhya Pradesh with 14.1% during 2021.1 A total of 10,47,216 cases of offences affecting the human body were registered of which 8.2% cases of assault on women with intent to outrage her Modesty were registered.2 Mahatma Gandhi's dream of every Indian having complete diet remains unfulfilled as evident from the Hunger Index.

In the 2022 Hunger Index, India stood at 107th rank among 121 countries with a score of 29.13. Further, malnutrition among children is a matter of concern4. It brings to us immense sorrow that India stands 136th in the World Happiness Report, 20225. Thus, the social inequality still prevail in the Indian Society which is no where the spirit of Article 14, 15, 16, 17 of the Indian Constitution.

Educational Issues:
The social issues have led to the certain educational disparities among various sects of the society as well. In 2011, the disparity in access to education between genders was most visible in India's childhood literacy rates 82% of boys were literate while only 65% of girls could read and write. Also, UNICEF has recognised the lack of proper sanitation in the schools as the major reason behind the disparity.

Further, there still exists division of education among rich and poor, among haves and haves not. There exist places with acute shortage of proper infrastructure. At times, the students have to travel a long distance to go to their school which parents of girl child consider it as a risk as per the security. Also, in present scenario, education has become the game of money power.

It seems as if quality of Education is directly proportional to the money spent. The State shall make attempt to promote educational amd economis interests of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Weaker Sections as per the mandates of Article 46 of the Constitution of India.

The objective of free education cannot be achieved if above mentioned differences are not eliminated. Right to Free Education6 needs to be extended to every sect of the society which is easily accessible.

Health Facilities:
No one is unaware of what India faced in past two years. Children dying in the lap of mother, desolating vermilion of brides, loosing one's old age support, all depicted the tyranny of the situation. During the pandemic of COVID-19, India witnesses 5,30,658 deaths which at the present time is still rising7. However, this shows India as a nation has failed to provide proper health facilities to its citizens. The Indian healthcare scenario presents a spectrum of contrasting landscapes.

At one end of the spectrum are the glitzy steel and glass structures delivering high tech medicare to the well-heeled, mostly urban Indian. At the other end are the ramshackle outposts in the remote reaches of the "other India" trying desperately to live up to their identity as health sub-centers, waiting to be transformed to shrines of health and wellness, a story which we will wait to see unfold. What India does not seem to follow is the Concept of 5A's which are Awareness, Access, Absence of Hindrances, Affordability, Accountability 8.

If this concept is worked upon at ground level, we may hope of availing better health facilities in future. The State should also strive to achieve the objective of Article 47 of the Indian Constitution i.e. it is the duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standards of living and to improve the public health.

Political Concerns
India, being a democratic country, elects its head 'by the people of India'. In order to gain more vote banks, politician tend to use all sorts of tricks such which are based on caste and religion They mobilize the crowd by propaganda with an intent of achieving maximum self-interest and minimum nation- interest. Sometimes, attempt is made to hamper the Basic Structure of the Constitution9. Further, loopholes in the laws have been misused by parties as evident from the history. Also, amendments are made to the laws so as to meet their intention and political needs.

Moreover, what disappoints us the most is the way Media, the Fourth Pillar of Democracy, is being demolished as the India stood at 150th rank among 180 countries in World Press Freedom Index in a report titled 'Reporters Without Borders'10. The situation becomes more tense as we see the report by

Freedom House which categorised India as 'partly democratic'11.The situation may further deteriorate if adequate steps are not taken at the earliest.

Financial And Industrial Issues
Industries and agriculture are the backbone of every country's economy. A greater net export is an indicator of a healthy trade practice for a country. Greater the export means greater the producing power of the nation whereas greater the import means greater dependence on other countries.

But unfortunately, India's trade deficit has widened to $26.91 billion in October of 2022 from $25.71 billion in September12. Moreover, investments need to be increased in development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, as they not only contribute to a significant part of Gross Domestic Product but are also highly employment generating areas for a developing country like India. In addition to it the health conditions of workers engaged in industrial also need to be pondered upon.

The idea enshrined under Article 42 of the Indian Constitution which states that The State shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief needs be to considered.

Conclusion
India stands at a point where it celebrated its 75th year of Independence as Aazadi ka Amrit Mahotsava but disappointedly a major portion of its population still suffers from several grassroot level disease. Hunger Starvation, Suicide rate are still a concern for the Indian Civilised Society.

But none of our freedom fighters would have imagined such image of India on the eve of Independence. Steps are being made to alter the situation through various schemes like PM Jan Dhan Yojna, PM Aawas Yojan, MGNREGA, etc. but have not been as successful as India desired for. We hope that relentless efforts will contribute towards wiping every tear from every eye and India would grow with new energy and enthusiasm and we will strive towards securing a Welfare State.

End-Notes:

1. NCRB Report, https://www.peoplesdemocracy.in/2022/0904_pd/ncrb-report-shows-rise-atrocities-towards-dalits-and-adivasis , last visited on December 9, 2022.
2. NCRB Crime in India 2020 Volume, https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/CII%202020%20Volume%201.pdf , last visited on December, 2022.
3. GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX, https://www.globalhungerindex.org/india , last visited on December 10, 2022, 2022.
4. Ministry of Women and Child Development, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1781673 , last visited on December 10, 2022.
5. World Happiness Report, https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2022/ , last visited on December 10, 2022.
6. The Constitution of India, Article 21A.
7. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ , last visited on December 12, 2022.
8. National Library of Medicine, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6166510/ , last visited on December 12, 2022.
9. His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru and Ors. vs. State of Kerala and Anr. MANU/SC/0445/1973.
10. Reporters Without Borders, https://www.thequint.com/news/india/government-rejects-world-press-freedom-index-2022-india-rank-methodology, last visited on December 11, 2022.
11. Freedom House, https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2022 , last visited on December 12, 2022.
12. India Balance of Trade. https://tradingeconomics.com/india/balance-of-trade , last visited on December 13, 2022.

Written By: Anchal Verma, Student at Faculty of Law, University of Lucknow