Are we truly free?

By Mark Rohan Roshan, Class IX, Springdays (CBSE) School, Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

The colours of Holi, the fragrant smell of spices, the serene waters of the Ganga, the bright bazaars; truly, our nation was swathed in glory. Yes, sadly I use the word WAS.

For along came the British, with their guns, cannons, dividing, and conquering. But what ruined us worse than the British, was ourselves.

This is not the proper time and place to mention the betrayers of Kattabommen, Siraj-ud-Daulah, Tipu Sultan, and so many others, but the people I refer to, can perhaps be called, the middle-men.

The British gave the dirty task of forcibly collecting revenue to these middle-men. They obtained the British’s protection, as well as a reasonably good salary, at the cost of their own brothers’ hard work.


Little do most people know, that this evil practice continues today. Not through landlords, or zamindars, or diwans, but through Puma, Nike, Fiat, Audi, Amazon, Flipkart, Louis Phillipe, Panasonic, Unilever, and countless others.

Each of these companies have Indian branches, employing Indians to sell it to other Indians, so that a group of foreigners amount vast wealth for themselves.

Why are these middlemen working against their own country, in this day and age? How can we call our country free when we make our country dependent on foreign companies? Why do we allow foreign companies to gain?
The fault is not only with such middlemen. When the Ambassador Car Company of India made cars, everyone desired one. But lack of Government support made them lose the competition to Fiat and other foreign companies.

On the other hand, when the Blackberry Electronics Company of Canada went bankrupt, it immediately got Government support, and is now flourishing again.
Let me illuminate this point about support from the Government to private Indian companies:
A pacemaker is a small electronic device that is implanted in patients that creates artificial current for the proper functioning of the human heart.

So far, not a single Indian company manufactures reliable pacemakers. Our hospitals buy them from foreign companies like Medtronic and Abbott.

Why is this done? Is it because of a lack of intelligence among our people? That can’t be the case: we were one of the earliest, most advanced civilizations.

Everywhere you turn: Sundar Pichai in Google, Satya Nadella in Microsoft, Kalpana Chawla in NASA.

Is it because of a lack of natural resources? How can that be, since India has already harnessed different types of energy.

It is because of lack of Government support. If an Indian wants to manufacture pacemakers, he must defeat giants in the field, like Medtronic and Abbott, in the market.

He must develop complex machines that help him manufacture pacemakers on a large scale. He must earn recognition among his own people. He must not be corrupt enough to be bought over by larger companies, for the sake of money.

Together with the Government, we can make our country free.

Jai Hind