75 Years Of Independence

75 Years Of Independence

It has been a chequered yet exhilarating journey of 75 years from 1947 to 2022; from when India achieved political independence to the time it is on the verge of achieving complete social, cultural, economic and international dominance! It definitely makes our jaws drop in awe when we realise that the country’s GDP has grown over 500,000 times from a mere 0.00001 Trillion USD in 1947 to nearly 5 Trillion USD expected in 2025. But the most heartening aspect of this growth has been its stability as the Indian economy stands firm despite 3 black swan events – demonetisation, Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict – in a span of 6 years!

Early years of growth

The independence at the stroke of midnight on 15th August 1947 itself was a big turning point for a country that had been steadily deindustrialized by (not so) Great Britain. The entrepreneurial spirit began in 1946 with the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd. (the earlier avatar of AMUL) and got a balanced push with the adoption of a mixed economy in 1948. Initiating the 5-years plans under the Planning Commission, brought about rapid industrialization with intense focus on the capital goods and heavy industries in the 1950s.

 Revolutions galore

As war times loomed and India faced threats of shortages and sanctions, the resilient people came up with the Green Revolution in the 1960s that made the country self-sufficient with respect to food and then, the White Revolution in the 1970s that ensured an abundance of nutritious milk. This has been the largest program for dairy development ever in the world! Each crisis propelled India to greater heights. The collapse of the Soviet Union, spike in oil prices and the huge balance-of-payments crisis for India in the 1990s led to the liberalisation revolution with economic reforms so powerful that there was no looking back.

 A World Superpower

 The first evidence that India was on its way to becoming a superpower was the harnessing of the super nuclear power! Then came the phenomenal achievements in outer space with the latest being the travel to Mars in the first attempt itself at a tenth of the cost that any nation has been able to achieve. Taking giant strides in health and life expectancy (which has more than doubled from 32 in 1947 to 70 in 2022), India is today the world’s largest producer of vaccines and generic medicines.

 The entrepreneurial spirit that launched India in 1947 appears to be reaching its zenith in 75 years with more than 105 Indian unicorns (companies with a billion dollar valuation) with a combined valuation of USD 338.5! At the helm of the giant FAANG (Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix & Google) companies are all Indians. It only goes to show that when Indians unite and decide to move forward, the country surges and the world benefits too!