On the threshold of Independence day I sit back and ask myself what have we, the people of India achieved in these 70 years. What amazes me is the dichotomy in our progress. For every step forward, we have taken one backwards and yet, to my surprise, our great nation rolls forward miraculously in the right direction despite massive speed breakers like corruption and religious intolerance.

The contrariness of the Indian mindset stares you at your face everywhere you look. Improvement in infrastructure (I am proud of our Delhi metro, which is at par with any in the world) go hand in hand with gau matas loitering on thoroughfares. Technical advances like our cost effective space projects have left the rest of the world gaping yet, 54% of our population defecate in the open. Improved healthcare has reduced the maternal and infant mortality rates but the bane of a present day gynecologist’s life is the pundit for, we are forced to deliver ‘muharat babies’ at odd hours according to his diktats, with no medical indications whatsoever. Hospitals have begun charging one and half times more for such cesareans but this has not deterred the astrologically inclined (including the intellectual, highly evolved/educated populace).

Another strange dichotomy continues to plague our nation. Women are worshipped as goddesses in temples but are treated worse than second class citizens in real life. Though she has conquered every male bastion, she is not allowed to choose her life partner. She adds substantially to the family kitty but, her income is welcome, her freedom is not.  A wife is accepted, not a daughter but how will men get wives if there are no daughters? Female feticide is rampant despite the ban on sex determination. As if this was not bad enough, what shocked me, a seasoned gynecologist, was a recent newspaper article – a woman was killed by in laws because she refused to abort her female fetus! Usually women in such a situation are forced to choose between the unborn girl child and their married status. Only a few spunky ones leave their husbands to raise a daughter alone, most acquiesce meekly enough. As a result, our country has the most skewered male/female sex ratio in the world which, should make us hang our heads in shame. When we had twin grand-daughters, instead of rejoicing with us some came to commiserate – chalo koi baat nahin, uppar wale ko jo manzoor! Indeed! Upperwalla kya, hamme bhi yeh nanhi pariya behad manzoor hai.

‘Beti Bachao Yojna’ was launched with much fanfare but to what effect and from what do we save our daughters – feticide, infanticide, nutritional deficiencies, lack of education, acid attacks, abusive husbands, dowry deaths and now the latest – stalkers! The list is endless. Launching of yojnas is not enough, they have to be implemented.  Let’s all take a pledge this Independence day to change our mindset, shed beliefs that hamper progress and work collectively for a better tomorrow.