To me, India empowered means that every adult in this country is able to earn his livelihood with honour and dignity. Every adult has a say in governing the country in a democratic set-up and each one’s voice is heard and cared for. Every citizen becomes an asset and contributes in his own way to nation building.
All these can be achieved only by literacy and healthcare and providing infrastructure like communication and transport, even to the remotest areas, and creating employment opportunities to use the varying skills and talents of our citizens.
Having been associated with the Indian space programme since inception, I would say that India has shown capability to build its own satellites for communication, television broadcasting, meteorology and resources survey and management as well as to launch them using its own launch vehicles like Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
The fact that India is capable of achieving self-reliance even in the most advanced technologies like space and, more importantly, use these capabilities for the uplift of the society at grassroots level shows that India has the potential to become an empowered nation.
The recent initiatives like tele-education through EDUSAT for formal and non-formal educational services, tele-medicine network that connects speciality hospitals in major cities to rural and remote areas and the Village Resources Centres that help farmers on various aspects like land-use, water, agriculture, weather, market information, etc, can help in empowering our society at the grassroots level.
There is a need to focus our attention on the development of younger generation. Traditionally,
Indians have very high intellectual capabilities. The inherent intellectual talents of our youngsters have been proved in the IT field and in intellectual competitions like international mathematics and astronomical Olympiads or even in intellectual games like chess.
What is required is to harness this highly capable intellectual potential for productive nation building efforts. Creating the right environment through a progressive and modern educational systems designed to bring out the talents of the pupils, inculcating a scientific temper, improving their knowledge base and skills as well as moulding them to become disciplined, committed and patriotic citizens can make India an empowered nation in the coming years.
