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“Freedom doesn’t mean that you are free to do whatever you want, part of it is true yet, freedom is understanding our responsibility towards society as without responsibility no freedom is worth” … Me. (Lol)
Sorry, I am not that great in putting my thoughts in minimum words, yet when it comes to celebrating Dimond Jubilee i.e., 75 years of our country's freedom, I thought of using my own words (can't call it, a quote) to start. First of all, this sharing is not to boost or shame us as a country of as a society neither to congratulate our own selves for this day as indeed we (read as Me) are proud of our country & cherish our freedom & country’s achievements but so does every human being or supposed to of his or her respective country & that’s fine! Issue is not about celebrating freedom, issue is about understanding freedom as well analyzing what we have done with what we have understood, that’s the crux of my sharing! I don’t claim I have understood & I am ideal citizen of this country but I can always try to be one & its only by sharing what I have understood about being ideal citizen I can correct myself for becoming better, right? If you think this dosage of philosophy is too much then I can’t help as when the subject is as complex as freedom & responsibilities then philosophies are bound be bit complex especially for our fellow countrymen whose only way of celebrating (may it be Freedom Day or any Mahapuruh’s Birthday) is to make loudest noise with speaker walls & rallies on Bullet (it's nothing to do with a gun but a two-wheeler with eardrum bursting engine firing)! Rather the louder the noise generated by every possible means the more the love, affection (read as patriotism) for the cause of celebration & I am sure the 15th Aug 22 won't also be an exception to this!
This is where the concept of understanding freedom comes into the picture but before that lets take a look at the spectrum of what has happened till now in the last 75 years as a country, let’s have a look at it. Well, I am 50 plus by age so I have witnessed 2/3 part of the journey of 75 years of this country & let me tell you, it’s amazing as I remember (those who are 45 plus by age) standing in the queue in front of a ration shop with cloth bags in hand for 1 kg of sugar, 3 kg of wheat & a ration card. I remember wearing a slipper (rubber chappal) all day long i.e., for school & for playing cricket & for attending family functions too, in the same set of chappals. I remember taking my dad’s Luna to fill the petrol in it which was Rs 3 / liter. I remember getting a set of clothes that too stitched from a local tailor only once in a year & on occasion of Diwali. I remember waiting for 3 hours at Karve Road telephone exchange just to convey my BE (i.e. final year engg.) result to my parents by STD from a public booth. I remember adjusting wire-mesh antenna of our Radio to listen Binaca Geet Mala, a program used to air on Ceylon Station once a week & which was only mean to have access to Bollywood trending music & there are such several stories which those who are say 40 plus genre by age can remember or connect with!
And it’s my genre only which today uses an iPhone 13 Pro worth Rs. 1 lakhs (well, I don’t use an iPhone, just giving an example) & can feed a family for six months with that phone's price! Today you don’t have to wait for 3 hours to convey your result to your parents but in a minute it's open to the entire world. Today I don’t see many people standing in the queue for sugar or wheat but most get it delivered at their home via app or Amazon or Dunzo & why sugar or wheat now you get best of cooked food also delivered at your doorsteps within an hour from you order! Now, no boy has to fidget with the antenna of a radio or TV to listen or watch the latest movie’s songs but on one click you can get songs in the making also to watch & listen! Neither one has to wait for hours on dirty railway platforms for their train to arrive & air travel is not a privilege of only a few super rich but a middle-class teacher family (just the way mine was) can afford to fly! So many such things which my generation remembers now look like from different life or some other planet, this is what has changed in the last 75 years! And yes, with all the limitations & challenges, our country has survived the worst enemy in the recent history of man-kind i.e., war with Covid Virus, & that itself is the biggest achievement which we must be proud of!
Above all changes in the life style are possible because the country has not only survived but prospered & people like me are not just the witness for the prosperity but are the beneficiaries as well & this indeed is success of each of us that a poor country with no knowledge-base or technology for assistance is today at par with world’s some of the most developed countries on many fronts! Today even after 75 years of freedom, when on many fronts we have done wonderful achievements yet there are few fronts where we have a lot to achieve, as still today millions of people don’t have access to proper basic facilities such as medical, education or quality drinking water & most important, they don’t have a basic good home! I think right to own a basic home should be the main agenda hereafter if we consider this 15th Aug as Golden Jubilee milestone in the journey of our country & I am not saying this because I am a builder but because by giving a basic good home to every family we can answer to our many unsolved questions related to the society, which are haunting us for decades!
The first challenge in giving a good basic home to everyone is controlling our population because if on one side our 140-crore population is a boon or say the strength of our country then to provide space (read as a home) to all these 140 crores is something even God will find difficult! And when I say a basic good home then it means good water, good power supply, drainage system, proper transportation, school, health facilities along & it’s all these fronts which we are not up to the mark, is a fact. Indeed, for lucky few they have all these factors essential for good life in the form of a home but remaining many doesn’t & that’s the reason of illegal homes (slums) mushrooming all over the country as each of us need a shelter to take rest at the end of the day making a home basic & most important necessity of the life. And then the problem is land is limited or say fixed, we can’t increase land though we can increase land potential but then that also is possible only with the lands which have basic potential of becoming a home in the first place. What this means is even if land is available with whatsoever buildable potential but if that land is in Rajasthan’s desert or in Leah’s mountains, is there any use of such land? Answer is no, because people will need homes where they have jobs, education, means of survival if not prospering & livable environment & such lands are limited making the right of a good home more difficult to execute for the most!
And then the “Mai Baap” govt instead of just announcing “Home for Everyone” type slogans should act in reality for making this happen. But fact is, the govt which makes suitable policies such as making basic infra like land, water, roads, power available to all the industries at free or negligible price, the same govt puts (read as force) conditions on the real estate industry (read as builders) to make available basic things like water, access roads & drainage (& many more) available to the home buyers by the developers on their cost! This is where not just the govt but entire society (media guys are you reading?) must come forward & work on the policies which will ensure removal of every hurdle in making good homes available to everybody as per his or her need! In 75 years, we are able to give an automobile to most of us same is with a cell phone & even food also but not everybody here is free to buy a home of his or her will & that’s why we are not yet free on the most basic aspect of the life i.e., owning a home! Do mind, when I say a good home for the humans then it’s our responsibility only to accommodate nature & all other species from the tiger to a sparrow in that home! And then a good home is what helps best in making good citizens which eventually can change the fate of the country, right? So, while we celebrate this Golden Jubilee year on 15th Aug 22, let’s take an oath to have a freedom on home owning front for every citizen, as what’s the point in celebrating freedom of a country where most of the citizens has to sleep on the roads or in the illegal homes, worrying for next day which will be 16th Aug 22, mind it!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link below..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s
Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..
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Congratulations to you, in the first place, for having a thought on this really concerning issue of housing for the less fortunate of the masses! It is an uphill task though, yet possible, step by step, with the participation and will of all like minded entities.
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