THE JOURNEY OF INDIA’S LEGACY SINCE 1947

Article by Ms Aditi Dubey

Bharat, the Republic of India, or the ‘India’ we know today, is celebrating its 77th independence anniversary with great zeal this year. India has been confined by various challenges and conflicts since the very first day of independence, yet, stands indestructible. The main objective for writing this article is to present the highlights of India’s journey in different scopes. 

INDIA’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

India and Indians remained very devoted to science even before the nation got independence. Names like C.V. Raman, Srinivasa Ramanuja, S.N. Bose, Meghnad Saha, P.S. Mahalanobis, and Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar set the benchmark for India’s contribution to modern science. Regardless, the world’s ignorance of ancient Indian legends including Bhaskaracharya, Mahaviracharya, Brahmgupta, Kanad, Varahmihira, and Nagarjuna, the contributions of Aryabhatta, Charak, and Sushruta still became difficult for opportunists to clear them off from the records.

Despite the challenges Indians faced before and during the independence, even the gruesome massacre in India could not stop Indians from becoming renowned scientists and mathematicians. Ramanujan’s work on hypergeometric series, Reimann series, elliptic integrals, and functional equations of the zeta function stimulated Math enthusiasm among Indians. The numerical value of 1729, also known as Ramanujan’s number, is still perplexing today’s mathematicians. C.V. Raman’s work on the scattering of light, Bose’s contribution to quantum mechanics, and Meghnad Saha’s study on thermal ionization are examples that how an oppressed land (British India) has produced the world’s best diamonds.

After the Independence, the journey of India remained closed to science. Legends like Vikram Sarabhai, Homi J. Bhabha, Satish Dhawan, and A.P.J Abdul Kalam made the pavement for India’s emerging space and nuclear technology. Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO), founded in 1969, was carrying limited resources and funds for its first launch, today the organization has achieved many pillars of triumph with a total of 124 successful spacecraft missions and 431 foreign satellite launches.

The upcoming Solar Mission (Aditya-L1) will set new records for India’s space technology. Coming to India’s nuclear capacity, India is currently putting great effort into enhancing the nuclear sector by setting up new power plants. India’s nuclear journey had a great contributor, Homi J. Bhabha, who is also known as the ‘Father of the Indian Nuclear Programme’. It was Bhabha’s clear strategy that manoeuvre India’s abundant “thorium” reserves for nuclear programs when the Indian Government was approaching uranium from other countries. The ‘three-stage nuclear power program’ presented by Bhabha has helped India in achieving Energy independence. Apart from Space, Nuclear, Physics, Medicine, and Mathematics, India has contributed a lot to various other fields including Engineering, Computing, Botany, and Chemistry. Even the big volumes of writing editions would not be enough to cover the major contributions of India.

INDIA’S JOURNEY: WAR, PEACE, AND DIPLOMACY

India with its diplomatic approach, has always tried to put relations with every country in a rectitude and moral manner. Even with China and Pakistan, India’s initial approach remained ethical despite the tensions. The principal intent of India is comprised more on moral and humanitarian grounds than being a violent ally on the battleground and thus, Indian diplomacy always remained more focused on assisting for peace than fuelling for war. India, from being a subcontinent in the past to a nation in the present, has survived numerous violent invasions, thousands of foreign attacks, and a continued episode of bloodshed to preserve the national value that exists today.

The reflection of this strong national value can be seen reflected throughout India’s diplomatic journey. The Indian foreign policy turned out serene and smooth with time for the sake of development and peace, however, it did turn for vehemence when needed. The years 1962, 1965, 1971, and 1999 endured war and violence for the country’s records with the world turning blind against India’s circumstances. The country suffered whopping destructions and financial losses due to the wars initiated by neighbours and fuelled by their allies, yet, it survived strongly and stands today as one of the major economies in the world.

India’s immediate approach to assist Turkey during the 2023 Earthquake, has signalled a lesson that despite a country’s difference in moral, foreign, and diplomatic policy with India, India will stand for everyone when they need it. The medical and food assistance to Yemen set another example of India’s exemplary and exceptional diplomatic approach especially when others were busy bombing Yemen. India strongly stood among the countries voiced for Yemen’s independence in the 1960s. Even today, when India has been continuously criticized for not aiding Ukraine with military equipment, the world has failed to notice India’s relentless food, medical, and other humanitarian assistance to Ukraine even though India and Russia shared good relations since the Soviet era. India’s concern is more focused on assisting helpless civilians than arming governments for more war and destruction.

G20 AND VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM

One of the most prominent ancient Indian ethos existing still today is the moral of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ that nearly translates as ‘The world is one family’. The perspective of Indian optimism has never been limited to national loyalty, instead, it always kept mounted for succoring the world’s needs. Even time has proven India’s unmatched efforts of supporting other countries during any distress. Providing vaccines to African countries during COVID and financially aiding Sri Lanka during its economic crisis are two of the major examples of how India never hung back when it was needed. India’s venture for non-discriminatory medical facilitations and impartial rescue operations is consistently recognized for India’s vision of serving the world for a bright global future. Presently, India will host the G20 summit in September 2023, continuing the motto of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (theme: ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’) once again with an aim to bring countries together to achieve agenda goals in various fields that involve the focus on India’s priorities.

The first priority listed by India for ‘Green Development, Climate Finance & LiFE’ briefly focuses on climate finance and technology as well as ensuring the energy transitions for developing countries while promoting sustainable and environment-conscious steps for the earth’s betterment. The second priority is ‘Accelerated, Inclusive & Resilient Growth’, which relates to executing new frameworks to carry out structural transformations, concerning labor rights and welfare, working to build agriculture value chains, and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises/industries in global trade. The third priority states as ‘Accelerating Progress on SDGs’, which has already remained a key focus of India’s agenda in many previous summits.

India’s voice for sustainable development strongly emphasizes the preservation of natural resources for the future while bringing down their present exploitation. ‘Technological Transformation & Digital Public Infrastructure’ remains the fourth priority on the list with an aim to promote a human-centric approach to technology and enable the further reach of technology to fields like agriculture and education. India with its fifth priority wants the concern about reforming the current concept of multiculturalism to build a better international system for countering global challenges. The last and sixth priority will focus on ‘Women-led Development’ to ensure the focus on woman’s empowerment also accompanying socio-economic development.

The legacy of India will always remain a tough competition for the world due to the contributions it had made to the betterment of the world. Moreover, the evidence of India’s contribution can also be seen in the histories and present of different countries. The traces of India’s nationalistic values in South Africa, the space missions accomplished by Indians for the USA and Russia, and the great Indian-origin economists and scientists working for the development of Europe are examples of how India has always thought a step forward for both national and international interest. India not only manages one of the biggest medical tourism in the world but also responds as one of the immediate partners for medical assistance in any part of the world. We Indians have always remained altruistic for any national and international need with honesty, loyalty and conscientiously.